![]() If you sign up with one of them, the site gets a fee. Mint makes some money it's unclear how much by recommending credit cards or investment vehicles under its "Ways to Save" option. Banks, too, have started to offer a similar service to their customers, but somehow, having an outside party monitor your bank seems like a better idea. Microsoft stopped developing its Money program in June, and Intuit started offering Quicken Online for free in October 2008. But consumers have taken a liking to online money management, mostly because it's free. There are many personal-finance software packages that help people track their money, including the industry mastodon, Intuit's Quicken, which dwarfs Mint with 15 million users. You'll excuse this, but it brings a hint of freshness to the stale morning breath of bookkeeping. It even gives a cheerful nudge every time you go over budget on something. ![]() Mint also sends perky little reminders about when your credit-card bills are due, notes if you got charged a fee for something, or questions transactions that don't look right. If you want to know how you managed to spend $2,000 on food last month, click on "Food." Bingo! A new graph, breaking down the details including the drinks, the fast food and the mid-afternoon coffee runs suddenly appears. Because it gets information directly from your bank, it can draw and redraw colorful pie charts and bar graphs that give you a clear picture of the many ways in which your money is seeping away without you having to do much at all. Mint's big appeal is its access to your financial soul. (See pictures of expensive things that money can buy.) In its first month, Mint signed up 50,000 users. Turns out they underestimated how lazy or desperate we all are. Many potential investors in Patzer's idea thought people would simply never be bold enough to hand over all that information Patzer himself admits to some early doubts. In return, Mint shows you, with minimal effort on your part, a complete picture of where the heck all your money is going. It requires that you show the Full Monty. You sign up and give it the online passwords to all your bank accounts, credit cards, retirement accounts, mother's maiden name, everything. Mint, which was launched two years to the day before the announcement of its sale, works like a personal financial manager. Now it has been sold to Intuit for a stunning $170 million. This is the key factor behind the success of, a website that was started three years ago by then 25-year-old CEO Aaron Patzer in his Silicon Valley apartment. ![]() Follow all wish we were better at our personal finances, but it's just too confusing and boring! Secretly, we wish someone else would do it for us.
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