Personal finances.  It seems to be a topic in many households these days. Economically, it is a very scary time for many people. And lots of people are taking a serious look at their budget these days. Are we saving enough for retirement, emergencies and our children’s education? How can we save the proper amount for all of these things and pay for groceries, housing, and necessities?

Over the eleven years of our marriage, my husband and I learned you must take a conscious effort to budget your money. You need to know what your expenses are and what your savings need to be. This is not an easy process. We went to a financial planner to help us understand the different types of savings we need and how much we need to save every month. These days with the internet, there are also websites to help you manage your money. One website that I believe is very helpful and FREE, is Mint.com.

If you are really serious about managing your finances properly, but do not know where to start, Mint.com is extremely useful website. This website can help you create a budget, save for retirement, pay off debt, etc.

You can check out their website for great budgeting ideas, but for the full value you need to sign up. When you sign up you need to disclose your personal financial information to get the most out of Mint. Mint seems to be a pretty secure website and carries the secure seals of both VeriSign and TRUST-e.According to Mint.com, they “provide bank-level data security for the transaction information” they store.  And, you register anonymously because Mint.com doesn’t need your name or any personally identifiable info.

After you complete the sign-up process, Mint.com analyzes your financial information. The analysis is extremely informative and extensive. Once your account is up and running, Mint.com also downloads and categorizes your balances and transactions automatically on a daily basis, making it very easy to see graphs of your spending, income, balances, and net worth.  You can store information on all of your accounts in one place and have access to their balances whenever you want to via their website or the Mint.com iPhone app.  They also provide very powerful but easy to use budgeting tools.  Mint.com can help you uncover areas where you could be saving more money in your daily life by comparing your current accounts to the best financial products out in the marketplace.  All of the tools are so easy to use and the graphs are simple and easy to understand.

Aside from the great free services you can get at Mint.com, they also have a blog called MintLife. It’s a fabulous blog filled with informative articles on personal finances, investing, trends, and their Mint Life Guides.  The articles are always written in plain English so that anyone can understand them easily.  And they have the best infographics illustrating some of the complex financial topics in the news today.

I believe that Mint.com can truly help people move towards a financially secure future.  When finances are under control, it eliminates a lot of stress in your everyday life. We can all use less stress.  I wish you all the best in getting this area of your lives in order.