Keeping track of money involves more than subtracting amount spent from amount saved. You've got checking and savings accounts, credit card, retirement funds if you're ahead of the game, loans and whatever else you might need. While money is arguably not what life is about, it's impossible to ignore the importance of personal finances in day-to-day situations.
Mint.com is a free website with both Apple and Android mobile applications that can alleviate confusion and help you better keep track of money. By connecting various accounts and cards to the site, even across different banking platforms, you can view and organize all sources of money in one place.
I often find myself wondering where my money goes and how it disappears so quickly.with Mint, however, all of my spending habits have become transparent. The website reports each transaction immediately and categorizes them as it sees appropriate. For example, a meal at Chick-fil- A would be categorized as "fast food," while a trip to Publix would fall under "groceries." If it categorizes incorrectly, you can easily change it, and even customize and add categories to your preferences. I can easily determine that I've spent an embarrassing amount at fast food places, and now see this as something to work on to save in the future.
My favorite and perhaps the most useful feature of Mint is the ability to create budgets and goals. I've set monthly budgets for eating out, groceries, shopping, entertainment and a few other categories, which can be viewed in easy-to-read graphs. While I don't always follow my budget perfectly, I at least know where my money is going and how to cut down on certain types of purchases.
Goals can be created in much the same way, although function to plan and budget savings. They can be set as small or as large as you want.
After continual use, the site can calculate average spending per week, month or year, and can then project a view of how your current spending behaviors will pan out by the end of the month or year.
It might seem scary to put all your financial information in one place, but all the data is protected by VeriSign and TRUSTe and is encrypted by the same security system many banks use. It's also read-only, so you can't move money around or spend anything while on Mint.
According to the website, more than 10 million people use Mint, and it's been rated favorably by news outlets like ABC News, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
It may seem a little overzealous for a college student to utilize all features of Mint, and that may be the case. But because personal finances are simple while in school compared to a future full of credit, insurance and car payments, why not get to know and control spending habits?
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