personal finance budgets

Some Republicans and Democrats can get their heads together now and then.

When I had the privilege of working for Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) in the US Senate, I had just moved over from serving as founding Executive Director of the Nixon Center for Peace & Freedom, later renamed (thankfully) "The Nixon Center".

Senator Bingaman at the time, along with his chief of staff Patrick Von Bargen, were asking key questions about the structure of international trade and finance and why such large bilateral deficits were building between the US and respectively Japan and China. University of Chicago-trained neoclassical economists regularly parroted the line that bilateral deficits were "meaningless" and would be balanced out over time with other global trade partners -- and would on a bilateral basis rise and fall, appearing and disappearing in a highly fluid global economic environment.

Bingaman's and Von Bargen's questions then are even more relevant today -- and given the time on the clock since, it's clear that the economists who argued that deficits were meaningless or that a job is a job is a job -- whether working as a wallet maker or a nano-technology app developer -- were wrong.

But Jeff Bingaman, even though skeptical about how the global economy was working in real rather than ideological terms, never turned his back on international engagement. In 1996, Bingaman, Von Bargen and I traveled to Japan, South Korea, China, and other parts of Asia. This, then, was an annual trip supplemented by his personal trips to Guatemala and trips to Europe, Russia and more. Bingaman, now Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, remains deeply engaged and interested in international affairs.

And while most Senators and Congressman make a point of pushing 95% of their available press time towards the Bartlesville news outlet (in the case of Oklahoma) over the demands of the Yomiuri, Le Monde, Al Jazeera, or the People's Daily, Bingaman is one that does make time for international media.

The Nixon Center as well was stacked with big personalities who were then and remain deeply committed to America's engagement in global affairs. While the Nixon Center is actually fastidiously non-partisan and has key Dems and Republicans engaged with it, it's hard to hide all of its Republican stripes when in fact the institution's inspiration and founder was a powerful two-term winning Republican President of the United States.

My point is that there are Democrats and Republicans -- lots of them -- committed to robust international engagement, to smart foreign aid, and to coherent and sensible U.S. international public diplomacy.

But just as when I worked for Bingaman in the Senate and there were some Democrats and more Republicans who looked at having a passport as a political liability, many in the Tea Party movement are a manifestation of a similar pugnacious nationalism that disdains international institutions and US engagement abroad.

One of the major bipartisan NGOs committed to internationalism in Washington is the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. I attended the USGLC's gala dinner last year featuring NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But the guy who really impressed me was the charismatic Republican Congressman from Illinois, Aaron Schock -- who went on stage and made a case as strong as any liberal internationalist I have heard for the hard core national interest reasons that the U.S. should support global affairs and engagement -- and yes, foreign aid budgets.

Aaron Schock is a serious player on the way up -- and too many are distracted by his better than average looks and youth. I didn't support his approach to Honduras (for the most part) that he seemed to have jointly worked out with Senator Jim DeMint -- but that is beside the point. Schock is thinking hard about smart policy, not just coasting with his new found power and privileges in Washington.

If the USGLC can bring Hillary Clinton and the Republican House Deputy Whip together to sing from similar playbooks, then I have time for this private sector initiative to promote public support for international engagement.

If you are in DC (and if not, I am sure that there will be "live streaming" that I will arrange to have run here at TWN), you might want to attend the annual USGLC 2010 Washington Conference (registration information here) that takes place September 28-29, 2010 at Washington's Grand Hyatt.

I would support this meeting whether I was speaking or not -- but I happen to be on the program along with NBC Meet the Press' David Gregory, Under Secretary of the Treasury Lael Brainard, US AID Administrator Rajiv Shah, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and the indefatigable Joshua Rogin -- who writes Foreign Policy's "The Cable".

-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note. Clemons can be followed on Twitter @SCClemons

Now that Wesabe is officially closed, many users are looking for an alternative that offers the same flexibility and features -- for many this alternative is, or should be MoneyStrands.



MoneyStrands is a free tool that has helped people manage their money online since it launched in March 2009 -- and in short order has won a Webby award for the best of the web in the banking and bill-pay category. This honor is no surprise when you consider that MoneyStrands offers features you won't find in many competing tools such as Mint.



Like all modern personal finance tools, MoneyStrands can connect to a large number of banking and financial institutions, but unlike most competitors gives users the ability to manually upload their account data. This option is a must-have for those who don't want to give their login info to a third party, or who bank at a smaller bank or credit union that personal finance tools cannot connect to for automatic updates.



MoneyStrands also sets itself apart from the competition because it is designed to make it easy for international and non-English speaking users to use the tool. The MoneyStrands website can be viewed in both English and Spanish with a toggle in the settings and users can choose their preferred currency from a long list. According to MoneyStrands, consumers use the service in 44 countries.



These features supplement the standard account linking and money management that the MoneyStrands tool handles well. Users can view spending and account history in one location as well as compare spending in categories such as shopping, food & dining and more to see how they stack up to the rest of the community. Filters allow you to compare yourself to other members based on age, gender, marital status, education and other variables.



MoneyStrands also has a budgeting tool that tracks spending and sets email alerts when a budget category reaches a certain level so spending can be put in check. The tool is fairly simple and requires users to figure out their own goals, but Atakan Cetinsoy, General Manager of MoneyStrands told WalletPop in a phone interview that an improved budgeting tool that walks users through the process is coming in the next few months.



MoneyStrands is easy to use and offers significant value to users; especially those who can't or don't want to link their accounts directly to a third-party service.

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personal finance manager

Tracking your spendings online with web apps is very convenient since they offer the power of monitoring your expenses in detail without the clunky interface found in desktop apps. If you are looking for alternatives to popular personal finance apps, then you should check out Accpal. This Silverlight-based money management tool allows you to track your accounts with extra features such as multi-level tagging, comprehensive reports, and one-click transactions.

To use Accpal, simply add your new account and currency. After which, you can start adding individual transactions. You can add multiple transactions by clicking “Add & New” while adding an entry. Inputting data feels like working with a spreadsheet which is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, many will find this a nice surprise since you can see your income and expenses in one glance.

The highlight of this app is the multi-level tagging feature. With multi-level tagging, you can break down your transaction into a single tag nested under a broader tag. For example, you can click coffee as a tag under “food”, and you can even go deeper and tag “espresso”, under coffee. This gives you an idea of what exactly you are spending on. This differs from other web apps that lets you tag as much as you like, leaving you to organize the transactions yourself.

Accpal is a nifty website for anyone who needs a better-organized online money management tool.

Features

• Track your expenses online.


• Free of charge.


• Requires Silverlight 4.


• Tag your transactions – multi-level tagging.


• Comprehensive reporting.


• Export to Excel.


• Shortcuts allow for one click reporting and transactions.


• Similar Tools: BudgetTracker, BudgetPulse, Thrive, and BillFloat .

Check out Accpal @ www.accpal.com

Aaron Patzer, the founder of Mint.com (2008), sold his company to Intuit for $170 million and has been ensconced as Vice President and General Manager of Intuit Personal Finance Group. But he hasn't forgotten his entrepreneurial roots. He's using that stack of cash from Intuit to make some angel investments of his own, including a stake in Jack Abraham's Milo.com, which is on this year's list. And he's also an informal advisor to Anapata's Ooshma Garg.

When he appeared on the 30 Under 30 list in 2008, Etsy founder Rob Kalin had just hired a professional CEO and given up day-to-day management responsibilities. But last December, Kalin retook the reins. Etsy has thrived since--the company is profitable and has been posting double-digit monthly sales gains. In his spare time, Kalin is working on a second company, Parachutes.org, an online education start-up.

Chaim Indig and Evan Roberts, the founders of Phreesia (2008), closed a $16 million Series D investment from Ascension Health Ventures in May. Phreesia, a self-service patient check-in company that makes electronic tablets for use in doctors' offices, will use the investment to expand its nationwide presence.

Involver founders Rahim Fazal and Noah Horton (2008), have added Facebook, the White House, and Sony Music to their client list. Involver, which helps companies and organizations build their video presence across social networking platforms, now supports more than 80,000 brands.

It's been a big year for Ben Lerer and Adam Rich and their company Thrillist (2009). Early in 2010, Lerer and his father Ken, co-founder of The Huffington Post, launched the New York City-based angel fund Lerer Media Ventures. And in the spring, Thrillist made its first acquisition, expanding into the e-commerce space with the purchase of Jack Threads, a flash-sale site for men's streetwear that works similarly to Gilt.com. With the deal, Thrillist diversifies its business, which was heavily dependent on advertising revenue, while Jack Threads will get its name in front of Thrillist's nearly 2 million e-mail subscribers.  "We have the e-mail list and they have the vendor relationships," Lerer says. "The case we made is that it would be just so much easier for them if they didn't have to worry about building the audience."

Box.net's (2008) Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith grew their company more than 535 percent in 2009 and tripled revenue in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.  Box.net allows users to share, store, and access any type of digital file from anywhere at anytime, and now has more than 4 million users, ranging from SMBs to giants like Volvo, Audi and Coca Cola. The company launched one of the first customized business applications for the iPad, developed mobile applications for the iPhone and Blackberry, and also integrated with other mobile productivity applications. Last April, the founders landed $15M in Series C financing, led by Scale Venture Partners, bringing Box.net's total venture funding to $29.5M.  Levie and Smith plan to invest aggressively in R&D and will add a significant number of employees.

Ben Kaufman (2007) sold Mophie in August of 2007 and began developing Kluster, a platform designed for group decision making and measuring influence. It's Kluster that drives Quirky, the social product development company that Kaufman launched in June 2009.  Quirky develops one new product a week and shares the revenue with the influencers who helped develop each product. Since launch, Quirky has collaboratively developed 46 new products, hit threshold on 16 (the trigger that sends a product into production) and raised $6 million dollars in series A financing led by RRE (also an investor in Venmo, on this year's list.)

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Tracking your spendings online with web apps is very convenient since they offer the power of monitoring your expenses in detail without the clunky interface found in desktop apps. If you are looking for alternatives to popular personal finance apps, then you should check out Accpal. This Silverlight-based money management tool allows you to track your accounts with extra features such as multi-level tagging, comprehensive reports, and one-click transactions.

To use Accpal, simply add your new account and currency. After which, you can start adding individual transactions. You can add multiple transactions by clicking “Add & New” while adding an entry. Inputting data feels like working with a spreadsheet which is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, many will find this a nice surprise since you can see your income and expenses in one glance.

The highlight of this app is the multi-level tagging feature. With multi-level tagging, you can break down your transaction into a single tag nested under a broader tag. For example, you can click coffee as a tag under “food”, and you can even go deeper and tag “espresso”, under coffee. This gives you an idea of what exactly you are spending on. This differs from other web apps that lets you tag as much as you like, leaving you to organize the transactions yourself.

Accpal is a nifty website for anyone who needs a better-organized online money management tool.

Features

• Track your expenses online.


• Free of charge.


• Requires Silverlight 4.


• Tag your transactions – multi-level tagging.


• Comprehensive reporting.


• Export to Excel.


• Shortcuts allow for one click reporting and transactions.


• Similar Tools: BudgetTracker, BudgetPulse, Thrive, and BillFloat .

Check out Accpal @ www.accpal.com

Aaron Patzer, the founder of Mint.com (2008), sold his company to Intuit for $170 million and has been ensconced as Vice President and General Manager of Intuit Personal Finance Group. But he hasn't forgotten his entrepreneurial roots. He's using that stack of cash from Intuit to make some angel investments of his own, including a stake in Jack Abraham's Milo.com, which is on this year's list. And he's also an informal advisor to Anapata's Ooshma Garg.

When he appeared on the 30 Under 30 list in 2008, Etsy founder Rob Kalin had just hired a professional CEO and given up day-to-day management responsibilities. But last December, Kalin retook the reins. Etsy has thrived since--the company is profitable and has been posting double-digit monthly sales gains. In his spare time, Kalin is working on a second company, Parachutes.org, an online education start-up.

Chaim Indig and Evan Roberts, the founders of Phreesia (2008), closed a $16 million Series D investment from Ascension Health Ventures in May. Phreesia, a self-service patient check-in company that makes electronic tablets for use in doctors' offices, will use the investment to expand its nationwide presence.

Involver founders Rahim Fazal and Noah Horton (2008), have added Facebook, the White House, and Sony Music to their client list. Involver, which helps companies and organizations build their video presence across social networking platforms, now supports more than 80,000 brands.

It's been a big year for Ben Lerer and Adam Rich and their company Thrillist (2009). Early in 2010, Lerer and his father Ken, co-founder of The Huffington Post, launched the New York City-based angel fund Lerer Media Ventures. And in the spring, Thrillist made its first acquisition, expanding into the e-commerce space with the purchase of Jack Threads, a flash-sale site for men's streetwear that works similarly to Gilt.com. With the deal, Thrillist diversifies its business, which was heavily dependent on advertising revenue, while Jack Threads will get its name in front of Thrillist's nearly 2 million e-mail subscribers.  "We have the e-mail list and they have the vendor relationships," Lerer says. "The case we made is that it would be just so much easier for them if they didn't have to worry about building the audience."

Box.net's (2008) Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith grew their company more than 535 percent in 2009 and tripled revenue in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.  Box.net allows users to share, store, and access any type of digital file from anywhere at anytime, and now has more than 4 million users, ranging from SMBs to giants like Volvo, Audi and Coca Cola. The company launched one of the first customized business applications for the iPad, developed mobile applications for the iPhone and Blackberry, and also integrated with other mobile productivity applications. Last April, the founders landed $15M in Series C financing, led by Scale Venture Partners, bringing Box.net's total venture funding to $29.5M.  Levie and Smith plan to invest aggressively in R&D and will add a significant number of employees.

Ben Kaufman (2007) sold Mophie in August of 2007 and began developing Kluster, a platform designed for group decision making and measuring influence. It's Kluster that drives Quirky, the social product development company that Kaufman launched in June 2009.  Quirky develops one new product a week and shares the revenue with the influencers who helped develop each product. Since launch, Quirky has collaboratively developed 46 new products, hit threshold on 16 (the trigger that sends a product into production) and raised $6 million dollars in series A financing led by RRE (also an investor in Venmo, on this year's list.)

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personal finance budgets

Forget the coupon clipping. A straightforward, realistic budget is the best deal you'll ever find.



Why is a budget the best deal? Because, just like your childhood puppy your budget will always be there for you, no expiration dates, no fine print to yank away the savings after you've already been whipped into a furry of consumerism. If you care for your budget it will take care of you so that "saving" isn't just not unnecessarily spending an extra $5 at the grocery store this week; but actually saving money in a high yield savings account. Another great thing about a budget is that, again like your puppy, it will take you back even if you screw up.



Think outside the sale. For years I chased after deals and discounts like they were the oxygen keeping me alive. It didn't matter if I needed an item or not -- if there was a sticker advertising 60, 70, 80 or 90% off a gadget, I wanted to buy it. How could I pass up the savings?



It wasn't until recently that I realized a budget is the best deal you can find. After taking a few minutes to look at how to put together a budget I realized that it takes less time to set up and follow a budget than it does to look for deals every day of the week.



Thanks to great free personal finance management (PFM) tools from sites such as like Mint.com, Rudder and others you can easily create a budget and track how well you are following it each day. These tools will even send you a notification when you go outside of your budget so you aren't shocked at the end of the month. If you don't already have a successful budget don't start creating one yet. First go read these tips for setting realistic budget.



Advice on Budgeting

• Reverse Budget - A savings first solution from FiveCentNickel


• Budgeting basics - a Budget primer from Consumerism Commentary including suggestions on how to get started.

My personal favorite and current method of budgeting isn't so much a budget as it is smart spending. Ramit Sethi explains the model in his book I Will Teach You to Be Rich, calling it, "Conscious Spending." Instead of focusing on the minutia Sethi concedes that it is in fact OK to, "Spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don't."



A budget may be the best deal, but that doesn't mean you need to give up on coupon clipping and bargain hunting; just make these tools that support your plan instead of the main focus. If you plan for your purchases, by saving up at SmartyPig or setting a goal in Rudder, you can still go looking for a deal on your next purchase and pay in cash. Trust me, there's something really incredible about paying in cash for the new camera that you've researched and found the best deal on.Thanks to great free personal finance management (PFM) tools from sites such as like Mint.com, Rudder and others you can easily create a budget and track how well you are following it each day. These tools will even send you a notification when you go outside of your budget so you aren't shocked at the end of the month. If you don't already have a successful budget don't start creating one yet. First go read these tips for setting realistic budget.



Advice on Budgeting

• Reverse Budget - A savings first solution from FiveCentNickel


• Budgeting basics - a Budget primer from Consumerism Commentary including suggestions on how to get started.

My personal favorite and current method of budgeting isn't so much a budget as it is smart spending. Ramit Sethi explains the model in his book, I Will Teach You to Be Rich, calling it, "conscious spending." Instead of focusing on the minutia Sethi concedes that it is in fact wise to "spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don't."



A budget may be the best deal, but that doesn't mean you need to give up on coupon clipping and bargain hunting; just make these tools that support your plan instead of the main focus. If you plan for your purchases, by saving up at SmartyPig or setting a goal in Rudder, you can still go looking for a deal on your next purchase and pay in cash. Trust me, there's something really incredible about paying in cash for the new camera that you've researched and found the best deal on.
Forget the coupon clipping. A straightforward, realistic budget is the best deal you'll ever find.



Why is a budget the best deal? Because, just like your childhood puppy your budget will always be there for you, no expiration dates, no fine print to yank away the savings after you've already been whipped into a furry of consumerism. If you care for your budget it will take care of you so that "saving" isn't just not unnecessarily spending an extra $5 at the grocery store this week; but actually saving money in a high yield savings account. Another great thing about a budget is that, again like your puppy, it will take you back even if you screw up.



Think outside the sale. For years I chased after deals and discounts like they were the oxygen keeping me alive. It didn't matter if I needed an item or not -- if there was a sticker advertising 60, 70, 80 or 90% off a gadget, I wanted to buy it. How could I pass up the savings?



It wasn't until recently that I realized a budget is the best deal you can find. After taking a few minutes to look at how to put together a budget I realized that it takes less time to set up and follow a budget than it does to look for deals every day of the week.



Thanks to great free personal finance management (PFM) tools from sites such as like Mint.com, Rudder and others you can easily create a budget and track how well you are following it each day. These tools will even send you a notification when you go outside of your budget so you aren't shocked at the end of the month. If you don't already have a successful budget don't start creating one yet. First go read these tips for setting realistic budget.



Advice on Budgeting

• Reverse Budget - A savings first solution from FiveCentNickel


• Budgeting basics - a Budget primer from Consumerism Commentary including suggestions on how to get started.

My personal favorite and current method of budgeting isn't so much a budget as it is smart spending. Ramit Sethi explains the model in his book I Will Teach You to Be Rich, calling it, "Conscious Spending." Instead of focusing on the minutia Sethi concedes that it is in fact OK to, "Spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don't."



A budget may be the best deal, but that doesn't mean you need to give up on coupon clipping and bargain hunting; just make these tools that support your plan instead of the main focus. If you plan for your purchases, by saving up at SmartyPig or setting a goal in Rudder, you can still go looking for a deal on your next purchase and pay in cash. Trust me, there's something really incredible about paying in cash for the new camera that you've researched and found the best deal on.Thanks to great free personal finance management (PFM) tools from sites such as like Mint.com, Rudder and others you can easily create a budget and track how well you are following it each day. These tools will even send you a notification when you go outside of your budget so you aren't shocked at the end of the month. If you don't already have a successful budget don't start creating one yet. First go read these tips for setting realistic budget.



Advice on Budgeting

• Reverse Budget - A savings first solution from FiveCentNickel


• Budgeting basics - a Budget primer from Consumerism Commentary including suggestions on how to get started.

My personal favorite and current method of budgeting isn't so much a budget as it is smart spending. Ramit Sethi explains the model in his book, I Will Teach You to Be Rich, calling it, "conscious spending." Instead of focusing on the minutia Sethi concedes that it is in fact wise to "spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don't."



A budget may be the best deal, but that doesn't mean you need to give up on coupon clipping and bargain hunting; just make these tools that support your plan instead of the main focus. If you plan for your purchases, by saving up at SmartyPig or setting a goal in Rudder, you can still go looking for a deal on your next purchase and pay in cash. Trust me, there's something really incredible about paying in cash for the new camera that you've researched and found the best deal on.
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