personal finance 3: sht hits the — mint II

First: the peppermint plant might not make it, due to directed indifference on both our parts. [D.Olivan]

Nudge: mint.com came up in conversation last night [J.Ge].  This makes me happy for a number of reasons (positive feedback!), but, aside from my self-justification as a savvy young pre-professional, I am glad to come back to this neglected little preaching post.  No promises on posting frequency, but know that I haven’t forgotten about this. [J.Shum]

Post: The past two months have been a free-for-all, buy this, get tickets for that, lunches out and elaborate dinners in.  As my balance drops and I await my numbered paychecks, I’ve hit that wall (or zero?) that I’m sure many young people do.  And my answer?  Budget, duh.  As with most major life changes, it’s a process.  Now to be fair, all my limits are only a shot in the dark until I am really, really employed.  Luckily, my favorite money tool mint has taken great strides in the past six months.

New and updated features:

• Improved automatic categorization of your spending, along with the option to customize
• The ability to split transactions, especially useful for cash withdrawals
• New visualization tool to map your investment history against the Dow, S&P, NASDAQ
• Blogblogblogblogblog: blog.mint.com

If you’re still not convinced, look into it yourself.  Here’s a re-posting of the three top free online personal finance services:

(mint.com)
“Free Personal Finance Software, Online Money Manager, Budget Planner and Financial Planning”
Clean “web 2.0″ user interface. mostly a visualization tool to let you consolidate your finances, create a budget, and see where you’re spending your money.

(wesabe.com)
“Get to Know Your Money”
With social networking component, so you can see what others spend, recommended products, their saving tips (…superfluous.)

(yodlee.com)
“Innovative Bill Pay, Personal Finance, and Online Account Opening Tools”
The Original Gangster, but far too complex for single young people without businesses, mortgages and families, IMO.