Today is The Journalism Iconoclast’s inaugural Web App of the week. Hopefully, there are enough good Web apps for us to review one each week. If you have a nominee, e-mail connect (at) patthorntonfiles (dot) com.
Mint.com is our first pick, because it is a fairly revolutionary product. Mint.com is a personal finance management application, but it is over the Web and free. Both concepts are pretty ground breaking.
People have been using programs like Intuit Quicken and Microsoft Money for years, but those programs have several fundamental issues and drawbacks:
- They are expensive – Quicken costs as much as $90.
- They are difficult to use – One of the main reasons people don’t use personal finance software is that the software is not intuitive, and a lot of time and effort is required to set up the programs properly. Even more time is required to properly categorize purchases. If you don’t categorize your purchases, you cannot make a good budget, and budgeting is one of the keys to personal finance management. Many people buy Quicken and Money and stop using them shortly thereafter because of the maddening experience.
- They require upgrades – Every few years, Quicken requires upgrades because Intuit stops supporting old versions of Quicken. Without support, you cannot electronically sync with your various financial accounts, rendering Quicken useless. So, not only can you shell out close to $100 for personal finance software, but you also have the privilege of being forced to upgrade every few years to the latest version.
Mint.com gets around all of those drawbacks. It’s free, which is a lot more palatable than paying $50-90 every few years. Mint.com is free because it is supported by affiliates.
For instance, if you have a bank account with Capital One with $10,000 in it, Mint.com will suggest that you switch to an ING online account, because you could make hundreds of dollars a year in interest with an online bank account over a traditional one. Mint.com leverages offers by affiliates to try to save you money. If you sign up for one of the offers, Mint.com gets a fee.
Mint.com analyzes all of your checking, savings and credit card accounts to see if you could be getting a better deal. If you could be, it will suggest you switch to one of their affiliates. It’s not all about money, however. Mint.com might suggest a frequent flyer switch to a credit card that earns a lot of miles.
My favorite part of Mint.com is its ease of use. In less than five minutes I had several credit cards and bank accounts synced up to Mint.com. It automatically categorized the vast majority of my purchases, and I was easy able to categorize the ones that it missed.
Mint.com also automatically created a monthly budget for me based on my past spending habits, and I can set up custom budgets. Mint also displays a pie chart of my spending habits broken down in various categories like travel, education (student loans for me), health care, entertainment, investments, etc.
I’m really impressed with Mint.com because of how easy it is for me to manage my personal finances and just how nice the user interface is. It’s really great to be able to check in on my personal finances from anywhere in the world. That’s the biggest advantage Web apps have over desktop apps.
The last thing I really like about Mint.com is the notifications feature. Mint.com will send me e-mails and SMS alerts when the balance in my checking account gets below a certain level, if Mint.com detects any unusual spending, if I get hit with bank fees, etc.
There are some things not to like about Mint.com. I should caution that it is in beta, but it misses a few features that I would really like to see. The biggest feature, as far as I’m concerned, is the ability to track investments.
Mint.com should be adding this missing feature later this year, but it is a feature that Quicken has had for years. It’s nice to be able to see how your investments are doing while you check out your other financial accounts, and if you want detailed information on your investments, you’ll want to stick with Quicken for now.
Mint.com is far easier to use than a program like Quicken (which I own), but it also far less powerful than Quicken. If you are a long-time Quicken power user, you won’t be that excited by Mint.com. If, however, you have been put off by financial management software for years, you might really like Mint.com.
Mint.com is free, easier to use, has a fantastic interface and will be adding more features in the coming months. Quicken also recently launched Quicken Online, which is a $2.99 a month version of the desktop product. I haven’t checked it out, but I have heard that it is similar to Mint.com. It also lacks some of the power features that desktop versions of Quicken have.
In the coming years, however, Web versions of personal finance software will take over. Why would you want to keep access to your personal finances tied to one computer? The ability to be able to check on your financial situation whenever and wherever you want is a great feature and feeling.
Mint.com is a Web app worth checking out because more people should pay more attention to their personal finances. Mint.com is free and very easy to use. You can’t lose.
If there is a Web app you want me to check out, send your nominees in.