What’s the single best tool to be smarter with your money? It’s free and is readily available to all at www.mint.com! What's more is that it allows you to capture savings and expenses worth thousands of dollars! Mint is a free financial management tool that connects to your bank and credit cards, allowing you to see all your purchases in one place. With a click of your mouse, you can categorize each expense. So, at the end of the month, it will be very easy for you to know how much you spent on each category. Yipee!
I can hear you yawning. What's interesting is that I noticed that this one habit can help you save several $1000 dollars. I’m talking about what it would cost for a trip to Paris! Often, when my clients start using it, it is the first time they have ever done financial planning, and it is overwhelming. So, I only ask them to do one thing: Mint twice a week, that’s it. Nothing else. I have been doing it for over 6 years and the data is very clear. Your average spending goes down by almost 10%. For someone who earns $3K monthly, this is a yearly saving of $3600! The really interesting thing to note was that, I didn’t tell them to “try and control or reduce” their spending. I only asked them to mint twice a week. How can this be?
It’s easier to see when looking through the lens of BBQ and cake. Imagine you are at a summer BBQ. Having some drinks and light fare from the buffet. (Ahh buffet’s! They are so deceptive and tricky. It looks like you’re eating a little, but it’s so easy to eat a lot!) Your friends have a twisted sense of humor and keep taking pictures of everything you eat and drink and posting them on a large card. Even if you were the only one that saw this card, do you think it would change your behavior?
Money is exactly the same. Your bank account is like the buffet. Right after payday, you have a pretty “big spread.” However, it’s the little bites that you take out of it later; buying a cupcake here, after work drinks there, and, before you know it, you only have $3 left. Completely dumbfound, you find yourself holding your useless ATM card saying, “I just don’t know where my money goes.”
Is it safe? Here’s a peek into mint’s security system. “Firstly, Mint has bank-level data security. That means we have the same level of encryption your bank does, along with third-party verification through Verisign and Hackersafe. We also have routine security audits where so-called “white knight hackers” try to break into our system – they’ve never been successful. We also have bank-level physical security. Our servers are located in an unmarked secure building which requires a palm scan to gain entry. After making it past guards, you have to go through a “man-trap” where one door will not open until the other closes and you again have biometric access. Once you get inside, our servers are in a locked cage monitored with 24/7 video surveillance. Get inside, and the racks themselves are locked. Break those open, and our hard drives are encrypted. It’s seven layers of protection. All that’s missing are the electrified floors!”
Happy minting!