At the age of 27, Aaron sold his company to Intuit for a cool $170M. This of course made big news and even local radio personalities from Alice 97.3 interviewed him. I never really looked into his company Mint.com but I decided to today. I realized he has created for the masses what I have been doing on my own for the past 4 years on Excel -- and figured out a way to monetize it. The cloud based software allows you to integrate all of your financial together (from checking and savings to your credit card and mortgage) to create a seamless, and easy to use, online financial planner and tracker.
Having done some more research, I realized Aaron's financial strategy is very similar to my own, mainly:
- Spend less than you earn
- Make the money you have work for you
- Plan for the unexpected
"I also pay off all my credit cards in full every month. If you have the discipline to do this, use your credit card for everything. It’s safer than the debit card, gives you an interest free loan for 30 days, and rewards (points or better yet cash back) for anything you buy."
Unfortunately, as seamless and easy to use as Mint's GUI is, their AI isn't very intelligent. Viewing this with an online market background, it's very easy to see that they placed the offers that monetize the best for them first. Some of their recommendations also do not fit my budget or plan.
Mint.com is a very useful "free" tool for individuals to start managing their own finances. Just understand they are still a business, and the offers they recommend help make them money. So do a little independent research of your own before you take their recommendations for granted.
No comments:
Post a Comment