Mint Has New Followers and Weekly Round Up

Fri, Oct 9, 2009

Banks build personal finance solutions

On my bus ride home this week I opened up my copy of Business Week magazine and read Big Banks Take a Hint from Mint.com. Apparently, banks are following Mint’s lead in building personal finance solutions that feed a market of people, now more than ever interested in budgeting and managing money. Mint has done well with its recent offer from Intuit of $170 million. While I haven’t given Mint a go yet, I’m eager to see what all the excitement is about.

The article mentioned a couple of things the banks hope to get out of their recent innovations. First, they hope they can build loyalty with their customers and second, they are hoping to attract a younger audience. While I haven’t checked any of the new tools yet, my gut tells me the banks have quite a bit of catching up to do. It seems like a convenient move since most banks have an online presence providing the ability to view account information. But I’m interested to learn more about the tools and see how they compare to Mint and other personal finance software in terms of the depth and breadth of functionality

Personal finance links

Reward points

Speaking of Mint, week I came across Reward Points The Real Deal at the Mint blog this week. This was a interesting post with a creative guide for reward points. It brought forth some interesting thoughts about how the programs can make you feel like you’re playing a game and give you incentive to spend. But you have to watch closely because between annual fees and more spending you may not be getting all that great of a deal.

We have a credit card in which we acccumulate airline miles. We use the card for groceries and a few other items and pay it off each month. While we don’t spend with the intent of getting airline miles (it’s typically an after thought as a nice benefit), we do pay an annual fee. So, I have to take into consideration how log it’s going to take to accumulate the free ticket and determine if the annual fees are costing me more than the ticket would just by purchasing it. I think it depends on the destination and other factors, but it’s something to think about. Don’t forget to check out the guide to reward points.

Money and happiness

Finally, I thought I would mention the Personal Finance Hour podcast this week. I’ve been listening to the podast for about 5 weeks now. It’s hosted by GetRichSlowly’s JD Roth and Bargaineering’s Jim Wang. They discuss personal finance topics and take caller’s questions. This particular show really sparked my interest because the primary topic was about money and happiness and another topic was raised by a caller regarding the need for goals.

The money and happiness topic seems to continue to find its way in my path over the last few weeks. It’s an interesting discussion because our human nature tells us that more money is good and and having more of it will make us happier. But beyond a certain point of meeting the essential needs of life, studies show more money and material possesions don’t make us happier.

Personal finance goals

Should you have goals? Do they really matter? I think they do, but I don’t think it’s not always easy to identify them. There was an interesting discussion towards the end of the show on this particular subject. I’m a strong believer in life values forming the foundation of our goals. Understanding our values in life will help determine our goals and make them more meaningful. This is important when it comes to taking action towards acheiving them.

Last but not least, my article Cash, Credit, or Debit Purchases – What Works For You? was featured in the 85th Running of the Money Hacks Carnival (Saturn’s New Ring Edition) hosted by Credit Guy.

Did you come across any articles this week you would like to share? If so, please mention them in the comments.