Budgeting Finds Its Groove -- Online

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I've found many of these other ones to be a little too complicated and recently started using budgetsimple (http://www.budgetsimple.com) in combination with Mint. It doesn't do some of the fancier automatic bank imports but it's very easy to visualize where my money goes in a given month.

Jim of ME 10:09AM December 19, 2009

View my complete profileMy BlogrollThis is a paragraph of text in the sidebar. ,

Bob53 of OH 9:17AM October 23, 2009

I immediately take a salt shaker and salt my food without even tasting it first. ,

Pol89 of MS 11:48AM October 22, 2009

Mint Pros and Cons
Pros:
Online management of all my financial data, able to combine all of my financial data into one online place which is password protected.
I found mint very usable to the point that I entered all of my financial information into it,
To simplify my life I use only one credit card. For some reason Mint is sometimes unable to update my credit card accounts.
It showed no updates from JUNE 15TH TO JULY 2. So I did what anybody else would do. I reset the credit card account
What Mint did was that it wiped out my six months of painful entry of each data and expenditure that I did when I reset the credit card. It only goes back a month to retrieve the old data, not back to 6 months.
This is totally absurd.
Unlike Quicken their is no option to back up your work.
Just for that reason I would stay away

delchicago of WI 7:32AM July 09, 2009

When it comes to using online tools, security is a major issue. I use to be a little apprehensive when it came to entering sensitive data like passwords for credit cards etc. I then found this amazing toolbar called Billeo (http://tinyurl.com/d4egv5). The fact that Billeo is VeriSign secured and TRUSTe certified put my worries to rest. It has other features as well that make it an awesome personal finance toolbar. It's a free browser plug-in that scores high on security and convenience and it's mac-compatible too.

Dana of CA 8:02AM June 10, 2009

I'm surprised you missed www.BudgetSimple.com I find it a little easier to understand then Geezeo and a lot less intrusive with personal information then Mint.

Jim of VA 7:51AM June 10, 2009

Hi,
Thanks for the review of Yodlee MoneyCenter.
Sorry this didn't come out earlier, but you can create a Cash Account in Yodlee and enter your transactions without the need to do splits.
1. Click on the Accounts Overview Tab under Yodlee PersonalFinance
2. Click on Create Custom Account
3. Give it a name like "Cash"
4. Choose Banking or Other Assets as your type
5. Hit Save.
6. Enter your opening Balance and make sure "Include in Net Worth" is on...
And you are done.
Then when you use the cash, you can use manual transactions to record in and out flows.
Unfortunately the available/current balance isn't adjusted in NetWorth after manual transactions are entered (though your running balance is), but let me see if we can add that to the next release.
HTH
Peter Hazlehurst
SVP Products
Yodlee Inc.

Peter Hazlehurst of CA 3:13PM June 09, 2009

Good info. Budgets are a tough sell. If I had to predict why, I would say it may have to do with the fact they force us to confront reality. On the up side, they do provide a lot more control and are a definite structure for success.
On a separate but related note, we have an excellent song on our music CD titled "Budget."
It's a lot of fun and a great way to stimulate conversation and educate kids and adults on the value of budgeting.
Sam X Renick
Author, Founder, CEO, Social Entrepreneur
The It's a Habit! Company, Inc.
Award Winning Financial Education Products & Program Since 2001
www.itsahabit.com
www.sammyrabbitblog.com

sam x renick of CA 12:01PM June 09, 2009

Another online tool to try is moneyStrands. The site launched in March and is offered in both English and Spanish. Check it out at www.moneyStrands.com and let us know what you think!
Lucia Giacomantonio
moneyStrands.com

Lucia of CA 11:59AM June 09, 2009