Learning about Personal Capital was another result of reading the amazing Mr. Money Mustache blog. Personal Capital, which I’d never heard of, is basically Mint.com but for investments. It also includes features similar to Mint.com that allow you to review your spending and income, but it is actually more difficult to add accounts to Personal Capital than to Mint.com and for that reason I haven’t added all of mine. In fact originally I only tried Personal Capital for a grand total of five minutes before closing my account because it was so unnecessarily difficult to add my accounts. Continue reading “Finance Tracker Review: Personal Capital”
Author: A Purple Life
Finance Tracker Review: Mint.com
Mint.com has been a lifesaver. For what it is, I completely love it. However, it does not deliver on its product promise, which is to help you understand where your money is going and as a result save money. Mint.com is wonderful for learning where your money is going. It makes it very easy to track every digital dollar and provides a colorful and clear explanation of your spending month to month and year to year. It’s seamless in that it draws information directly from your accounts like Personal Capital instead of you inputting it like in YNAB. Continue reading “Finance Tracker Review: Mint.com”
Finance Tracker Review: YNAB
I originally turned away from YNAB (You Need A Budget) during my time using Simple (before the dark days) for a few reasons when I compared it to Simple:1. YNAB costs money ($60 one time fee per household) while Simple is free (outside of holding your money like a bank)
2. YNAB requires that I input all of my transactions manually which takes a fair amount of time while Simple aggregates all my transaction information when I use their debt card
3. YNAB seems complicated and forces me to constantly reconcile and check my different bank accounts while Simple and even Mint.com compiles that information without my involvement
Bad Bank Review: Simple
Speaking of simple, this new age bank is unfortunately everything but. The original idea was a wonderful one: to do away with the old banks that we all have to deal with and replace them with one that puts customer service first and has no overdraft fees or minimum balances. I loved the concept and once I had heard from a few early adopters that their experience had been almost seamless decided to dive in. Continue reading “Bad Bank Review: Simple”
Good Bank Review: TD Bank
I originally became a member of TD Bank because it was one of two banks in my college town and the only bank that also had locations in other parts of the country. So when leaving college I moved all my money to TD Bank and never looked back. And I believe I lucked out enormously. When compared to all the other banks in NYC TD Bank is consistently wonderful whether I’m visiting a location or calling customer service they are always there for me. In NYC at least they are also always building new stores – they seem to be taking over. And they even built one directly in front of my apartment in what seemed like weeks.The only complaint would be the annual fee on their introductory credit cards. For that reason I did move my credit card use elsewhere. The only area that could use improvement is their online experience. It’s a little archaic, but still light-years ahead of a lot of banks that seem to be stuck in the past. Unfortunately I am planning to leave TD Bank simply because they do not have a presence on the West Coast.
My Vice: Gadgets
Whenever I see a press release, demo or review for a new fun technology my heart starts racing. Something ignites within me and in that moment I believe I need that new shiny toy. My brain tries to provide seemingly good reasons why I ‘need’ it.
I still haven’t mastered this feeling – not at all. I actually made the large mistake of buying the new iPhone 6 a few months ago after playing with a few of them and comparing my iPhone 5 which could barely keep a charge for a few hours with what I originally thought was a ridiculously large phone. This impulsive decision created a ripple of financial consequences that finally shook me out of this cycle. Continue reading “My Vice: Gadgets”
My Vice: Eating Out
I had three main aspects of my New York life that I let eat away at my hard earned cash:
1. NYC Rent (already addressed with our move)
2. Fancy Foreign Beaches
3. Eating and Drinking Out
Today I’ll tackle #3: Enjoying food and drink outside of my home. Unfortunately I’ve never been someone who enjoys cooking. I’ve been told that for others cooking helps them relax. Others claim that cooking and baking is fun in the same way chemistry lab can be fun – mixing different things together to see what you can create. I’ve never felt that way. Cooking to me has always felt like a waste of time simply because of two facts: That I eat really quickly and that I am not a good cook. Seeing all the time I spend cooking what turns out to be a mediocre product that I gobble up in a few minutes is quite unsatisfying. I’m left with a full, but not happy stomach and a kitchen full of dishes.
The Lost Hours
I had a thought during a rare visit to the gym. The idea was solidified by reading a blog post by my new blog obsession, Brave New Life. It’s the fact that everyone with a job spends most of their days and most of their life with people they did not choose, doing activities they did not choose. Further, when someone introduces themselves at a party and says they’re an insurance claims adjuster I may have a vague idea of what that means, but I have no idea what their day to day life is like. His or her family has no idea. Most of what they experience in a day is shared with strangers who are competing for money. It’s just such a strange thought in my mind.
Continue reading “The Lost Hours”