Monday, June 6, 2011

Money Talks

I spent a chunk of the weekend getting my financial house in order, as it were.  Not that it was out of hand, mind you.  But it was time for me to take control.  Remember my resolution?  My first stops were LearnVest and Money Under 30, which are great resources for financial information.  Then it was on to Mint.

Mint is this totally free, totally awesome site that allows you to securely see all of your money matters in one place.  There are charts, graphs, text alerts...oh my.  You can set a goal, track spending trends, and learn tons of information.

Then it was on to annualcreditreport.com.  This is the place that Suze (and the FTC) recommend.  It's the only legitimate and free place to see your credit report.  You can view your report with each of the three major agencies (Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian) once a year, per the government.  There's also information about disputing false information.  Sorry--there's a lack of flashy graphics here, but that's sort of for the best.

My last stop was Credit Karma.

Similar to the last link, this place provides your actual credit score instead of the report.  For free.  And you can check your own score as often as you'd like.  For free.  They also give tips about dealing with debt in all of its incarnations.

Note: I do not purport to be any type of financial expert.  I'm simply telling you how I spent several hours of a Sunday afternoon.  My point in all of this is that the information is out there for us.  And it's free.  (Have I mentioned that?)  And secure.  And no one is going to do this stuff for you.  If you take some time on the front end, I promise you that it will be worth it. 

Don't wait too late to pay yourself.  The time value of money is a very powerful thing.

4 comments:

  1. Agh, my eternal struggle. Will I ever be right with my money? I think overall I'm in good shape, but darn it really is tough sometimes to tell yourself to save. Then again I do love that article about how saving will not make you happy. Hmm..and now I'm back at square one...did I mention this is my eternal struggle? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. ooohhh this is definitely something I should try out :) Thanks so much for sharing.

    <3 Belly B

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think I am going to check out a few of these spots. Thanks for the links!

    http://lachapstickfanatique.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Time value of money...brings back memories of Finance with Dr. Haddad. :)

    ReplyDelete