Want to take control of your money? Get fresh, get Mint!

Ever since I got my first paycheck I have been tracking where my money went. It started with the good old excel spreadsheet, the first one that I created relied on manual inputs. I have a fascination for numbers, charts and statistics so despite the pain of having to manually key in my income and expense I did persist with my tracking spreadsheet.  After a few months the lure of more advanced charts and excel macros got to me and I ended up downloading a template. This made my tracking sheet look good, but I still had to enter the data manually.

Later I realized that instead of manually keying the data I could download the monthly statements from my financial institutions and have an excel macro make sense of the data. This was a great improvement over the first spreadsheet, but it always needed some manual correction. On top of it the fact that each of my accounts had a different statement date made it kind of a weekly task for me, and I wasn’t too pleased with it.

Then came Quicken, it was the first (and only one till now) personal budgeting software which I paid for. It did prove worthy of every penny that I invested in it. It could fetch data from all my accounts automatically on a daily basis, help me create detailed budgets, project future balances based on trends, consolidate all my investment accounts and so much more. I thought this was the tool that I was always looking for; tracking my finances was so much easier with Quicken. But it did have a few problems: sometimes it would not fetch data from a few accounts, sometimes it lost the past transactions, sometimes it would not be able to differentiate between a transfer & a payment. All this was trivial but I expected more from a paid service.

After using Quicken for a year I started researching for a better tool. By this time all major banks had added a new feature in their online banking, you could get a consolidated view of all your accounts at one place within your online banking page. But it was very basic, did not have detailed budgeting options, trends, charts or predictions. This is when I accidentally stumbled upon Mint and since that date I haven’t looked back.

I think Mint is the best personal budgeting application out there. It’s all online, the signup process is a breeze, they cover almost all the financial institutions in US and have a sophisticated categorization and matching algorithm which makes managing money so much easier. The way they depict the trends with the use of charts is so cool and the budgeting is not primitive either. In two years I have never had a problem with it.  To top it, they have apps for your smartphone that is equally amazing. Although it doesn’t offer all the online features it does everything that you would probably have wanted to do on your phone.

Some people are concerned about the security about such a service. Mint is owned by Intuit now, it’s a read only service, you can register anonymously without providing personal information and they use the latest security protocols that leading banks use now.  So in my opinion they are no less secure than these institutions. If you feel good about the security of your online banking I bet you should feel safe with Mint.

If you are looking forward to a better way to manage and track your money, do give it a shot. I am sure you will not regret it. And what’s best …it’s free!

Blizzard of ’78

I was talking to a friend last Friday about how we were fortunate to have avoided the bad weather. I was referring to the blizzard that missed New England and instead tormented the neighboring southern states dropping close to 30 inches of snow in certain areas. We talked about how states like Virginia, so ill equipped for snowstorm, might be crippled in the coming week.

Over our conversation, my friend talked about another blizzard of similar magnitude. It was 32 years ago, exactly the same time period (first week of Feb) the only difference being that it did not spare New England. He mentioned how the blizzard had brought the entire New England to a standstill, cars were stuck on the MassPike, people left their cars on the highway and walked miles to reach the confines of their home, schools were closed and most offices were closed for a few days. Over a few days the snowfall had accumulated up to 44 inches (with 27inches on one day).But he didn’t remember that blizzard for the damage it inflicted; instead he remembered how it brought the best out of everyone. He remembered that after the first day people came out of their houses, walked together to the grocery, tried to help each other in clearing up the snow, small kids teamed up to make snowman and older ones took up tubing and snow boarding. It was kind of a festive atmosphere, with the blizzard and its affect taking a backstage.

Adversity brings out the best in people. So true!

“That guy is always there”

An interesting little incident took place while I was on my way to office today morning. It wasn’t groundbreaking nor eye-opening but it did epitomize what the fourth estate has been blaring about for some time now.

As I entered the first floor of my office building, a woman entered through the door on the opposite side. Something about her caught my attention; she was probably in her late thirties, petite and good looking. But it wasn’t that which distracted me, she was staring in my direction rather ungainly. Even though the cafeteria (filled with people queued up to get their morning coffee and bagel) and the large television screen was on the side where I was walking, my limited skills in kinesics was indicating that it was probably me that she was disturbed about.  As we got near the elevator door and I pressed the elevator button my mind began racing – was it my dressing sense that bothered her, was it about this Indian guy (me) walking into office when so many Americans (probably some close to her too) were out of job or was it the middle age crisis that she might have been going through. Thankfully before my mind could come up with more absurd reasons the elevator door opened and I let her go in first, so glad that my etiquettes were still intact.

In the elevator, she got a chance to look at my confused expression and probably realized what the cause was. To my good relief she said “That guy is always there”.

I was so glad to hear that. So, it was not me. It was some other guy. The relief that sentence brought, reflected on my face and I smiled at her in acknowledgement.

But now I wondered who “that guy” was? Was he the colleague on my floor who could always be spotted at the kitchen area or the canteen? There is a joke going around in my group that “Wherever there is food he will show up”. I began to think if this guy was equally notorious on the fourth floor too (where this lady worked, I am on the sixth floor).

I politely asked her “I didn’t notice… who was it”.

“Didn’t you watch the TV” came the pat reply. I almost blurted “Lady…I was so perturbed by your distraught expression that I missed the big screen!”. So it wasn’t my colleague that she was talking about, he could not be on TV, at least not on the AM news primetime. Then who was it?

I realized she was better at kinesics than me as she answered the question I had only asked in my mind. “It was the President”.

I quipped “Certainly it had to be him, the President”.

She went on “It’s been more a year since he took over. Nothing has improved, things have only got worse. All his big promises have fallen apart. But, he still lives the life of a rock star and is always on TV. He is no different than Woods or Edwards who are always on TV these days just for the wrong reasons and does not deserve that star treatment …”

Before she could complete her sentence the elevator stopped at the fourth floor, she slowly moved out and I could barely hear her say “Have a good one!”

I did not respond to her as I was still in a trance. Her statement was not an out of the world revelation by any means, but I was surprised by the level of resentment. That too towards the same guy who was the darling of the masses, not just America but the whole world loved him, a guy who I think is genuinely capable but somehow has not been able to walk the talk yet.

As I reached my office the first thing I did after logging onto my machine was to google for “president approval”. Google returned tons of blogs, news articles and polls. The Gallup poll pretty much summed up the presidents plight. I remember having woken up to “What goes around…comes around” in the morning, the graph on the Gallup poll reflected that so well.

The firm believer that I am in the president’s abilities and vision, I hope for his good, for America’s good and for a better world that he is able to turn the tables soon. Hopefully the graph has reached its nadir with only one way to go now…up!

Till then “that guy” will continue to take the flak. 

My GMAT express : Approaching a temporary halt

I know I had barely started off with my preparations but I have to bring it to a temporary halt. The circumstances that have led to this decision were totally unavoidable and this was the best choice (actually there was no choice, it was the only option!). In any case, here is what led me to this decision:

1) Work – I was hoping that post thanksgiving it will cool off a little. But it is getting more hectic, the fact that two of my colleagues will be on month long vacation (one after the other) only compounds this.

2) Vacation – I am planning a month long vacation (visiting India) early next year. This will be our first trip in three years and lots of people are looking forward to meet Rhea (my little daughter) for the first time. What this means is I cannot take any leave since I have to save them all for my vacation. Also, there is going to be a lot of planning involved and yea shopping too!

3) Rhea’s first birthday - Rhea will be turning ‘one’ next week. We are planning for a get together for our friends. Till now Sony (my wife) has been taking care of most of the planning and I feel really bad that I haven’t contributed much, but she has never complained! I am going make sure that I can contribute more to this and make it a really memorable event for all of us.

With that said, the GMAT prep is on hold (for now). I think I will start from ground zero after our India trip.

PS: Sony (my wife) puts a lot of effort to maintain a blog for my daughter. It’s really cute, I am sure you will like it. Check this out yourself – http://rheasabode.blogspot.com/

It’s been lull

Not much has been happening on the GMAT prep front since I gave that practice test. I think it’s my score, had scored less on the practice test it would instilled the much needed urgency; it’s a matter of complacency which definitely is not a good thing. I started going through the OG12 but I am more inclined towards spending time on Quant material (since I like it) than the Verbal (which I am relatively weak at).

I think work too has something to do with my lack of effort here. It’s really getting very hectic and doesn’t leave me with a lot of time. But hopefully next week onwards (after thanksgiving) work will cool down to normal levels and I hopefully I will be able to take a few days off in December. 

Where do I stand?

Based on the analysis of my performance on the GMAT Prep, it’s very obvious where my weaknesses are. I think this is what I have to target in the order that they have been listed.

1)      Verbal :  SC (All concepts)– I thought I could rely on my ear to do a good job. Looks like a lot of hard work is in store as this misconception has been debunked!

2)      Quant  :  Permutations & Combinations. I made a couple of mistakes, the problems were tough but I think with a little bit of effort this can be ironed out easily.

3)      Verbal : RC  - Need to improve my reading speed.

It’s not that I am perfect at rest of the topics, but these are the low hanging fruits and provide me the ability to maximize improvement with the minimal effort (Though I doubt the effort for improvement in SC will be minimal). 

GMATPrep – Not a bad start

The first thing I did after deciding on the MBA path was to research about the GMAT, which obviously is the first step and a prerequisite for the application. I came across a few good GMAT programs and forums with a ton of information. I decided to register on BeattheGMAT forum just because of the quality of the content and the variety they have (Blogs, Articles and obviously the discussion forum).

I figured that the OG materials (the official resource) were a must, so I went to the nearest Barnes & Nobles and got hold of the OG12. I also ordered the Verbal & Quant review (2nd edition) online. The best way to start the GMAT prep was to assess my current strengths and more importantly weaknesses. I downloaded the GMATPrep practice tests and took the first practice test.

Surprisingly I did well on my first GMAT Prep test. I got a score of 720 (Quant  50 (93%)            Verbal 37 (80%) Overall  720  94%). Based on my research this was near or above the average score for the top schools and this is what I had as my target. My work and family commitments really won’t allow me to spend a lot of time and this score does no harm at all. I am really excited about this score, hopefully I will be able to maintain my focus and adhere to a strict routine. Time to get back to the drawing board (actually excel sheet) and track my problem areas. 

The pursuit – A difficult decision and an equally challenging path.

After a lot of self-introspection it finally has come to this – a full time MBA is the way to go. An MBA has  been on the card for some time, but I was unsure whether to go full time or part-time. I bounced my thoughts off my wife and friends. Few of my friends had already treaded this path (full time as well as part time) and their inputs proved invaluable.  

I came across some interesting perspectives, in particular about the full-time vs part-time debate, and I will definitely post them sometime later on this blog. For now it’s time to focus on the GMAT and the selection of colleges.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”

                                                               -          Gautama Siddharta (Buddha)