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>> "Mint has nothing to do with taxes like axod says." >> "If you are not one of those people who has money to keep track of or you don't balance your checkboo
by axod 17y ago
>> "Mint has nothing to do with taxes like axod says."
>> "If you are not one of those people who has money to keep track of or you don't balance your checkbook, then sure the value is hard to see."
I was really trying to work out why Mint seems to be valued highly in the US. I can see some of the differences now.
The idea of having a 'checkbook' is incredibly quaint to most people in the UK. No one uses checks anymore here, not for 10-20 years, we're used to free banking, online account management, direct debits/transfers, etc. The majority of people have direct debits (Automated bill payments) setup for all their bills. They have their pay paid automatically into their bank by transfer (All free of course).
Banks provide all the tools we need to manage our money for free generally. Some online banking tools even allow you to access other banks that you may have accounts with (With your approval), so you can see all your accounts from one interface, and get a better picture.
I still think the added burden of having to file your own taxes would make you more likely to need something like mint, but it's probably more the extreme differences in consumer banking that's the bigger reason.
If I had to pay my bills by check, I'd go insane.
- psyklic 17y agoWhat you describe sounds like the US as well ... the power of Mint is in consolidating all of your accounts.
- krschultz 17y agoI don't write checks either. I've written 2 checks in the last 12 months. One for a used car and one for a bike. Both from private sellers so they didn't take debit cards. I use my debit and credit cards all day. I never even use cash, primarily so that it all gets categorized automatically by Mint and I'm too lazy to do it for cash by hand. But in my mind a debit card is the same as checks. Of course I pay my bills online and have bank access online (you must to use Mint). The difference I guess is that I'm using multiple companies. Why load up Bank of America, Vanguard, WSFS, Wachovia, Capitol One and Fidelity's websites and use 6 different interfaces on 6 different websites when I can use one unified one? You seem to have an anti-US bias that you think we are stupid or something. It is a question of how you treat your money, not the tools available. And you are horribly mistaken on the "burden of filing your own taxes", which again, has nothing to do with Mint. 99% of the work for taxes is done by the HR department at your office and by a tax accountant. I just hand the appropriate papers to the right people, and sign it at the end. Total timer per year: an hour at most. Maybe you shouldn't comment on things you obviously have no knowledge of.
- axod 17y ago>> "Maybe you shouldn't comment on things you obviously have no knowledge of." Then I wouldn't be able to comment on anything at all! :/ Point taken, maybe things have changed in the US since I was there. My understanding of things was that people still got paid by check, paid bills by check etc, did not get free banking, and paid 'convenience fees' to pay things online etc.