Mint is it refreshing?

Ok let's face the fact I need a software like Mint.com! We need to get our financial and family life's back together. Is it cool and refreshing like a mint always is?

I've been trying to get a hold of the early beta realease from Mint.com for awhile now with no success then I notice SavingExplained is running a contest to win one of 5 invites into the refreshing world that is Mint.com.

Now my post isn't unique or filled with images or creative images and video's to get one attention. It's strickly a post of need. Reading the information from the Mint.com page I believe this would be nothing but a handy tool in our adventure to reduce debt and improve our finances.

Showing love in terms of the internet.

I decided to go through my blog and make some changes, some to increase the speed of the page and others for the looks of the site. The main thing I decided to change through was getting rid of the Blog Roll It, nothing against Blog Roll It personally but I decided it was time to implement a more personal list.

What I decided upon was doing a manual add list which is on your left hand side listed as WCF's Top Rated. In this space we call the internet there are some people out there that are willing to help another newer site become successful. Or just actually care to read the content that people write, either way those that are listed on my left hand side have done nothing but shown me love in a number of ways.

Either they have genuinely helped bring traffic, commented on stories or lended a helping hand to our little space on the internet. Help us show the love back by visiting these sites, as the sites that are listed have genuine people behind them helping to make ourselves and the internet a better place.

Friday's Highly Recommended.

Here's something new. Seeing how there's such a wealth of information available on the internet, each Friday I'll post several other financial bloggers post that caught my attention during that week, with a link back to their page for your reading pleasure.

Saving Explained 7 easy tips to keep your motivation for savings on track

No Credit Needed Elimainate Fees

Canadian Dream You are Poor from a Lack of Planning

Enjoy this week read.

Savingexplained.com post on 7 Signs that your in deep debt trouble

This is the second post I have decided to feature from Savingexplained.com her blog is by far becoming one of my favorites out there. You can find the first post I decided to feature from Savingexplained.com on microsavings Post that caught my attention. This one I decided to list the full article here with her permission of course. Read and enjoy.

I have to give you a preemptive warning. This is not a fun read for those that may have an issue with growing debt but a necessary one. If you have debt sometimes its easier to sweep things under the rug instead of address them head on especially when things seem to be spiraling out of control.


1. You are spending more than you earn

If you are spending more each month than you earn then you need to seriously start taking control over your finances. This is not to say that you are necessarily being frivolous with your money but desperate times call for desperate actions so tighten your belt and get your expenses back under your take home pay.

2. You have maxed out all the plastic in your wallet

This is a sign of a looming debt disaster. The average America will carry between 5-10 credit cards in their wallet. Carrying that much credit around with me alone would send shivers up my spine but then maxing them out. If you are in the situation where you have maxed out your cards you need to go into debt reduction mode ASAP.

3. You really don’t know how much you owe and have very little desire to find out

This is a very bad place to be. Typically it means you are in denial and it is very hard to break out of that. You need to just realize that is not getting any better without taking some action and dig into your finances and find out what’s going on. I’d equate to ripping that band-aid off. Hurts like hell to do it but once its done it feels so much better.

4. You are beginning to receive notices about delinquent payments

This is not good. You need to act fast to get your payments made and then once again take a long hard look at your financial makeup and figure out where to go from here.

5. You get a sigh of relief after being approved for another credit card

You should never be relieved that you just got approved for another credit card. On the contrary, you should have that sinking feeling that something is not right. If you are feeling relieved about this it most likely means that you are strapped financially and serious debt problems are on the horizon.

6. You are paying down one credit card with another

This is another very bad sign that you have over extended your credit and need to get it paid down quickly. Eventually this tactic can lead to some serious issues and can/will snowball out of control before you know it. You need to stop paying off one credit card with the other and get your finances strapped down so you can start paying down the credit altogether.

7. Your credit cards are no longer being used for convenience or rewards but because you are short on money

Another gut check time. If you are at this point you need to start looking into some serious financial help for cutting expenses. Using credit cards to sustain your necessities is the cusp of a growing debt problem that is sure to only get worse if left unchecked.

Like I said, debt is not one of the more pleasureable subjects related to personal finance but the fact of the matter is that the majority of Americans today carry a substantial amount of debt. We need to be actively reducing this and the only way to do that is to admit that it is a problem. If you need some added motivation you should definitely check out the post, 20 great things about being debt free.

Got any other signs that we missed? Do share.

NetWorthIQ.com Full Review

As many of you are already aware of from past postings I’m a huge fan of NetworthIQ and several people have asked me to post a full review on the site. So I feel obliged to honor the request of my readers. First thing first I found out about the site due to the badge on A Canadian and Her Money you’ll see the same badge on the right hand side of my blog. I decided to click on it to find out what it’s all about which of course took me to her personal financial page which she decided to share and at that point knowing how I wanted to keep everything visible and accountable on my blog I decided to follow in the_money_diva footsteps.

NetworthIQ gives you several options, which will go over each one in short detail:

Explore- Allows you to do just that you can view the newest users or the most active and the high and low gainers for the month. You can also look through categories listing which is the option I like the best, where you can break down the community by age, income and occupation these are just some of the options.

For example what I personally look at when I’m on the site is I’ll look at people who work in retail then I’ll find ones that are in the same income bracket as myself and see where their net worth is to gauge myself if I’m on the right track or not, you can also email the user to ask questions or comment on their progress under each monthly statement.

Questions & Tips - This is where the benefit of the community comes into play, you can ask any financial question and rarely have I seen a question go unanswered as the community is very active in helping each other out. The other section listed as Tips is just that, users can post various financial tips that they have decided to share with the community and once again you can comment based upon these tips.

Journals- If you decide to you can keep a journal of events really no different than using a blog for those of you who decide not to blog or even if you do blog. I personally don’t use the feature as each user profile has a link to their website or blog, if I come across a user that I’m more interested in finding out more about and they have a link to their site I always make sure to take a jump over to their site.

My Portfolio- Here’s where you come in to play, where you can post all your financial information and it should be noted that you do have the choice of either keeping it public or private. No one is required to share their information if they choose not too. You have access to your questions and tips, journal entries, your mailbox and account settings from here as well as your account profile if you wish to include one. You can get your badge from here as well.

As well as another great feature which I love the comparison report which will pop up a nice graph showing your net worth vs. the average net worth of everyone on NetworthIQ, your age range, your income range, occupation, education and finally if your in the U.S. your state. In my case I run about even in terms of my net worth with others in my income bracket but I’m actually quite far behind in all other categories so I have some work to do.

As far as the Pro’s and Con’s of the site goes:

The Pro’s are:
1) An active community that is willing to help out.
2) Excellent way of keeping track and comparing your net worth.
3) Requires only a few minutes per month to fill out your information and stay active.
4) User friendly and easy navigation.
5) You can and should use a nickname and no other personal information is reveled including your email address, as the site uses their own mailbox.

The Con’s are:
1) User profiles sometime become inactive for extended periods of time anything over a year old I believe should be cleared.
2) I wish more users would post a profile to go along with their financial information as it just gives you better insight as to what’s going on in their world as well as their goals.
3) Of course user’s can lie and post a much higher net worth, which just doesn’t benefit anyone.

So that’s what NetworthIQ is all about it’s a great community and hopefully after reading this you’ll decide to go and take a look for yourself and decide to join the community.

Post That Caught My Attention

You want to know what's so great about blogging? You join a community and if you have read any of my post so far you'll know I'm a huge advocate for communities you can learn so much more from many than from a few. Many bloggers feel the same way we don't view other's in our niche as competitors. That's why I'm more than willing to share when I come across a great post and today I came across SavingExplained.com post on Take A Peak Under The Hood Of My Savings

It's honestly a great post on microsavings and planning ahead for future expenses it's so simple I'm surprised I haven't read about it before. It's definitely worth a read as I highly recommend it.