It’s tougher than ever to plan your finances. But it’s also easier than ever to find help on the cheap.
There are a host of Web sites that help you lay out a budget and track your spending and investments. Some let you set up a plan for a long-term goal,like college or retirement,and others offer advice about where to put your money. And many of these services are free of charge.
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To help you wade through all the choices,we scoured the Web to find some of the best online tools and got recommendations from personal-finance pros. Here’s a look at some of the best sites we turned up,in a range of categories.
1. Budgeting Your Money
The first and perhaps most effective step to managing your money online is signing up for basic budgeting sites such as Mint.com,from Mint Software Inc. of Mountain View,Calif.,Wesabe.com,from San Francisco-based Wesabe Inc.,or Geezeo.com,from Geezeo of Hartford,Conn.
These free sites offer tools to help you keep track of what you’re spending,how much you’re saving and how your investments are performing. You create an account,and the sites automatically aggregate all of your online financial data,letting you keep track of credit cards,home loans and bank and brokerage accounts all in one place.
To help you avoid bank or credit-card fees,these sites can alert you via email or text message when a bank account is low or when a credit card is approaching its limit. And the sites can slice and dice the information to help you budget better. For instance,they will automatically show you how much you spend in any given category,such as restaurants or gas stations,and can compare your spending habits with those of other users,so you can identify areas where you might need to cut back.
Some sites,such as Geezeo and Wesabe,also offer a social-networking element that allows users to share tips and advice on a range of money-management issues.
One big caveat:Many of these sites need usernames and passwords for your various online financial accounts to get access to your data,says Jim Bruene,founder of online-banking research company Online Financial Innovations and Finovate,a conference series showcasing online financial tools and companies.
Some sites,like Wesabe,allow you to download statements from your bank or credit-card company and then upload them manually. This can be more time-consuming but a comfort to those who don’t want to give up their passwords,Mr. Bruene says.
There are other caveats to consider when using the sites. For instance,Mint.com showcases advertisements of financial-services companies and shows ads based on your activity on the site. (If you spend a lot on restaurants and gas,for instance,the site may suggest a reward card tied to those kinds of purchases.) Critics say this may create a conflict of interest,since the site is ostensibly trying to help you save money.
Mint.com notes that users must deliberately choose to click on the “Ways to Save Tab” displaying the offers. Donna Wells,the site’s chief marketing officer,says that when users decide to accept an offer,they “save real dollars,the financial institution gets a new customer at a low cost of acquisition,Mint.com sometimes,but not always,receives a small referral fee from the provider. That’s how we keep the Mint.com service free.”