Mint: A breath of fresh air for your financial health
How do you keep track of your money and personal finances? These days, it is easy to lose track, especially if you have multiple accounts and assorted bills to pay.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have one app on your Lumia phone where you could quickly see all of your financial information at once? Certainly. Try the free Mint app, now available for the first time for both Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 users*, and see how easy it is to stay on track from now on.
What is Mint?
Mint is an award-winning service that automatically pulls all your financial information into one single view – with a single login – letting you finally see the big picture when it comes to your money. The app can access information from more than 20,000 different financial sources, including banks, credit cards, loans and investment accounts.
“More than 13 million users rely on Mint to help them save toward their financial goals and guide them to a better financial future,” said Vince Maniago, group product manager for Mint. “By expanding our mobile personal finance offerings, we’re providing Windows and Windows Phone users with a custom-built Mint experience that helps them take control and manage their money anywhere, anytime.”
You can use the Mint app to stay on top of your finances, and see what’s happening with all your accounts – checking, savings, investments, retirement – at any moment of the day. Information is available both within the app and using real-time updates shown in the app’s Live tile.
Use Mint to set a budget and create a personal financial plan to help you reach your goals. You can track your progress from the app, and you can also set up regular email notifications if you want.
When it comes to investment accounts, you can compare your portfolio to market benchmarks, and instantly see your asset allocation across all of your accounts: 401k, mutual funds, brokerage accounts, and IRAs.
The app will also suggest steps to save more money based on your personal spending habits.
Your information is secure
Mint uses 128-bit SSL encryption – this is the same type of security that banks use – and all of your data is protected and validated by VeriSign and TRUSTe. Plus, it is worth noting that Mint is a read-only service – you cannot move money in or out of any account using the app.
Personalize how you view the information
Mint has hundreds of predefined categories, and you can also rename or re-categorize any transaction to suit your preferences. You can even add your own categories, if you want.
Once your information is synced up with Mint, the service automatically updates and categorizes your financial information, and then it will suggest ways to help you save money. You get access to an easy-to-follow timeline to see upcoming bills, and charts that visually layout where the money is being spent. All of this is intended to help you plan ahead.
You can use the app to set up alerts, such as bill reminders, that you can have sent to your phone or email. This should help to ensure that you don’t miss any payments, and you don’t get nailed for any surprising late fees.
Making sure you have your finances in order, and then having a plan to help you stick to it might seem like a daunting task. Mint should help make it all a bit easier to swallow. And wouldn’t that be a refreshing change of pace?
The Mint app is free to download from both the Windows and Windows Phone Stores. And, Mint.com has several tutorial videos as well as a new post in their blog to help you get started.
*Mint is only available for users in the United States and Canada at this time.
Featured image of fresh mint leaves by SummerTomato.