Mister Nifty

What Yodlee lacks in graphical excellence, it makes up for in powerful financial tools. I have tried several online financial management programs. (Sites such as Mint, Wesabe) Email me if you want to know why I don’t use these. Yodlee is a seamless management tool that imports your account information and categorizes it. You categorize whatever does not get a tag. Also, you can create rules when trasactions come in for categorization. For example: If a transaction has the word “Exxon” categorize it as “Gasoline”. I trained my filter to where most of my purchases are automatically categorized.

The beauty of your transactions being categorized is the reporting system. You get a cool pie chart showing you how much you spent in all your categories. You may be surprised to see which slices are the largest! Yodlee also has a built-in budgeting system. You plug the numbers in for each category (it gives you your monthly average). Then, when you hit 90% of your budget for the month in that category, it emails you or text messages you letting you know it’s time to cut spending in that category for this month. Yodlee is FREE and is secured by one of the top internet security firms out there – RSA. Get your finances in order so that you can keep your mind on the Kingdom! It’s free, you have nothing to lose.

I found this great spreadsheet over at vertex42.com. I have been looking for a spreadsheet that gives a yearly look at my finances without having to be an accountant. This is a no-brainer for those who want to get their finances in order. It’s not for commercial use, but feel free to use it for your home finances. If you don’t have your personal affairs in order, it affects you ability to work in the Kingdom. This tool can help you get some peace of mind and vision where your finances are going. Check it out! Here’s a screenshot.  Don’t judge this book by its cover.  Try it and see if you aren’t amazed at how much money you are throwing down the drain.  Have fun!

This is something your organization will really benefit from if you aren’t yet processing donations online. Google has been so generous to offer 501c3 status organizations free donation processing until 2009. There are no monthly fees or setup fees. It’s an entire year of free processing. I just love free stuff.