Any updates about Mint.com?

[M Paquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NanoSour You simply add VG to the accounts list and provide your username/password and it will provide balances for all your VG accounts. .

Because handing one's investment account name and password to someplace on the Internet will never be a problem.

They do claim to use AES-128 encryption for storage, but that is decrypted each time they query VG for your balances. That makes Mint a prime target for a snoop or man-in-the-middle attack (a way to defeat the SSL encrypted connection between Vanguard and Mint).

Check your bank or brokerage's terms and conditions regarding password security before providing account information to a third party. You may find that this act invalidates any guarantees that the bank or brokerage makes regarding liability for your account being hacked.

I don't use Mint or similar services. I find the tradeoff of convenience for risk to be unacceptable to me, personally.

[RonBoyd]

In my search to validate my earlier statement about Personal Capital's security (the answer may have to wait until I return to Denver and dig out my notes), I did come across this article that was influential in my decision (yeah, I was skittish also):

Personal Capital Review – Free Online Financial & Portfolio Management

Quote:

Personal Capital vs. Mint Mint.com is the most popular online money management tool, and several people have asked me how the two services compare. They are similar in that they both give users the ability to track their income, expenses, investments, and net worth. However, Mint.com is more geared toward budgeting and managing spending. Personal Capital also does has cash management features, but also gives investors much more insight into their investment portfolio. Here are some more differences: Mint.com: Primarily focused on budgeting and tracking spending. Mint.com: Not much insight into investments, including asset allocation, expense ratios, and alerts Mint.com: lots of upsells for different financial products and services. Personal Capital: Investor focused; tools are geared toward tracking investments and balancing your portfolio. Personal Capital:Receive alerts when your portfolio falls out of balance. Personal Capital: Ability to hire a financial planner to help you with your investments. Personal Capital: Track your investments and net worth in real time.

Quote:

My Verdict – Coolest Investment Tool on the Market I’m a self-admitted financial geek. I read and write about personal finance on a daily basis, and I try out as many tools as I can. I my opinion, this is the biggest game changer in the financial industry since Mint.com launched. And that is high praise. As I mentioned earlier, this is a tool I am comfortable recommending to family and friends, and I think it can change how many people manage their investments. I’m all-in on Personal Capital.

I guess, I need to make perfectly clear that I am not trying to be a spokes-person for Personal Capital... any decision you personally take in regards to joining up should be at your own risk (jeopardy). Particularly if you believe I have some special insight.

[caninelover]

I've used mint.com for a few years now. Overall I like it but it can be a bit buggy...accounts not always updating, duplicating transactions, etc. But, I like being able to look at all my account balances. I also like the bill reminder tool, as I use it to remind me of when some of my irregular expenses (eg insurancee premiums) are coming due. I also use the budgeting tools to keep my spending in check. Like I said, overall, I do like it.

[ejw93]

Been using Mint for 2+ years now and am happy with the product.

Only glitch I have seen is that when you refi a mortgage, it has a tendency to wipe out the old mortgage, as if it never existed (and was never a drain on your Net Worth).

So I manually type in my mortgage balance from an amortization spreadsheet on the 1st of every month.

Other than that, Mint is tracking EVERYTHING we spend/earn and is pretty much hands-off.

[wanaberetiree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by M Paquette Check your bank or brokerage's terms and conditions regarding password security before providing account information to a third party. You may find that this act invalidates any guarantees that the bank or brokerage makes regarding liability for your account being hacked.

Can you actually give a example(s)/name(s) of a bank or brokerage with such conditions regarding passwords?

I think it's a very interesting and important issue.

[M Paquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wanaberetiree Can you actually give a example(s)/name(s) of a bank or brokerage with such conditions regarding passwords? I think it's a very interesting and important issue.

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/hel...dgeContent.jsp

Quote:

Our commitment regarding online security is simple. If assets are taken from your account in an unauthorized online transaction on Vanguard.com®—and you've followed the steps described in the Your responsibilities section below—we will reimburse the assets taken from your account in the unauthorized transaction. ... Never share your user name, password, or other account-related information with anyone. Never store your user name, password, or answers to security questions in your browser. ...

https://401k.fidelity.com/public/con...ctionGuarantee

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As part of our ongoing commitment to our customers, we're proud to offer our Customer Protection Guarantee: We will reimburse your Fidelity account for any losses due to unauthorized activity. ... The guarantee does not cover situations in which you authorize account activity, including: (1) the activities of any person to whom you have given, or with whom you have shared, your username, password or account number, and (2) the activities of any person, including an investment advisor or professional (its employees and agents), to whom you have granted authority of any type over your account (such as power of attorney, trading or money movement authorization or an investment management relationship). The guarantee does not cover conduct by, or situations involving, any person described above that results in the unauthorized access of your accounts or in the disclosure of your personal information (for example, the failure of such person to secure his or her computer or the use of an unsecured computer by such a person). The guarantee also does not cover unauthorized activities in your workplace retirement or benefit account by an employer, administrator or plan sponsor representative who is authorized to access your account, but who is acting outside the scope of his or her authority. It also does not cover unauthorized activities resulting from a breach of security: (a) in an employer, administrator’s or plan sponsor's systems Or (b) at a third-party entity or web site with which you have shared, or authorized the sharing of, your username, password and/or account number.

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/...ur_information

Quote:

Do not share your password; sharing your password with anyone—including family, friends, and third-party websites—may invalidate your Schwab agreements.

[Sesq]

I have used mints for several years. I find it does a lousy job with maintaining categories over time, net worth, investments. That said, it does a great job aggregating transactions and letting me monitor stuff as close to real time as possible. Use it everyday for this.

I also like the bill reminders, but that is because I have a lot of credit cards from bonuses and it helps not let anything sneak up or slip by.

[Livin Large in MT]

I use Mint and also have a portfolio entered on Morningstar Premium with all my holdings...I can export the portfolio into Excel and then work from there. Between the two, I can check and make sure Morningstar is reflecting correct changes in my portfolio. Morningstar allows me to analyze what my dividends and cap gains are doing in my portfolio: Mint doesn't have that level of detail though they recently allowed me to enter my deferred comp portfolio. I like having both.

[wrichards58]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hakuna matata I like Mint for about 3 years now--overall I like it. The only issue I have had with it is some duplication of account. For example I have some accounts with Wacovia and I included them, but I also have some with Wells Fargo, and since Wacovia and WF are now together it started counting them twice. So I had to go into one of the accounts on Mint and basically not count it. I had a great Net Worth when I was counting them twice! But once you get it all set up it seems to go smoothly. Once in awhile I have some issue or another with a bank or credit union on passwords, or they do a new security measure and you have to go in and allow access for Mint again. But all in all it hasn't been too big of a hassle.

I have been using meet for a couple of years and love it... It helps me budget

[obgyn65]

I deleted the Mint app from my iPhone a few months ago after it could not access my BoA account and some security concerns were discussed on the Internet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronnieboy I am thinking Mint.com might be the way to go for an update free way to get things done. Mostly automatic, secure, easy to use, and free!

[noelm]

I have been using it for 3 years now and pretty impressed. I do not make budgets because my expenses are very tightly controlled, still gives me a good one-spot recording of all my financial accounts.

Don't worry about the security, their security is better than majority of the banks and the data is transferred in read-only mode, so even if your account is hacked, the hacker can not really do anything.

[Ronnieboy]

I have opened the mint account and linked a few accounts, so far I like it. It has shown me a few surprises on our spending habits that we need to correct (as far as how much we were spending vs estimates of what we were spending). I have found a couple of my financial institutions that have a 'partner program' which allows places like mint or quicken to gain 'read only access' to accounts.

I need to now set up a budget within mint and go from there.

[LitGal]

My husband tracked our expenses for years on Quicken. Changed over to Mint a couple years ago and has been very happy with it.