23 Nov 08 Having Mint Helps
I’ve just finished reading Louis Gray’s post about how Mint.com is bringing home to him in no uncertain terms how much the value of his investments is sliding right now.
There are no safe havens in which to put your money any more, he writes. It’s the same on the jobs front too. There are fewer and fewer jobs that can be considered safe any longer. Large corporations and small businesses alike are laying people off, and for the self-employed in many cases it’s getting harder to find work, or at least good enough paying work.
Yes, Mint.com can be frightening reading when you consider Louis’ scenario above. However, all Mint.com is doing is presenting your financial data to you in a way that’s easier to understand at a glance. Pie Charts and graphs abound, and it’s true, that a picture is worth a thousand words. I particularly find the pie charts useful for seeing just where that much money went this month. I often find myself drilling down to click on a category to see just how we did spend that much on a particular category, and it’s surprising how much you can actually save once you’re truly more aware of how much you’re spending on it.
A couple of bucks here and there, doesn’t feel like you’re spending much, but of course it adds up. Most of us can do the math. If, for example you buy 2 lattes five days a week at $3.49 a time, that’s $34.90 a week. No points there for being able to do such a simple calculation. However we rarely think of something like that in those terms, but more like oh, it’s only a few bucks a day, and then trot out an excuse to ourselves (always the hardest person in the world to convince to change, and the easiest one to make believable excuses to).
Look at that pie chart, and you can see how that chunk adds up in a month ($139.60), and in a year (based on 50 weeks – $1745). That information was there all the time, in your bank statements (assuming you use a card to pay), but when it’s presented in a clear graphical form to you, it has much more impact.
Using Mint.com is saving me money, alas not on coffee, as I almost always brew my own each morning!
Tags: bank statements, bringing home, charts and graphs, chunk, excuse, fewer jobs, glance, investments, large corporations, math, mint, much money, pie chart, pie charts, safe havens, small businesses, uncertain terms
04 Aug 08 Demographics of American Newspapers
1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts and pretty pictures.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country — if they could find the time — and didn’t have to leave Southern California to do it.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it, thank you very much.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running (from) another country but need the baseball scores.
10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist gay dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.
11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.
12. The Seattle Times and Nashville Tennessean are read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something to wrap it in.
Tags: baseball scores, boston globe, crossword puzzles, dwarfs, illegal aliens, los angeles times, miami herald, nashville tennessean, national enquirer, new york daily news, new york post, occasional exceptions, pie charts, poor job, pretty pictures, san francisco chronicle, seattle times, usa today, wall street journal, york daily news
