For the past two years or so, I’ve been using Mint.com to keep an eye on my money. It’s a free financial aggregator where I can see all of my financial accounts (debt, investment, etc).
A while back Mint implemented the budgeting tool that allows me to see progress towards our monthly budget amounts and sends alert when we go over budget or get too close.
But now, they’re also helping me to plan for the future. Getting out of debt, going on vacation, retiring, and sending the kids to college.
My kids are both having birthdays this summer. They will be five and twelve. In my world, this makes me think I have plenty of time to figure out their college plan. I decided to take a look and see what it takes to get my oldest through school, since we’ve just got six or seven years left to plan for her.
Take a look at what I’ve learned and give the goals feature a try for yourself when you have a chance!
It took me about three minutes to establish a goal (in this case, saving for my daughter’s college) in a quick, easy three-step process.
Step 1. Establish the goal
Step 2. Name your goal
Step 3. Link accounts
Next steps
Going forward, Mint offers suggestions (check out 509 plans, etc) but otherwise, I’ll have to spend my energy saving like a crazy woman!! For just one of the kids to go to school I’ve got to be forking over more than 1,000 now! DANG!! (Tip: My next post will be about how a child is never too young to apply for scholarships!)
Oh, and we’ll be regularly checking back at Mint.com to see the cute thermometers tell us how we’re doing in terms of progress towards college savings.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t wait to try the new goal feature out! I love being able to track my progress!
I am going to try it out too. Thanks Jessica!