Online financial tools can help manage money |
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Geezeo
Now residing under the umbrella of the TheStreet.com, Geezeo.com is
MySpace meets Quicken. The emphasis here is on a combination of personal finance and traditional social networking. The site features
"friends," messaging functions and the ability to create a profile with pictures, information about yourself and your confessions of
financial ineptitude or acumen.
"We have a big social component with discussion groups," says Shawn Ward, co-founder of Geezeo. "It's funny, most people
cringe when they think of mixing social networking discussions with finance. We believe that it's the perfect blend, because most people
don't want to discuss their financial challenges with people they know."
Besides the normal transaction data and balances, Geezeo also has an excellent brokerage account feature that gives users
a handy pie chart of their investments. The chart shows you what percentage of your portfolio is tied up in each stock and how Geezeo's
affiliate, The Motley Fool, rates each of them.
Geezeo offers many of the same features as the other sites, including customized budgeting and spending categorization, and
has pioneered the ability for users to set goals for saving and debt reduction. Overall, the site's blend of serious financial tools and
"Facebook for finance" feel will no doubt win it fans among younger users.
Mint
The most popular and fastest-growing of the online personal finance tools, Mint's clear, intuitive and visually pleasing interface sets it
apart. Open a pie chart of your spending and click on a wedge to have it broken down into finer and finer categories: merchants,
individual transactions. See how your spending on categories like entertainment and rent compares with other users in your area as Mint
automatically characterizes your purchases. It makes tracking your spending easy and fun.
"It's a really usable site," says Patzer. "We do a lot of usability studies; we do a lot of product design work. It's more
effortless and it does more things for you."
Mint also has an innovative feature that looks at users' accounts and spending and scans a database to see if it can offer
a better deal. Earning lousy interest in your savings account? Mint can suggest a higher interest rate if you switch to another bank. Paying
out the nose on your credit card's interest rate? Mint will suggest a cheaper one. "Mint finds our average user (has) about $1,000 in savings,"
says Patzer. The drawback is that it makes only one recommendation instead of offering numerous options.
While Mint is still adding features and doesn't have the same community options -- for better or worse -- that the other sites
in this genre have, it does do its number-crunching remarkably well.
Wesabe
Founded way back in 2005, Wesabe was the first entry into this corner of the Web. Wesabe combines personal finance tools like budgeting and
expense tracking with social networking to create a brew that's helped thousands of users to get their finances under control.
"We provide community features that set us apart from all the other sites out there," says Marc Hedlund, co-founder and CEO
of Wesabe. "We do a good job of connecting people with others that either are in their situation now, or were in their situation and have
gotten to a better place and can share what works for them."
Hedlund calls this approach "collective intelligence," and many of the users seem to have bought into it. They post reviews
of merchants and ask and answer user questions on message boards. In fact, they can even make selected financial details available to other
members in order to get help or show a newbie how financial security can be attained. While Wesabe's data displays may not be as polished as
Mint's, it does have an impressively large and dedicated community that can serve as a powerful motivator and guide for those looking to get
control of their money.
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