I started using Mint for my personal finances in 2021 and have become a big advocate for the app. For anyone looking to keep better track of their finances, I recommend downloading the Mint mobile app. In this post I’ll review some of the features I like the most.
Comparison data
Mint comes with all the basics you’d expect from a modern finance app, such as account aggregating and budgeting. However, where Mint really excels is in their own comparison data and visuals. Mint provides excellent tools for tracking my spending and cash flow versus prior months or in certain categories. This helps me think of my finances like a business, easily tracking money in and money out each month.
For example, the monthly snapshot gives me an average of my income and spending for the last 6 months.
I can click into one of the columns in the visual and get a more detailed view. For instance, a large junk of my January spending thus far is related to summer travel plans.
For more specific details, I can click into a spending category and get a list of all of my transactions.
And I love the weekly round up emails that give me a quick glance at my spending without opening the app.
But the email I probably click through the most is when Mint alerts me to any fees I paid.
There’s plenty of reasons to use an app like Mint for your personal finances. For me, I use it most as a way to keep track of my spending and visualize where my money is going. Honestly, there’s a lot of robust features that get into the nitty gritty of budgeting that I’m not even taking advantage of.
But I love the spend tracking and the automated email alerts. At a minimum, I can easily and reliably track all of my spending and income without having to log into a bunch of different accounts. If you’re interested in a deeper dive into Mint, I suggest reading this review.
Mint is very intuitive though, so for anyone looking for a quick start, just download the app, sync your accounts, and start using it how you see fit.
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