As talked about before, I use Mint.com to keep track of my accounts. It’s a great place to see a simple snapshot of my accounts and search for better banking deals. I also love Mint’s blog. But their newest feature just jumped right up there with the blog and the snapshot – Mint goals.
I’m a big fan of post-it notes and spreadsheets, so I was skeptical at first. But it’s actually been a pretty easy way for me to manage my plan to save up enough to pay off my student loans by the end of 2011. I’ll update you on that progress in the next few days. In short, I’m about 15% there! Good stuff.
The goals feature is easy to use. It took me less than 2 minutes to set the goal and it tells me whether I’m “on track,” “ahead” or “behind” right on the front page. As of yesterday, I’m two weeks ahead of schedule. It’s really cool. Once you sign in you simply click on the goals tab on the top of the overview page and then “add a goal.” It’s that simple.
The coolest part is that you can actually “link” accounts to your goal. I’ve linked four accounts to my student loan goal (one savings account and two of the Ally 5-year CDs that have only a 60-day early withdrawal penalty, which I opened between 2.74 and 2.89 APY to earn a few extra bucks over the next year and a half). I opened new Ally accounts for my goals because it is super easy (takes about 30 seconds for each CD once you open an online savings account) and I can dedicate an entire account to my goal. As those accounts grow, Mint automatically adjusts my progress. You can link new accounts or remove accounts as you want. So next month when I open another CD and link that right up to my goal.
So if you’ve had a tough time setting goals or following through with them, Mint will do (almost) all the work for you (you still have to set it up and save the money). If you have a hard time staying intense enough, setting a goal and seeing it (and your progress) right on the front page is some decent motivation as well.
So plan with me. What’s your goal? Let’s find a short-term one – no later than the end of 2011. What do you want to save up for or pay off before then? It can be anything really. If it’s paying something off, pick something that really irks you, set a goal and make it happen. If you’re in consumer debt, I suggest focusing your energy attacking that instead of saving up to buy something. But the point of this exercise is to change habits, set goals and follow through.
A plan is key too. I’ll follow up with some suggestions for plans that work for me.
So: Have you been meaning to pay off your credit card debt? Set a goal. Student loan driving you nuts? Set a goal. Have no debt? Great – save for something. Emergency fund? College fund? New (to you) car? Vacation? Whatever works for you. Then make a plan and get intense.
And, of course, put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!
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