Sunday, September 26, 2010

September 2010 - Net Worth



The Stats:
Net Worth: (29,288 [Up $4,966 from last month!])

Assets: $39,062.63
Cash - $13,433.53
Retirement - $25,629.10

Debt: $68,351.09
Student Loans - $68,112.61
Credit Card - $238.48

Debt Overview:

I was able to payoff $1,064.92 of principal of student loan debt this month. Credit card debt is paid off each month as normal.



Asset Overview:

Investment accounts increased $2,575.43 a sizable sum, to $25,629.10. This increase was due to a nice run in the market and normal payroll deposits into my 401(k) and small deposit to a Roth IRA.

Cash increased $1,899.20 to $13,433.53. This increase was due to normal savings patterns as well as minor proceeds from a small sales of goods. 



Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Why I like mint.com



What is Mint besides a refreshing flavor?

Mint.com is another in a long line of personal budgeting tools similar to wesabe.com and yodlee.com that allows you to see your whole financial life in one place.  Whether it’s checking, savings, credit cards, CD's, 429 accounts, investments, retirement accounts or many other personal finance accounts, Mint.com is your one stop shop to manage them all.  



Why is Mint.com better?
Like Wesabe and Yodlee Mint is free. This is a huge plus over Quicken's traditional software. Intuit, which owns Quicken, recently purchased Mint for those who are concerned about security. Mint.com is the simplest to use with the best visuals and self controlled analytics.  It categorizes everything for you, every day.  You can name the categories yourself, and rename whenever you want so if you’re not happy with the default options Mint.com has set up for you, it is flexible.  
You are able to slice and dice your data. Anything from assets and net worth to how your spending matches up to someone in Chicago or Boston. The best functional use is the budgeting feature. It is amazing how much those little purchases add up to something substantial. I have turned many friends onto Mint.com and all have received it enthusiastically. This is the Web 2.0  application  that I will do all my net worth tracking with and suggest you do the same. I also highly endorse the iPhone app (download here) and understand the android app is of similar quality. 
Don't trust me? Here is what Consumer Reports thinks.

With Mint, you can:

* Get set up in minutes
* See all your accounts in one place
* Set and track your budgets & achieve your goals
* Find hundreds of dollars in personalized savings
* Stay safe and secure...and it's free!