![]() ![]() You go to the sites of your banks, credit card issuers, and investment companies, plug in your passwords and screen names, and the money management sites then pull in the data and categorize everything. Typically, they use “screen scraping” technology to see, but not touch, your financial transactions. You needn’t worry about the sites draining your bank accounts. The sites also help you set goals and host online communities of like-minded budgeters offering advice and encouragement. The sites pick up every transaction you make with plastic, but you’ve got to fill in the details on how you spent cash. Although you can’t move money between your accounts, you can (theoretically) get a snapshot of your entire financial life by seeing every transaction, from the $40 you put on your debit card for dry cleaning to the $2,200 you charged on your last vacation. At some sites, you can also get a running tally of your net worth. These sites are supposed to work pretty much the same way: After you pull in financial info from your banks, brokers, mutual funds, and retirement plans, they sort the data into categories to show you how you’re managing your money, so you can do a better job. ![]() (I didn’t test Quicken because its parent company, Intuit, plans to merge that site into, which it recently bought.) Mint earned an impressive 4.5 stars on my five-star scale, three sites were pretty good, and one turned out not to be free after all. But are the sites safe? Is it worth the time and effort to sign up and overcome the inevitable bugs? And if so: Which site is best? I attempted to figure that out by plugging in my own financial data to see how well they work.Īfter taking five sites out for a spin - Mint, Buxfer, moneyStrands, Wesabe, and Thrive - I found stunning differences in their usefulness. ![]()
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