GigCollege.com

Have you ever wanted to manage your personal finances but didn’t want to pay the price for some expensive software? Mint.com was made just for you. Mint.com is many things….personal finance software, budget software, online money management, and a budget planner, but best of all…it’s FREE!

The best things about Mint.com:

Image via Wikipedia

Easy to Set up: Unlike some other sites, Mint.com only needs you to input your information once. It takes about 5 minutes to give Mint.com access to your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, etc. And from then on, Mint.com will automatically update as things change. Now, I know what you are thinking…”Give access to my bank account, online? I don’t think so!” But that brings me to the next point…

Safe & Secure: Mint.com prides itself in having the same encryption and data security that banks use. On top of that, while Mint.com automatically updates your accounts using your log-in information, it never knows your account numbers, SSN, or other personal information. In the super rare chance that someone could get through to your Mint.com account, they still could do no harm, as there is no moving of money at all in Mint.com.

Simple Budgeting: Whatever type of life you might lead, Mint.com makes it super easy to create a budget that works for you. It calculates your average spending in all different categories (car related, groceries, entertainment, etc.) so that you can see what you typically have been spending. You can then set a budget for each category and get updates on how you are meeting that budget as each month progresses. It even shows you a predicted amount that you will save each month by sticking to your budget.

Awesome Graphs: Mint.com uses great, easy-to-read graphs to show you the big pictures, such as a pie graph showing what percentage of your money is spent where. Other graphs let you compare your spending from one month to another, or from one year to another. Mint.com also shows you in real time how your net worth is growing or shrinking.

Find Savings: You might even find that Mint.com will show you places where you could save even more money than you are! It might find a better credit card for you, or make a suggestion on a savings account that you save you more money than your current one. Word of Warning here…I’ve noticed that if you already have a great thing going, it might suggest something that is actually worse, but it’s easy to spot. Just make sure to read over everything before making any such decision.

New Features: Now Mint.com has some even newer features such as an iPhone app so you can access your account right from your phone. If you use Yahoo! a lot, you can also add Mint to Yahoo! so that you can access your information straight from your Yahoo! home page.

Check Out some videos from Mint.com:
Budget Tips, Security

To save money you need to manage it. I hate to get on the topic of money management right off the bat, but if you expect to save money you need to be a bit savvy with the little bit of cash you have:

1. Get a free checking and savings account. The bank will nickel and dime you on dumb stuff like too many ATM withdrawals, too many checks written, or a funds transfer. Shop the town for banks catering to students. Make sure you can access online banking, pay bills and manage your account without attached fees.

2. Take the free checks that the bank offers in the maximum amount they allow – mine was initially going to give me 50, but for some reason I thought I needed more right away and paid $4.95 for another 50. If you need more, you simply go online and order more, but leftover checks are more typical than not, especially with online bill pay options becoming more commonplace. Extra checks become nothing more than wasted paper and wasted dollars.

3. Failure to keep track of your bank/checking account can easily cost you money via overdraft fees. Your debit card can easily get you into the red if you don’t know what’s in your checking account. Think your card will be declined if your account has insufficient funds? Think again.

If you go into the red in your checking account, your debit card will usually continue to work without even so much as a burp. Every time you make a debit card purchase while you have insufficient funds in your checking account you are also being slammed with a banking fee. (My banking faux pas cost me $250 in fees one weekend because I didn’t pay attention to the balance in my checking account and my debit card just kept on smokin’. On top of that, the bank charged me another separate fee to transfer funds from my savings account to my checking!) Unless you have an automatic overdraft protection that enables funds from your savings account to be transferred, you can be way more broke than you ever imagined in one, short weekend. Make sure you know what banking fees you’ll be spanked with if you make a mistake.

4. If you have to have a credit card, make sure you get one with the lowest interest rate possible; no annual fees and with only enough of a credit limit to get you by in an emergency. Don’t carry it with you, but instead keep it in a safe place known only to you.

5. Pay credit card bills on time. Companies charge late fees, sometimes as much as $50 per month. And do not go over your credit limit—that offers just one more way for your credit card company to get rich off your poor judgment.

6. Serious about saving money, huh? For one month save every receipt of everything you purchase, from a pack of gum, a tube of toothpaste to your computer. Log each expense in a notebook. When the month is up, tally up what you’ve spent and take a good look at just where most of it went. Food? Beer? Gas? Games? This sure fire technique will unabashedly expose the evils of your spending ways.

7. Save that spare change you’ve got jangling in your pocket or sloshing around in the bottom of your backpack or purse in a big jar or can somewhere out of the way.

• Count and roll spare change yourself.
• Stay away from those coin-counting machines you see at the grocery store.
  They will rip you off or at the very least charge you a fee.