Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Best Personal Finance Websites

The topic of personal finance is one of great interest in our current economic environment. Individuals are constantly looking for advice on savings, budgeting, credit management and real estate. There are plenty of websites who have capitalized on this type of interest from consumers, some of whom stand head and shoulders above the rest. But what makes a great personal finance website? There are several things that make websites stand out, such as neatly organized information, user-friendliness, and useful information. The following are some of the best websites for the individual looking for advice on the topic of personal finance.

Quizzle

Quizzle has quickly become a sensation among the average consumer for many reasons. On the surface, it is a great website that has well-written articles on just about any topic you can think of in regards to personal finance. An individual can also create a personal account on Quizzle where you can obtain a free credit report and score every six months, dispute inaccurate information with the credit bureaus, and develop a debt payment plan to keep you on track in paying off all of your debts. Although this is a very basic tool, it is extremely user-friendly and offers a snapshot of your current financial well-being and ways to maintain or improve your financial status.

Mint

Mint is a great website that combines many different financial tools in one place. At mint, you can set up a household budget and connect your checking, savings, investment, and credit accounts in a central location where you can get an overall snapshot of how you are doing financially each month. With the budget tool, you can set different goals, such as "Save $1000 for vacation" or "Get out of debt". Mint will track your progress on your goals each month. This is a great way to stay motivated and to reach your goals. Mint also gives you a snapshot of where your money goes each month in the form of graphs that are great visual tools to help you understand you are currently and where you need to be. Mint also offers tools to help you find better deals and savings on all of your accounts. The best thing about this website is that all of this is free. You do not have to pay a subscription each month.

DaveRamsey

Dave Ramsey is a person who is an expert on the topic of finance for individuals, families, and businesses. His website offers a lot of great advice on how to develop and maintain a budget for your home, worksheets and other tools to help you understand where you are at financially and set goals for where you want to be. There is also a description of Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps for financial freedom which includes, building an emergency savings fund, becoming debt free, building a retirement fund and leaving a financial legacy. The great thing about this website is that there is a forum for people just like yourself to interact with each other about financial topics. This offers a level of support for one another which is vital for anyone trying to get back on their feet due to financial hardship, or for anyone trying to build on what they already have. There are a lot of things on this website that you can purchase, but there is a ton of free information available to anyone, which is the reason I feel that it is one of the best personal finance websites available. Although there are plenty of personal finance websites out there, I feel that these three are the best around because of their ease of use, value, and the information that is made available to all consumers.

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