Baby Finances

I got a response from some of the guys at Thrive (hey Matt & Colin- thanks for listening to your users!) I've got to be honest, I've used the site maybe once since Tree.com acquired you guys. I looked at the new changes you implemented over the last couple days - solely b/c of your comments. I've never used your site for my sole financial planning site, purely because it just doesn't have the right features. It's always been my MacBook Air of financial budgeting sites, a bit superfluous but pretty and nice. I feel like I'm one of those that you say you are targeting - a group of people who didn't have access to financial advice and is taking their first steps. I have the same thing most mid-twenties people have - the phone and the web, and I get the vast majority of my content off the web. I am taking my first financial steps. Saving for a condo, saving for retirement, I bought my first car and got my first subsequent car loan about a year ...

My company moved this week, about 10-15 miles north of Boston. The drive is annoying, and moving in general is annoying. I discovered yesterday while I was lying in bed, because to be honest, I barely moved out of it this weekend, that I had lost one of my earrings. The diamond ones my parents gave me for Christmas a few years ago. Shit! I lose/break every piece of jewelry that my parents get me. My mom refuses to buy me another watch because I've broken so many. So, it's been about two years without a watch, because my mom won't buy me one. And it feels super awkward, after the 10 or so watches she's bought me in the past for holiday or birthday presents to buy my own. So I suffer without. It's a quirk, just go with it. The move in not only annoying in the amount of time that I'm going to waste trying to get to work everyday, but also in the fact that I'm going to have to fill up the gas tank in my car more than one every other month. Clearly an ...

I was volunteering this morning at Food For Free , like I do every month. They were offering free tax prep services for low income households. I asked questions about what low income meant, and I guessed, oh so if you make like 30-40K that would make you low income. The guy literally started laughing. He was like, no, you'd have to earn less than that to qualify. That just made me think, how many of you make that little? It goes back to this class article by the NYTimes . I would guess most people reading this are in the upper middle to upper classes. I know that I don't do enough. I've been considering adding more volunteering. Once a month for an hour or two is not really a lot. I picked something that seemed interesting, fit in my schedule, and was reasonably convenient . I know, you're not supposed to pick something convenient , but let's be realistic, I knew going really far out of my way really inconvenient times was not going to build consistenc...

Hey 2nd Story Software, don't you think now would be a perfect time to buy Mint.com? I think it would send a signal that you are the exact opposite of Intuit. I think it would also diversify your product portfolio. Plus Mint did an awesomely amazing job by both having a product that users want to use, and having a built in revenue model from the start. Excuse me twitter, but what's the point of your business when you're not making money? I know that works okay in the valley, but that doesn't work so hot here on the east coast. Similar acquisitions happened recently with Tree.com picking up JustThrive.com. Let me tell you, out of all the online budgeting programs out there mint works the best and is the most relavent. Can it be improved? Sure. Does it have all the features I find useful? Not really. But it is heads and asses above stuff like wasabe, justthrive, & rudder. So 2nd Story Software, Go buy it.

Dear Semi-famous celebrity (enough that you have a wikipedia page about you but not enough so that you are a house hold name): Why are you following me on twitter? I'm not that interesting. Sometimes I am funny. But not often. I read something today that americans drink an average of 24 gallons of milk a year. (I think, don't quote me, can't find the link, probably on twitter.) Excuse me people, that's One of my roommates only drinks whole milk. Gross!

I think that the letter that Intuit (Quicken) sent to Mint just shows how they don't get it. I've got to be honest. I don't think it's any of Intuit's business how many users Mint actually has. It should have no bearing on their business or business model. Intuit should have a better product/advertising/marketing if they want more users. They need to learn to build buzz and build a good product vs. trying to trash someone else. I think the last thing that anyone wants in this economy is more trash talk. That doesn't build consumer confidence. Was the bad PR worth it Intuit? B/c I have to say if you get your lawyers involved to try to verify what your competition is doing, I don't really trust you to do the right thing when it comes to me as a user. What did Mint do? Oh, that's right, they provided pretty much complete transparency. So who am I going to trust more the company that doesn't trust it's competitors to do the right thing, or...

So I signed up for twitter finally. I have a few friends that have been using it for a while (1yr+). I haven't joined because I never really understood how it could be useful. To some extent I still don't see how it is useful. Part of it is the large amount of freelancers and self employed out there that generate a large amount of "spam tweets." And their entire use of Twitter is to promote themselves. I'm not sure if it is working or not for them, but obviously people wouldn't do it for some reason. Either it is self promotion, actually gets them business, etc. I haven't figured it out yet. Maybe I'm not getting the point and therefore not getting the most out of the twitter experience. To some extent I kind of feel like it's one big huge chat room. Lots of noise and very little actual good tidbits. So my questions is, are the tidbits good enough to be worth the noise?

Every few months I flip out about life. I did it on the walk home from work today. I just start doubting myself and my place in life and the decisions I've made and basically just the path that I'm on. It usually starts out with thoughts like, What am I doing? Is this what I really want? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing? Am I making a really big mistake with my life? It's not any specific event. It just is a moment of self doubt that lasts for hours. It's cool. Whatever. I had an awesome idea for a business tonight though. Awesome idea. I think it was fated. Telling me I'm on the right path. Or maybe not. Maybe I'm not supposed to work everyday but just stay at home cook, bake bread, grow gardens, and have babies. Maybe I'm supposed to be barefoot and preggers. Am I too focused on 'unimportant things' like financial security and my career and having fun, or do I really have the rest of my life to find stuff that makes me happy? ...

I have some baby plants! About a week into cultivating my seed babies and I see some sprouts! I have some onion and basil sprouting already! I'm glad the basil is coming in quickly because I really am interested in eating it as quickly as possible. Mmmmm fresh basil! My baby plants are (hopefully) going to grow up into big plants some day and feed me. I like plants that feed me. They're the best! I've started practicing a new piece on the piano. This one is by E dvard Grieg . (That's not me by the way, but I sound similar... I swear.) It's post romantic. My teacher and I had a whole debate over what song to play after I really learned the Bach, she was like what would you like to play? I was like "classical" and she was like how about romantic? and I was like "how about classical", she was like "how about modern" and I was like "how about classical", she was like how about more brouque? and I was like "how abo...