"Stop wondering where that $500 disappeared to; use Mint!"
APP REVIEW: Mint by Intuit
When Steve Jobs and Apple launched the Apple App Store in 2008, they unleashed probably one of the most innovative phone features of the decade. Through a model that Google would follow years later, they created a centralized source of reputable and verified apps for their users to use. Today the app store features millions of applications across different use cases. Apps can fall under several categories, from gaming to finance to phone feature-enhancing utilities.
Intuit, the finance company, best known for their TurboTax desktop applications that allow people to file their taxes, also has a very useful mobile app called Mint. I am quite familiar with this app as I use it almost every day to manage many aspects of my finances. I find the interface very easy to navigate while still being quite powerful. This makes the app accessible for new users yet still allows adept users to tap into advanced features as needed. To interface with the application, Mint has four primary sections that are accessible through four ever-present icons at the bottom row. These sections include Overview, Monthly (bills and subscriptions), Marketplace (credit and loan offers), and Notifications. The app is littered with graphical mediums to display financial data visually. The Overview tab, for example, has Networth, Spending, Investments, Credit Cards, and Loan partitions that all feature a visual line graph to see if such values are increasing or decreasing. These visual features add to the accessibility factor, resulting in a design that makes information easy to consume in quick daily checkups while allowing expandability for deep-diving into one's finances.
The Mint app allows users to manage their financial affairs in a number of ways. Their monthly bill tracker allows users to connect to different service providers and financial institutions to manage their bills.
A genius component of this feature is subscription management. With so many businesses transitioning into subscription business models that offer users so long as they continuously pay monthly, it is easy to find oneself subscribed to multiple services. This can include video streaming, like Netflix, Spotify music streaming, or virtual currency in your favorite mobile game. With Mint, I can keep tabs on my subscriptions and be notified if a service provider has recently increased its rates.
Mint can be great for developing savings habits through its budgeting tools. Because Mint can integrate one's bank and credit accounts, the app will sift through and categorize transactions. Mint then organizes the data to show where my money is being spent so that I can readjust my budget as needed.
Other tools available in-app include investment tracking. In one of its newest updates, I could sync my crypto accounts within the app. I already had my stock portfolios and 401(k) accounts tracked through Mint, but this new feature allowed even more investment management. In addition to active investments, I can connect Mint to my debtors. Credit cards and loans can be synced to the app to see where I owe money easily. These features also integrate with the Net worth tool, which tells me how my investments and cash stack up against all of my debts.
These features put together make Intuit's Mint app a powerful tool for managing finances. While Mint is a free application, the company makes its money from ads for financial products like home loans and credit cards. This app provides a great example of how smartphones, through powerful, well-designed applications, can enhance our lives; in this case, by making finance management easier.
References
Intuit. (2022). Bill tracking: Online monthly bill tracking & reminders | Mint. Intuit Mint.
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