Can Aaron Patzer help this Girl in Tech to buy Jimmy Choos?
Driving out of foggy San Francisco and into the phenomena that is Bay Area weather, I begin removing my scarf and coat as I enter sunny Mountain View. Mint.com, acquired by Intuit, resides in the Intuit campus which is beautifully lined with greenery, fountains, and meandering pathways. Aaron Patzer, the only Founder of Mint is an unassuming 29 year old whose brains and hard work led him to be named as one of CNN Money’s six Money Heroes in the US in 2008, and Inc. magazine included him in a list of the Top 30 US Entrepreneurs under 30.
“Back in 2005, while using Quicken to catch up on his personal budgeting, Aaron Patzer realized that he was in for an afternoon of tedious accounting-type work: poring over his statements, filling in gaps in entries, and categorizing dozens of purchases. All this effort just to get to the answer to one, seemingly simple question: How much did I spend this month? And on what?
After a couple of hours, when Aaron couldn’t get that answer (and he holds Masters degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from Princeton and Duke) he started to wonder if there wasn’t a better way. So instead of finishing his Quicken update that day, he began thinking about building what would become Mint.com.” -Mint.com
In asking Aaron what his biggest obstacle is in obtaining users, Aaron notes two things. The first and possibly the most obvious is security. It was the first thing I questioned when asked to check out Mint.com. As security goes, Mint.com offers bank-level security, the inability to move money and the ability to register anonymously. Even more so, Mint’s alerts actually notify you of fraudulent transactions on all accounts. Click HERE to learn more about Mint’s security.
The second hindrance people may have in joining Mint.com is fear of the truth. Some of us, especially us ladies, do not want to be reminded of how much we spent at Nordstrom’s annual sale. Ignorance is bliss in many cases and although it may be a hard pill for some of us to swallow, in the long run it will prove to bring much more confidence in one’s spending and peace for what the future could hold.
Many of Mint user’s testimonies have uncovered a treasure chest of information. Some say they had NO idea that they spent that much at Starbucks, or that an old gym back in college was still charging them, or that a certain transaction with their bank results in a $10 fee, and even that their average monthly savings could have awarded them an extra 5% if they had set up an ING account. Mint not only helps analyze and manage your money, it also recommends different ways to save, invest, and build wealth as well.
Mint just launched a new feature that is right up our alley! As women, we have a number of fantasy items that we would love to run out and buy… but as smart, efficient, and cost conscious women, we do not do it. Many women today are smarter and savvier and are [hopefully] not running up their credit cards to buy Jimmy Choo shoes they can’t afford because they were inspired by Sex and the City. They can, however, use Mint.com to help them reach their Choo goals the right way!
At Mint.com you can set a goal, play with how much you’d need to set aside each month to reach your goal by different deadlines and monitor your success rates.
There’s no excuse, get on Mint.com and get in the know about your finances. Start planning for the things you really want in life… whether it’s the designer wedding dress of your dreams, the Land Rover that can’t fit in your San Francisco garage, or even simply a new set of cashmere for the upcoming winter. As a Girl in Tech, everything else is online, why wouldn’t your finances be too? It’s worth a go, check it out!
