Give Me the Green Stuff!

March, 2011

Dough, moolah, clams, gravy…the green stuff. No, these are not ingredients to some bizarre recipe. They’re all terms for the thing that motivates us to get up at 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, to work in a windowless office on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, or be nice to that guy on the 3^rd floor that you can’t stand, but if you look at the pictures of his cats just one more time you might be able to talk him in to working for you on the 4^th of July. And what exactly is the motivator behind what seems to be acts of pure torture? You probably guessed it - money. There may be thousands of ways to say it, but in the end it all means the same thing, and if you’re like the millions of other Americans out there, you’re probably facing the same problem – there never seems to be enough of “the green stuff”.

After paying the mortgage, the babysitter, the cell phone bill and feeding a soccer team of 18 (or just an 18 year old son) that paycheck you got on Friday seems to have vanished like a thief in the night. So when the credit card bill comes up or that vacation time rolls around, you’ve got nothing left to give. And the question remains “how do I create a workable budget that fits into my hectic, everyday lifestyle?”

In years past, you had 3 options:

1. Continue to fall deeper into debt and despair

2. Purchase expensive software to help you track your expenses

3. Create a personal budget for yourself

Obviously this first option is not one we’re interested in exploring further. The second choice isn’t great either because you’re spending money when your intention is to be saving money. The third option seems ok but it can take a lot of time to create a budget and track it daily, which can become more of a hassle than a help.

If none of these options fill you full of hope, don’t be discouraged – in today’s world where technology is at your fingertips, we are provided with a fourth, and far superior option: www.mint.com.

If you’re already familiar with this site, congratulations!!! You’re part of the 1.5 million Mint customers who are well on their way to achieving their financial goals.

If you only know mint as a delicious herbal tea, then please read on…

What is www.mint.com Exactly? Mint is a free personal finance website that allows you to track and control your budget almost instantaneously.

Is it Safe? Intuit, the makers of Quicken and Quickbooks own the site, and from my research, I haven’t found any reports of fraud or hacking. I, myself, am a member of the mint.com community and have never had to deal with any breaches in security. CNN Money chose Mint as their top pick for personal money management and the New York Times also gave it stellar reviews. Like anything online, security can rarely be guaranteed, however from personal experience and research, I believe www.mint.comto be a safe and secure website. 

How Does it Work? Let’s say you’re saving to go on an African safari. You’ve spent your entire childhood dreaming about riding a camel and now that you’re older, and your balance is better than the average 5 year old, you’re ready to go – once you save $3,000. Now the problem most people have is creating a budget that’s easy to stick to so they can save money for a vacation, or pay off their credit card, or make that down payment on a new home. 

This is where Mint becomes so helpful – the website allows you to create a monthly budget for yourself, so instead of spending $100 a week on Mocha Frappes from Starbucks, you can create a budget of $20 for coffee and $70 for the African Safari. Each time you buy a Starbucks coffee, Mint will deduct money from your coffee budget, and even alert you if you go over budget. This will help you maintain your budgeting goals, thus ensuring you’ll have enough for your dream vacation. 

www.mint.com makes it safe, fast and easy to take control of your finances. Whether you’re trying to pay off loans or buy a beach house, it will be easy with this new website. So check it out, try it out, and use modern technology to take control of your finances once and for all!