Over the last few years, I’ve test driven several account aggregation systems in hopes to find that one tool that gives me everything I need in one money management suite.

I tend to look for certain features before taking it for a test drive.  If I don’t see anything about bank level security then I know they don’t allow users to connect directly with their banks. I don’t bother signing up because this is always a deal breaker for me.

Why Is This Important?

I’m lazy and live in an increasingly fast paced digital on demand world.  So do most users.  This is why most account aggregation tools without this feature, rarely gain the traction Mint has over the last few years.  Who wants to bother with downloading .csv files from their bank website, save the file and then upload it to the program?  I don’t.  Not while I am in the grocery store and need to check how much I have left for grocery spending.  I simply want to be able to log on and have all of my transactions and balances updated automatically in real time.  This is especially true if I am on the go or need to check my accounts while at work.  Like most, I have transactions occurring almost every day so this is important for me to be able to see up to the minute information while on the go without fussing with a .csv file.

Other Features I Look For In Account Aggregation/Online Budgeting Tools

Great Design and Intuitive User Interface

This is a must for me.  You must simply win the user interface design game if you want to gain any traction.  Mint.com continues to win this battle for obvious reasons.  Their user interface is a huge change from Microsoft Money which I used shortly before switching over to Mint.  Hello Wallet does a nice job in this area as well but not as good as Mint, especially when it comes to an intuitive user interface.   I spent a lot of time fiddling around with Hello Wallet in hopes of “getting” their system but it just didn’t happen for me.  Another turn off is being forced to pay for the month before even knowing whether or not the system is a good fit.

In this department, Yodlee can use some help.  While their tools are robust and enable users to slice and dice information 50 ways to Sunday, the website and Android app design needs major work.  They rely too much on the fact that their tools are solid and neglect the user interface and design.  Clearly, whoever runs Yodlee, is more focused on producing more tools that enable users to dissect information rather than making the design more aesthetically appealing.  This is especially true for their Android application.  Check out the Android reviews if you don’t believe me

Cash Flow Forecasting

None of the above-mentioned system excel in this area.  In fact, this feature seems to be almost non-existent.  Hello Wallet does this but more so an overview of the monthly cash flow and not day by day. I simply want to be able to understand my cash flow any any point in the month based on what transactions are planned on a given day.  Is that too much to ask?  Rudder did a really good job with this but they tanked not too long after launching so there’s that.

Envelope Budgeting

This is the holy grail of all budgeting plans.  Essentially, the user assigns each envelope (budget category) an amount they wish to spend within the budgeting period.  This is usually a month or some people choose every pay period.  As they proceed through the month and spend within the envelopes, the amount spent is removed and the balance is then updated.  Since I am a very visual user, I don’t yet feel that any of the tools mentioned here excel in this area, so they could use some work.

Mvelopes is well known for envelope budgeting but the interface is an eye sore and frankly, horrible.  It reminds me of Windows 3.0 and they need to fire whoever designed their user interface.  I signed up and stayed for 11 days before quitting and demanding a refund.   As you can see, I didn’t even bother with reviewing the system here. Visuals are important as demonstrated by Mint’s success, so hopefully, Mvelopes will wake up and follow suit.

Planned or Existing Mobile Application

For the most part, this option is almost always an indicator of traction.  Users love the program so much they want it to be available to them via an iPhone or Android application.  If the program isn’t at least planning for a mobile application then I’m less likely to use it long term.  The only exception for this being Yodlee as they only recently launched their mobile app on the iPhone and Android.  But, again they can do this since their suite of tools are rock solid.

What account aggregation tools/online budgeting system do you use?  What do you look for before jumping on the bandwagon?

photo credit: chrisdlugosz

Over the last few weeks you might have noticed a slow down in posting on my end and that has more to do with my recent work schedule.  Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do so it’s totally a good thing.

But during that time Ive been able to think about the direction I want to take this blog and the topics we cover.  I know that I started out wanting to educate and empower women in the area of personal finance but I want to expand on that a bit.

As women we have so many different areas of life that affect us including but not limited to fair pay issues, work, life balance, health care, childcare issues, race/gender politics and sexism.  I feel pigeon-holed not being able to address these topics here and so I’d like to announce that moving forward, in addition to personal finance topics, you will also now read articles that center around the above mentioned topics.  Don’t get me wrong, I love personal finance, but my take is unique and different in that I address it from a woman’s stand point.

Meeting so many other women on Twitter via the #fem2 chats every Sunday night, I’m compelled to re-examine my focus here and be more inclusive of the issues that affect us each and every day.

So while Ive slowed down my posting, Ive been doing a bit of retooling around my focus and direction.  I hope you like it.  I am planning on a monthly radio show to begin over the summer along with another blog makeover so look forward to those updates.

Thank you for being loyal readers and for supporting me even when life gets hectic

Personal

*Increase productivity

After reading this article on Wise Bread, I realized that I spend way too much time being non productive. I really want to take the time to focus in things that will help develop my interests in personal finance, frugality and put more energy towards course work. My plan is to make sure that every waking moment counts and in doing that I will be more productive. No more waiting up late for Big Shots to start when we have Tivo.

*Join more personal finance forums and network with more personal finance bloggers

While I’ve been a reader of so many personal finance bloggers I never joined in on their discussions. While I enjoy many of the other blogs I read I plan to cut back so that I can make more time for the interests that drive this blog and many other personal interests. I have wanted to start this blog since securing the domain back in 2003 but never really found the time. Now I am making the time and it feels great!

*Spend more time with my husband

This really should go without saying but with our schedules sometimes its hard. Now that he is done with grad school we should have more time, ideally. This year I will make an active effort to spend more quality time together.

*Exercise and Increase Personal Health and Well Being

I am a part of a local exercise group so I plan to exercise regularly since we are imitating Biggest Loser by having teams and weigh ins. The challenge lasts through labor day so this gives us enough time to get on and fall off the wagon in pursuit of our collective goals.

Find 3-4 hours each week to workout. 3 times during the week and once over the weekend.

Yoga. I wish I did more of it but alas this semester I will only have time to do it at home because of 12 hour days. Nevertheless I hope to get some in before going to sleep at night and in the mornings before work.

Thai Massage and Phoenix Yoga are two other relaxation modalities I plan to increase this year. Hopefully I can get 2 sessions each season because not only are they useful in physical relaxation but they help in understanding where your body holds stress and the source of the stress.

Get back on the vegetarian bandwagon. Nuff Said.

Personal Finance (will expand on this in an upcoming post)

*Save $1000 per month.  Will increase to $1800 once debts are paid and even more once husband’s raise kicks in.

*Pay down minor debts less than $1500

*Dedicate $1500 per month towards debt reduction

*Determine how much to contribute to our 401k plans.

*Start paying ourselves first via ING and OneUnited Bank

*Start reading up on investing in the stock market

*Increase emergency fund to $30,000. I go back and forth with the figure because we are a young couple with no dependents but I need to do more research. I don’t like the ideal of having that much money in a HYS account when I can possibly net a higher ROI if I check out other avenues. Then come my concerns about liquidity. If we were in a bind, how fast can we have access and what would it cost us?  Must research this.

*Reconcile Mint transactions weekly in order to keep track of our spending

*Increase personal finance knowledge and implementation. Knowledge —> action is lacking on my part right now

Rules

I will not succumb to impulse shopping. I will allow myself one week to decide if I/we really need want an item over $50. This means that the Dyson Animal, new Faberware cookware set and ultimate carpet cleaning are a go!

We will reduce if not eliminate eating out for the rest of the winter months. We spend a bit on eating out and as such we really should cut back in this area. I don’t think this will be an issue in the colder months.

Reduce random trips to Target and CVS. They are the debil. 

Only shop on designated grocery shop days which will be the 2nd and 4th week of the month.  

Large 2008 Purchases/Savings Goals

$800-42 inch plasma TV

$1200-50 inch plasma TV

$2500-Dale Sofa from ComfortSource.com

$8000-Hardwood floors for upper and main levels

I think they should be a bit more specific and I will do that in an upcoming post. This just helped me lay out my plans and I will flush these out a bit more. This is a working document so it’s open to changes as I/we progress through the year.

I signed up with [tag]Mint.com[/tag] in September but didn’t fiddle too much with it until a few days ago. This is due to their system not being able to access our bank account because of the security prompts. Im not sure when it was fixed but I’d sent in a ticket and I just happened to log in the other day and I saw that it accessed everything just fine. Moving on—>The best part about this program is their account integration, [tag]expense tracking[/tag] and web-based system. I didn’t have too much invested in Money Plus so this made the transition easier.

Account Integration

Mint pulls information from your bank accounts, organizes and lets you analyze it. Hubby and I are able to log in from separate locations and see the same information. We had a mini budget pow wow over the phone while logged into Mint and were able to get some things accomplished. I think he was really cautious at first about allowing a program (an online one at that!) to access our information. But after reviewing their security protocols he felt a bit more comfortable. We established a debt reduction and savings plan in about an hour after assigning categories to some of the line items. Mint does this for you based on the name of the charge but little things like Everlasting Life, a vegan restaurant we frequented had a Life Insurance tag. It takes way less time but after not logging in for so long we had to assign categories in order to get an accurate spending report.

Expense Tracking

Just like the other budget programs, you are able to track your spending and then break it down by category into neat little charts. Mint will also analyze your spending and tell you where you can cut back or switch services to save money. Granted these are partnerships but after check out a few myself, I would have saved money based on their recommendations. Keep in mind, you know your situation better than a computer. So while they recommended I stay with Verizon and get a cheaper phone/plan, I still made out better with ATT with the iPhone..

Software vs. Webware

In this case the webware wins! Nothing to download I can log on from any computer with an Internet connection to check our accounts. This makes it easier to track my spending when away from home or at work where I don’t have my laptop. I found that even with Money Plus I still liked the updated and intuitive features of Mint.com. The bright modern user interface is easy on the eyes and keeps you coming back.

Ease of Use

The program is very intuitive and we found that it resolved many of the issues we had with Money Plus such as not being able to batch assign transactions or spending categories. Imagine having to go through each and every transaction for the last 3 months when you make it every day? Example, Au Bon Pain, I would have to either keep up and assign this category weekly in Money Plus, while in [tag]Mint[/tag], I am able to batch assign the category at the end of the month and create a rule to assign the same category for all future transactions. *insert cheesy smile here*

Cost

Mint.com=FREE

Microsoft Money Plus $49.95

Need I say more?!

Geezeo.com, Wesabe.com and Mint.com are the main online personal finance software programs out there right now. I am really impressed with the ease of use and how intuitive the Mint.com program is with regards to daily account management.

Kudos to their developer for such a wonderful program!