I have been using the Mint app and Mint.com website for probably about 4 months now. I love having this app on my phone because it allows me to easily keep up with my finances. It can even alert you when bills are due or if an odd transaction has occurred - large deposit or withdrawal, etc. I will step through some of the features of the app/website, noting my likes and dislikes. FYI: I am using the Android app so it may be slightly different if you have an iPhone.
Linking of cards/accounts: Mint allows for easy linking of all of your accounts including credit cards, debit cards, checking accounts, investment accounts, loan accounts, etc. I love the security with this app. It is powered by Intuit, and I feel safe giving my information to them. If you are not comfortable with this, this app will not be nearly as useful for you. It pulls in real time data from all of your accounts so you can view it in one place. This makes life easier because you do not have to log into multiple accounts to view your finances. You can set a passcode so if someone gets access to your phone, they cannot see your financial information.
Investment accounts: You can keep track of your investment accounts such as 401Ks and mutual fund on the mint app. I like this feature but it is pretty limited on what it can show you. For my account, it only shows me the contributions I made and the total value of the account but does not show gains and losses. I wish it showed this, but for a quick view of my investment it works okay, especially since I can get the more detailed information from the actual investment site.
Budgeting tool: I used this tool for a little bit but have not been using it regularly lately. It is a neat feature that allows you to input an amount you want to spend in various categories: auto, utilities, fast food, groceries, etc. You can add your own categories as well, so there are a lot of options here. Mint will alert you when you are nearing your allowed spending in each category. This is a great feature if you are trying to set boundaries for yourself. You can also dictate if your budget can rollover to the next month in each category. For example, if you want to spend $100 each month on entertainment but in August you only spent $90, $10 will rollover to September, and your budget for September will be $110. You can opt out of this feature as well (I believe you have to be on the website to access this feature). The only thing I do not like about this feature is that you have to wait until the current month to do a budget for that month. This limits you budgeting ahead for the next month.
Goals: You can set goals on the website as well, but I do not think you can do this in the app. For example, if you want to save for an $8,000 car, you can put in a goal to save $1,000 a month for 8 months, and Mint will track your progress. You have to have a separate account for this goal though like a separate savings account, so I have not used this feature to the full extent yet.
Charts: I love the charts Mint provides. I will first mention the charts and information available in the app, as it is limited compared to the website. You can view a pie chart of your expenses for the current month only (which is a bit annoying). The pie chart breaks expenses up into categories. For example, it will show that you spent $50 on fast food in August. You can then click into the category and view individual transactions: $15 at Wendy's day 1, $10 at Taco Bell, $20 at Pizza Hut, $5 at Wendy's day 2. This shows you a graphic to see how large a piece of your pie is going into each category. You can quickly that you are spending a large percentage on restaurants for example.
The spending chart shows spending month to month, and you can view individual transactions as well. This is nice because it combines all of your accounts into one space so you can see your expenses across multiple credit cards or accounts. I personally like the net income chart because it shows month over month how much you are putting away into savings. It shows net income=income-expenses.
Cash Flow: This features allows you to see total expenses broken out by Merchant or Category. Here you can also click in to see individual expenses at each merchant or in each category.
Now for the extra charts provided on the website. Here you can view your trends for spending, income, net income, assets, debts, and net worth over time. You can look at the current month, the last 3 months, the last year, etc. You can alternate between a bar chart or pie chart on the website for different visuals. The information in the app is great for a quick view, but you can access a lot more information on the website if you really want to dig into your finances. You can even export a CSV file. I look at this every once in awhile but use the app on a daily basis.
Overall, I love the features provided by Mint. I wish the app had a better way to look at investment accounts, but it works for a quick view. You cannot access the pie chart for previous months from the app, but you can look at what you spent for previous months. I wish the budgeting took allowed you to forecast expenses for coming months on the app and website.
You should try it for yourself, and let me know your opinion in the comments.
OH, did I mention it's FREE?
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