Budgeting Online

[tkidBOSTON]

So I came across the following article from Newsweek about effective ways for young people to save:

http://http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tipsheet/archive/2007/10/20/when-you-finally-go-it-alone.aspx

One of the suggestions was to budget online. The thinking is that you can combine the draw of social networking with budgeting and have young people flock to it. Its a good free way to budget and it also includes a social aspect and lets you see how you spend your money compared to your peers.

My question is has anyone tried any online budgeting sites? The article lists the following three:

mint.com
geezeo.com
wesabe.com

Anyone have any input on any of these or similar sites including thoughts on effectiveness of budgeting online and security related to disclosing all your financial information on the sites.

Thanks!

 

[ucfgrad93]

Personally, I wouldn't want to put my financial picture online for others to see.

 

[tkidBOSTON]

Personally, I wouldn't want to put my financial picture online for others to see.

Is there really a risk if others cant link your financial information to your true identity?
I mean, Im sure Im not the only 25yr old male from Boston on the site.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I really don't think its a risk, I just wouldn't feel comfortable sharing that information with the whole world.

 

[twoodcc]

i use buxfer.com for mine, and i also have used mint.com

mint does everything for you, you don't really add in stuff. i like buxfer pretty good though

 

[tkidBOSTON]

i use buxfer.com for mine, and i also have used mint.com

mint does everything for you, you don't really add in stuff. i like buxfer pretty good though

Why use buxfer over mint then?

 

[twoodcc]

Why use buxfer over mint then?

b/c you can make any account in buxfer, but with mint, you only can download transactions from their supported banks. (hope that makes sense)

 

[tkidBOSTON]

b/c you can make any account in buxfer, but with mint, you only can download transactions from their supported banks. (hope that makes sense)

It does, thanks.

 

[yg17]

Mint looks cool, but I don't want to have all of my online banking info there. If there's a security breach, all of my info is right there for hackers to see.

 

[tkidBOSTON]

Mint looks cool, but I don't want to have all of my online banking info there. If there's a security breach, all of my info is right there for hackers to see.

See, I was all set to sign up for one of these sites and there you go and scare me into thinking this is a bad idea again.

::Sigh::

Okay, I might just give up this social budgeting thing and go back to my excel spreadsheet and give it the ol' college try again.

 

[twoodcc]

See, I was all set to sign up for one of these sites and there you go and scare me into thinking this is a bad idea again.

::Sigh::

Okay, I might just give up this social budgeting thing and go back to my excel spreadsheet and give it the ol' college try again.

well it's up to you. i personally like it b/c i can add stuff or whatever no matter where i'm at, as long as i have internet access

 

[sethypoo]

This thread may be dead, but I use Wesabe daily.

Wesabe is different from most online budgeting sites because your sensitive financial information is stored locally on your person computer.

What this means is that sites like Mint require you to give them your bank/credit card user name and password so that Mint can log into your account and download your transaction history, and then upload it into Mint's servers. Wesabe, on the other had, has you download an "uploader" program, which is basically a script that saves your user names and passwords on your computer, never letting anyone (Wesabe included) from seeing your login info.

So, the end result is that Wesabe gives you a little more protection by restricting who has access to your login info. I highly recommend Wesabe!

 

[tkidBOSTON]

I highly recommend Wesabe!

I've been using Mint for the past few months and kind of dug it at first, but the lack of customizability (should be a real word if its not) is really starting to get to me. Perhaps I'll take a look at moving over to Wesabe.

I never did get fully comfortable with having Mint have all my passwords anyway.

 

[twoodcc]

I've been using Mint for the past few months and kind of dug it at first, but the lack of customizability (should be a real word if its not) is really starting to get to me. Perhaps I'll take a look at moving over to Wesabe.

I never did get fully comfortable with having Mint have all my passwords anyway.

buxfer.com is the way to go. and they are upgrading it all the time. try it out, i use it everyday.

you can also download your bank statement, and then upload it to buxfer.