I'm almost fifty-five-years-old, and I've yet to learn how to organize my personal and business finances. In fact, many times the lines blur between the two, as much of my personal life is involved with my business and vice-versa. Therefore, when a new crop of financial websites emerged that promised to help individuals with their finances, my curiosity was piqued. What do these sites offer and are they safe? Better yet – will they really help to organize my financial life?

I tried out several of these sites to learn more about what they have to offer, and I'll share my experiences with you over the next few weeks. All the sites I tried currently are free to use, they include a way to add your assets or portfolio or to meet financial goals, they are not publicly traded and their privacy and safety standards are up to par. In most cases, the privacy information includes the following:

1. Your personal information is not shared or for sale.
   
   
2. Individuals involved with these sites have been subject to prior background checks and are bound by confidentiality obligations.
   
   
3. Your information may be shared with law enforcement to prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities committed by you or others, or if required by any applicable law, rule regulation, subpoena or other legal process.
   
   
4. External service providers will not be given your personal information without your permission.

In other words, the sites I tried can be trusted as well as I trust BUYandHOLD to maintain my portfolio. With that said, any site can be hacked, so be aware that this possibility always exists. And, you cannot run these sites on a dial-up Internet connection...in most cases you will need a cable or other high-speed Internet connection to operate the sites efficiently.

Finally, just because I list one financial site before another does not mean that I prefer one site over another. Nor does it mean that I recommend any one of these sites over another. In the end, you are responsible for your online activities. If you want to organize your finances online, you'll find the tool that best fits your lifestyle and personality. With that said, I'll begin...

Mint.com: Hailed as one of the easiest personal finance sites to use, Mint.com has gained over one million users since it opened in September 2007. CEO and founder Aaron Patzer has been active as an author and as a participant in various events – including his invitation to the White House to consult with the Obama Administration's National Economic Council.

Mint.com is rated top in its category by Kiplinger, Money, PC World and PC magazines, was named one of the 50 Best Websites of 2008 by Time magazine, and has received two Webby awards, an American Business Award and accolades from the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, TechCrunch, and Lifehacker, since its launch. The company was named one of 34 international Technology Pioneers by the World Economic Forum in 2008 and publishes an award-winning personal finance blog at http://www.mint.com/blog.

Personal experience: It was no trouble to add credit card and banking information to Mint.com, although they did not recognize two of my bank credit cards. However, I was able to add my school loan into my budget as well as my mortgage and other bills that I pay with credit cards. These bills were automatically tallied into an account where I could see where I spent my money over the past few months in a pie chart.

You can add your stock portfolio, home value and other belongings to Mint.com to balance your worth. Additionally, Mint.com emails alerts to your inbox when your payments are due and they also offer various options on ways to save money.
The plus side to Mint.com is that it is insanely easy to use and the tools are simple to understand. The minus side is that all your personal information is on their servers and they have access to your accounts because you provide them with user names and passwords. But, you can eliminate that access anytime by changing your passwords on any account you uploaded. Since you should change your password about every three-four weeks anyway, this is just one more account you can add to your list if you decide to use this tool.

Wesabe: This site has been cranking since 2006, and – unlike Mint.com – it demands that you download software where your user names and passwords remain on your computer. This alone may make you feel safer about sharing your private account information. For many accounts, you may need to download your financial information into a spreadsheet and upload it to Wesabe. At that point, their software kicks in to provide you with balances and with other information.
This site provides insights into how you spend your money, and you also can join groups and accept anonymous advice on how to reduce your bills and spending. Wesabe has received rave reviews from Kiplinger's, USA Today, The Economist, LifeHacker and many, many more reputable sources.

Personal Experience: It was just as easy to upload my account information with the Wesabe software as it was with Mint.com. And, Wesabe offers far more options for credit card and bank information. The only problem I encountered – and, it's just a sign of the times – is that some instructions at Wesabe were outdated because different banks had taken over some of my accounts. The new bank guidelines didn't mesh with what I needed to accomplish to finish creating my account.

Since part of my criteria (in my head) was to save time, I found that creating an account at Wesabe was not meeting that goal. But, I'm intrigued with their business model and I will return to this account to compare it to others over the next few weeks. A final word this week for Wesabe: For those who are well-versed in Web 2.0 interactions, Wesabe might prove a good fit; however, for those who are new to using the Web and interactive sites, Wesabe may prove frustrating.
With that in mind, you can test-drive Wesabe's software without creating an account. This might be a great way to learn whether Wesabe's features are cut out for you or not.

Until Next Time,