Managing your money has become an all time favorite pastime, especially in light of the economic downfall. Budgeting and keeping track of where your hard earned dollars are going, is even more important than ever. We all know money is really tight right now, and jobs are shaky at best.
Money management has become a “state of the art” tool that can be accessed by a few clicks on your computer. There is absolutely no reason why you don’t have a budget, can’t get a loan, or have an investment of some kind to keep track of where your cash is flowing and to earn on that cash you already have.
WEB 2.0
The newest thing since the big crash of the stock market are called Web 2.0 applications – and I’m talking about the apps that deal with money, finance and investments.
When you are looking to borrow money, no need to go to a bank or lending institution – you can do it all online, and secure as can be. You can lend or borrow money and signing up is as easy as 1,2,3.
BORROWING OR LENDING:
Some of the most used websites for lending and borrowing are ‘Prosper’ – which is a virtual community of loans and lenders in a peer type environment. If you list yourself as a borrower, many different lenders become available, as well as others who want to borrow money along with you. If you need to borrow a large sum of money, the funds could be distributed through more than one lender, in an effort to reduce the risks of a high cash loan.
Another lending Web 2.0 available for loans and for lending is Zopa, which is not only set up for loans, but also can help you keep track of your debt.
MONEY MANAGEMENT
There are many reputable websites that are also there for money management, expense sharing and personal finance. By a quick registration and personal account set-up, you can manage all of your bills, track your expenses, your personal finances, your bills and you can actually pay bills from some of these sites.
One in particular that is most used, is Dimewise – which is as simple to use as watching an introductory video, or reading their blog.
Others that offer the same type of service, which have been compared to ‘Microsoft Money’ are Foonance – iOWEYOU – and NetworthIQ. All of these sites can help you manage, and keep track of your money – as well as offer you loans, etc. Family members can log in and keep track of their separate accounts as well, which gives you an overall of your financial history, debt and worth.
STOCK MARKET INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT:
For Stock Market tracking, investing and portfolio management ñ there is a host of sites that can track stock exchanges, purchases, investments along with personal advice and group, or individual discussions about current trends.
Some of these sites have been around a year or more, others newer, however, they are the up and coming sites for investors.
BullPoo is a silly name for a serious site that is getting prepared to launch. From their reviews, it sounds as if this site might be the one that takes the “bull” by the horns. Their claim, “share and collaborate on investment information.” The review on this site says that it is a place to organize your portfolio, record and store trade history, read blogs about stocks, forecast stocks to help others and to compare, and actually become part of a community of investors who help one another.
GStock is known as the “virtual supercomputer” for stock market analysis. This site claims over one billion investment possibilities per stock, and them emails you alerts when a U.S. stock sells or is traded. It has been known to be a bit difficult to navigate, but offers tutorials to help guide you through.
REAL ESTATE:
Real Estate websites have popped up in droves, in an effort to help you keep track of your home, whether buying, investing or selling.
One of the most popular is, Homethinking – which is a veritable treasure trove of information. It operates somewhat like EBay or Amazon, but you can actually find agents, read reviews about an agent you are considering and see what properties they are handling, as well as if theyíre properties have sold, how long on the market, etc. This website claims over 1.5 real estate agents listed, and lists approximately 2.5 million real estate transactions.
Another great website for real estate information is iiProperty – which goes a little further than Homethinking in that it helps manage your property in an investment portfolio sense. You can advertise rental properties, keep track of tenant information, as well as invoice tenants and track leases, and manage income and expenses. You can even post to Craigslist from this site.
Many others are out there as well that handle different aspects of real estate, namely, Rentometer, Trulia and Zillow, just to name a few.
Other Miscellaneous sites such as MedBillManager, can help you track your medial records, as well as search providers.
PayScale can help you to figure out where you are on the pay scale of your chosen profession and if other jobs are paying more or less.
The important point is – is that the Internet is becoming an even more powerful tool than once suspected, and it is obviously around to stay.
Guest post written by: Ally is part of the team that manages Credit Card Finder, a free credit card comparison service in Australia. Before joining CCF, she was a Media Planner with McCann Worldgroup Philippines, Inc., with award-winning executions, including the Levi’s 501 “Live Unbuttoned” global campaign.