Pimp Your Finances

This post marks the first in a new series called “Market Share Battles”.  Every so often, we’ll do a side-by-side comparison of some finance related products, websites, or services.

In this week’s Market Share Battle, we review free web-based money management tools including Mint, Wesabe, and Yodlee.  These products summarize financial data from multiple accounts, and offer helpful features designed to save you time and money.  The services are free, and serve as a one stop answer shop for gathering all your financial info in one place.

Mint – www.mint.com

Summary: Mint’s software is a powerful web based money management tool.  Features include real-time investment tracking (including 401K), budgeting, and net worth.  Once your accounts are set up, the software analyzes your money habits and suggests products to help you save money.

• Pros:
  • Customized text message and email alerts (this is a cheap alternative to active identity theft protection)
  • Automatic and custom rules for categorizing your transactions
  • Very user friendly, and great graphics
  • Investment tracking
• Cons:
  • Cannot enter cash purchases, but you can split up cash withdraws into multiple transactions.
  • Cannot turn off money saving suggestions.   This is not a big issue, as this is how Mint makes their money and allows the service to stay free.

Wesabe – www.wesabe.com

Summary: Wesabe is a combination of a social networking site and basic personal finance software.  Like the rest of the online money management tools, it includes budgeting and account linking.  What sets Wesabe apart is the social networking.  Its features include the ability to join groups and discuss topics that you are interested in.  Another feature worth mentioning is that they can give you tips for saving money based on spending trends.

• Pros:
  • Participate in group discussions on a variety of financial topics.
  • Offers suggestions for saving money based on your spending habits and credit score.
  • Customized text message and email alerts
• Cons:
  • Suggestions are not completely customized. This feature could use some work, but has a lot of potential.
  • It is difficult to track non-traditional accounts, like a 401k

Yodlee – www.yodlee.com

Summary: Yodlee has the most features of the products reviewed in this post.  It is so feature-rich that Mint actually uses Yodlee for the back end of their website.  If you want an in-depth view of your finances and don’t care about a fancy interface, then Yodlee is the tool for you.  The presentation is an accounting style view of your finances.  It includes features like online bill payment, bill pay calendar & alerts, budgeting, rewards points tracker, net worth, and many more.

• Pros:
  • Very rich in features, and offers numerous options that the other tools don’t.
  • Customized text message and email alerts
• Cons:
  • The front end is dry and boring. The graphs are dull, and could use a little work.
  • Does not offer suggestions on how to save money.

Conclusion:

• If you want an all-in-one, no frills view of your finances,  then you should turn to Yodlee.
• If you like group discussions and want to get tips and tricks from other users, Wesabe is the choice for you.  It’s more of a social networking site than the other two.
• If you are looking for an upcoming star that is adding features, but still has an amazing presentation,  then you give Mint a shot.

Make sure to stay tuned until next week, when we’ll review three more money management sites.

*Update: Here is the link to Market Share Battles: Review of Free Online Money Management Tools Part 2