The Reasons I'm Devoted to This Top Budgeting App
Why Mint Is the Best Budgeting App for Many Millennials
There’s something kind of lovely and ironic about opening a piece about a budgeting app with a picture of pencils, spreadsheets, and paper. And now that time has moved on from these basics, I spend a fair amount of my day thinking about financial technology, and which features of different apps, and the best of tech tools today help support financial wellness. To start off, know that anyone’s personal favorites really have to be taken in stride. What works for me may not work for you. The Nerd Wallet review that sings something’s praises may not work for you.
I’ll also note that this is not sponsored in any way and I do not work with Mint in any capacity. This is exclusively my personal opinion based on my firsthand experience using a variety of these apps over the years.
The “best of” financial technology comes down to a unique combination of your personal financial goals, families’ needs, and exactly what you’re comfortable using on a day to day basis. Bottom line, the best tech is the one you’ll use that supports your personal financial situation.
That said, I wanted to share a few reasons why I’ve come to settle on Mint as my top budgeting app.
Reasons Mint is My Top Budgeting App Pick
Completely free: When I was first tackling my budget, it was difficult to swallow adding another subscription expense to get…my expenses under control. That little bit of irony was enough to start me on the path to finding a free solution.
A slick interface: Mint has recently added some features allowing you to swap around the sections you use most, which has made its landing page more user friendly. It also has easy to navigate features for the budget categories I use most, and less frills than other apps.
Holistic Picture: It’s easy to bring all kinds of accounts into Mint. From checking and savings, all the way through to other investment products, they’ve really expanded the range of what they’ll pull in for you since they launched many years ago.
Ultra Customizable: I definitely believe in the zero-based budgeting system. It’s especially helpful if you’re really struggling to get a sense of where you spend, or are trying to control cash flow in all categories at a detailed level. For me, it is extremely hard to zero-based budget with good hygiene on a regular basis. I may go in spurts where I need that level of financial focus, but for the majority of my needs, Mint suits just fine. I can customize down to a super precise level, or have some high level budget categories where things automatically fill in monthly.
Bill Pay Integration: The bill pay integration feature is really useful. You can set up customized alerts, see all of your bills plotted on a calendar (hooray for visualization!) and can set up warnings for when your account is low.
Why I Like it For Millennials’ Budgeting
I think Mint is a good pick for those of us in the Millennials life stage because it strikes the right balance of utility and sophistication. At this point, most of us have had experience trying to manage debt, or balance our expenses with our income, or save for a specific goal. Because of that, I’m less interested in apps that try to make these tasks extremely tech forward. e.g., I don’t need a dollar transferred to my savings every time I tweet, a feature that, no joke, is available on some of these other popular budgeting apps.
That said, it does have enough features that can alert, update, or help you change behavior that it’s still useful for those of us who want a little nudging on our goals.
Mint Drawbacks
The main drawback people note with Mint is that it’s a little light on integration of your investment accounts. For me, that’s not exactly what I need in this particular app, so it’s not a huge issue. Mint also differs from other apps like YNAB, that really prompt you for daily management of your spending, and force you into selecting. budgeting categories for every live expense. For my day-to-day budgeting needs, that’s not structure I necessarily am looking for. But, if that’s a critical feature for you, you might benefit from something a little more directed.
Other Alternatives
Real finance junkies may also want to look at Mint’s big sister, Quicken. If I were to make a switch to a new platform, it would probably be here. The range of tools and visualizations are a bit more impressive. There’s also some useful connectivity in terms of exporting information and expenses for tax purposes, as well as some interesting analytics that can help you forecast personal revenues and expenses.
For most of us, Mint will be more than enough horsepower to get the day to day work of budgeting done. It’s a good reminder that it’s never entirely about the tool you use, but the behavior you change and the habits you put in place around money management that really matter.
