The Envelope model is great, keeps us from spending more than we make…there just isn’t a great digital solution yet that

a) automatically uploads transactions

b) has a usable, speedy interface

c) uses the envelopes model

If NeoWare creator is reading: I like your model, your layout looks great (and usable). Maybe you can shed some light on the “uploading of statements”. Is that something we have to do weekly/daily in order for us to be on top of our spending? If that is the case, is there something in the works to automatically sync transactions?

Thanks!

Thanks for the post about Mint and Mvelopes. I came here looking for info on entering manual transactions at Mint.com, and have been disappointed that such a great interface and system (including the iPhone App) doesn’t have more flexibility as Mvelopes does. I hadn’t heard of Mvelopes before coming here, but it looks like it has a terrific feature set. I would gladly pay $13.xx/month for these features, but there are a few deal breakers – here’s why I won’t use Mvelopes:

1) Flash interface – Get serious. I think it’s amazing they were able to build such a robust data driven system with the buggiest software platform out there, but I just can’t trust it when I can’t even access it with limited browsers (such as Safari on the iPhone – If point two were addressed well, I might consider forgetting about this issue)

2) No iPhone app. There is a mobile and smartphone option…there’s no SMARTphone if not an iPhone. I don’t make decisions in front of a computer screen, I do it on the go. If I can’t access my current financial pulse from my handset, I’m going elsewhere

3) Customer sentiment: It seems everybody loves the features of Mvelopes, but feel that isn’t enough – they are looking for a system that looks/feels like Mint.com, and I see why. Mint is beautiful, and they have thought about the full user experience, not just the technical ability of the software (unfortunately, their aim of 100% effortless tracking is not the direction I need). This is a critical factor in software selection for me. If I wanted a crappy Windows-looking convoluted bloatware ridden software experience, I wouldn’t be looking for a replacement for Quicken, the king of accounting trashware.

The ironic part about #3 is that I agree with Mint’s overall mantra of effortless tracking. Where Quicken makes you do EVERYTHING, and makes it a pain in the ***, Mint wants you to trust IT to do everything. I want Mint to do everything – RIGHT – but give me 5-10% more control than I have now to make modifications if I feel I need to. With that little bit of control, I’d add the occasional custom or cash transactions, and manage an envelope budget system. Otherwise, I think it’s killer that Mint is so simple and clean.

Hopefully either Mint or Mvelopes comes through soon.

I, too, looked at mint.com last year, but saw that it was about tracking the past instead of planning for the future, although it was a slick and cute (I love green) site and Mvelopes is a pain to use and looks like Windows 98. My friend just e-mailed me saying that they’d added budgeting, but WTF, no manual transactions? Adding the manual transactions as you spend (for which mobile Mvelopes is key) is the only way to really power-use Mvelopes.

It’s pretty clear from the cons you guys have mentioned that you’re getting what you pay for with mint.com. Since they are free, they’ve made the site for them, hence no/limited customizable categories. They are collecting your spending habits for their own purposes and are doing you the favor of letting you look at your spending habits, too. Mvelopes, on the other hand, is designed for the user (to use, not necessarily to look at).

Drawbacks (you’ve stated them all but some are worth underscoring):

1. ORGANIZING BUDGET CATEGORIES. Now I have on Mint a monthly budget that matches all of my Quicken categories BUT it’s all out of order. Mint automatically orders the budget categories from the most expensive monthly category to the least expensive. So when you look at my budget, Mortgage is at the top of the list followed by Groceries, followed by Property Taxes, followed by Utilities, followed by Orthodontist, followed by Auto Insurance, followed by Dining Out… I have 53 budget categories so this looks like one big mess. Mint needs to add functionality that would allow people to group “like categories” together (all of my Home categories would be together, all of my Auto categories would be together, etc.).

2. THERE IS NO WAY TO ENTER TRANSACTIONS MANUALLY. It may just be me but it seems that every once in a while there’s a quirk in the system with downloading my online transactions. What if Mint misses a transaction? There’s no way to manually enter it. Maybe Mint has found a way to ensure that 100% of your transactions will perfectly download from each institution 100% of the time. Again, I could be mistaken about this.

Summary

Mint is definitely not a way to manage your cash since it does not have any intelligence about what your money looks like right now (it doesn’t know what you just purchased this morning or yesterday) or what your money is about to look like several days from now. Instead, Mint gives you an almost brilliant “after-the-fact” look at what “already” happened to your money. Smart Mint users will hopefully use these “after-the-fact” snapshots to rein in their (our) out-of-control spending habits in many areas that they (we) were once blind to.

Again, Mint provides a great snapshot of where your money went and this will be a huge advantage for the overwhelming majority of people in the world who would never take time to get a grasp on their personal finances if it took even the slightest effort (let’s face it, we’re all pretty lazy).

I’m very intrigued that Nick Thomas posted a response. When he says “innovative and cool projects in the lab coming soon” it hard to believe that would include replacing the painfully slow Flash interface. That would be such a huge change of the type that companies rarely make. New features bolted onto the current platform aren’t going to help, no matter how innovative and cool they are.

Best regards,
Steve

Here are a few interesting articles and videos that I’ve collected over the past week….

-Nick Thomas
Co-founder and COO of Finicity, the makers of Mvelopes.