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Where It All Goes — Now You Know!

Like some socks, a certain amount of my earnings seem to disappear inexplicably each month. But now, thanks to the new FREE online money management tool Mint.com, I know where that money is going.

Mint is so cool. Once I set it up - in about 5 minutes - I was able to see all of my savings, checking, investment, retirement, and credit card accounts at a glance (mortgage and student loan accounts will be coming soon!). You can also go in and look at ALL of your transactions for the month and your spending trends.

My trends included useful info like the fact that my most frequented merchant was McDonald’s (due to the fact that my husband eats there quite often). But who am I to judge him? In the past 3 months, he’s visited McDonald’s 22 times and spent $37. Not bad. I, on the other hand, am responsible for the spending at our second most frequented merchant, Target (I love Target), with a total bill of $445 spent there over 13 visits in the past 3 months. Hmmm, so I guess those innocuous $35 purchases here and there do add up.

I also learned that I spent $300 more on eating out this month than I did last month. How did that happen?

Mint.com is definitely moneylicious. Before you set it up, be sure to have all of your login information for your online bank, investment, retirement, and credit card accounts handy to help you set up. If you don’t manage your finances online, please get with the program, or you won’t be able to use Mint. My only beef with the site is that it’s a little slow, but the information is definitely worth it. It beats having to keep a spending diary, which is something a lot of financial planners make you do to figure out what frivolous expenditures you can sacrifice in order to achieve your dream of buying a home or retiring at 55 (April 15, 2008 - 8 a.m., Latte, $7.50). Also, the site lets you know how you can make more money by transferring your assets to higher-yield checking and savings accounts, which can be helpful if you’re not already optimized in that area.

You may never find your missing socks, but with Mint.com, you may find the spare change you need to buy more.

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