Читать книгу Retirement Planning For Dummies - Matthew Krantz - Страница 32

When it comes to an all-encompassing website and app to track your spending, Mint (www.mint.com) is the one to beat. Mint is backed by the deep pockets of Intuit, a firm with many years of experience in financial technology.

Mint is free. Here's how to sign up:

1 Log in or create an ID.Go to www.mint.com and create an Intuit ID. If you already use TurboTax Online, you can use the same username and password.

2 Link accounts you want to track.Enter the username and password for your credit card accounts. Mint will then pull in your spending information from those accounts.

3 Go to the Trends tab.

4 Under the During option, select Last 12 Months.Mint summarizes your spending for the past year. You now have your run rate!

5 Check out your spending by category and your total spending. It’s particularly useful to look at spending by category, as shown in Figure 2-2. Knowing that you spend $100 a month at McDonald’s is good, but knowing that you spend $1,000 a month going out to eat is valuable information. Tracking your spending by category lets you spot trends, such as an out-of-control addiction buying collectibles or an entertainment budget that’s larger than your friends (maybe it’s time for them to pick up the restaurant tab sometimes).

Mint has a matching app that you can download for iOS or Android, so you can track your spending and run rate right from your smartphone.