This post marks my fourth Money Monday and I'm thankful I took the plunge almost a month ago! Sharing my journey to better understanding my own finances has helped me be accountable and I've consistently learned much more than if I would have tried to do it on my own. As I've researched advice from experts, crunched the numbers, and talked to financial gurus, I've confirmed my beliefs that young people with disabilities often share unique circumstances. I've tried to weave these differences into the knowledge that exists. I'm still astonished that there's such a lack of chatter targeted to our audience.
In the spirit of spring cleaning and organization, this week I'll review a free online money management tool that is growing in popularity-Mint.com. This site allows you to review your checking, savings, and credit card accounts all in one place. It breaks down expenses and puts them into categories and graphs so you can see exactly where your money is going and how it compares to people your age, people in your state, or others around the country.
[Picture caption: Green header image with the title "Mint" and smaller text reading "refreshing money management". Three mint leaves with a money sign embellish the title.]
For a comprehensive and lengthy review of all the particulars on this site, check out what some expert bloggers in the financial field had to say:
Money Mythos
Debt Kid
These writers have done a detailed job breaking down the options of the site and they are just a couple of the new blogs I've added to my almost daily routine. It's always most effective to learn something by tapping into the way you learn best. Given my field (psychology), it's usually an asset that I crave the personal side of things. But it's not always so easy to connect to the interpersonal aspects of money. Reading blogs about different approaches to financial management hooks me on the subject and of finances and captures my hard-to-keep attention for enough time for me to learn. If you are interested in more, feel free to drop me a private message and I'll send my other favorites!
Like any faithful blogger (and pestering girlfriend) would, I thought it might be more powerful to have not one but TWO opinions on this site from young budgeters with disabilities. Adam and I set up separate accounts this weekend and within minutes, we each had several colorful graphs to admire and some not-so-great realizations to absorb. 
There's an example of a graph from the site to the right but that's not ours. You can break down each category for a more detailed review and Adam discovered his "number 1 merchant" was WENDY'S! Those grilled chicken sandwiches take a toll and the information must have given him some motivation for change because he packed his lunch for work today!
My favorite part of Mint.com are the goal setting features. It took some time to customize, but in under and hour I had a fairly concrete budget set. I know I shouldn't be as amused with the visual attraction of the site, but it's an honest determinant for me on whether I'm likely to return to a site like this regularly. I also like the e-mail alert service for a number of items, like bill reminders, alerts if you exceed a set budget, or notification when a deposit clears. These reminder systems that stretch across accounts could be an excellent tool for someone with memory difficulties.
We did stumble across a few areas with room for improvement during our explorations. We noticed what others have reported that the site can be slow to load. No financial information is actually stored on the site. It's all accessed through your individual accounts. My security is worth a little patience for the features to fully load. In less than 24 hours, I can also see how this site could drain productivity and time management. It's a little addicting. When time is money and if you're checking Mint instead of writing/working, it's a problem! I couldn't figure out how to add a few of my accounts and some of the categorizations were incorrectly labeled with some amusing apparent guesses by the system. The site mistook my debit charges for lunch at the hospital for money spent at a museum. I prefer the illusion that I'm well-cultured instead of well-fed, so I left it. But it is possible to fix these mix-ups.
If you have a chance to visit or try Mint, I'd love to hear your opinions and creative ideas to factor in disability-expense by using the goals and trends features. Another newer site, SmartyPig, also caught my eye as I researched comments on Mint so another review might be in my future. Adam swears I'm interested in the site based on its pink appeal and cute pig, but I'm determined to find something else I might like about it! If you've got a site or financial question, you'd like me to ponder, please let me know.
