10 Ways to Socially Manage Your Money
August 13th, 2007 (2:00pm) Anne Zelenka 16 Comments
Though your financial life may be the last thing you want to open up to some random stranger across the ‘net, you could manage your money better by doing it socially. Of course money management matters to web workers, because the better you manage your money, the more flexibility you have to choose work that really suits you.
Here’s how to use the social web to improve your money management:
Get a read on your net worth. NetworthIQ allows you to track the changes in your net worth and look at how other people’s net worth is changing too. You can check by various attributes like geographic location, education, and so forth in order to see how you’re doing relative to your peers.
See how your salary rates. PayScale, Salary.com, and other such sites will help you judge how your salary compares to others in similar fields and geographic regions.
Find pricing guidelines for freelance work. If you run a service-based business, you can look at what other people are charging for similar services by checking their websites. For example, Cristy Hayes publishes a page of prices for her copywriting services.
Edit and tag bank transaction information. When you download transactions from your bank or credit card company, the names of the payees might be a mess. Money management site Wesabe lets you take advantage of other people’s work in cleaning up those names and in tagging what the transactions might be — like gas for a Shell purchase or groceries for Safeway.
Compare your spending habits to other people’s. Tools like Expensr allow you to compare your spending with the spending of people like yourself.
Share financial goals and tips for achieving them. Wesabe also lets you see what financial goals other people have and get tips from them on how to achieve your goals. Or you can use a more general social goal-setting site like Goalmigo or 43 Things.
Lend and borrow among your peers. Sites like Prosper and Lending Club allow you to borrow money directly from other people rather than resorting to a bank loan or credit card. If you’re flush with cash, you can lend money and make some interest.
Track IOUs together. Buxfer and BillMonk allow you to keep track of what other people owe you – or what you owe to them and make sure they know it too.
Discover investment intelligence. Zecco and Wikinvest gather investment tips and information and analysis across many people.
Blog your finances. Share your progress towards your financial goals on a blog. For an example, check out PFBlog, chronicling one person’s journey towards financial independence.
Have you tried any social money management tools?
16 Comments Post your own comment
Rex Dixon says: August 13th, 2007 2:51pm
Thanks for the mention! Technically Speaking… it should be Lending Club first; if we are going to the alphabetic look. :)
Rex Dixon
Director of Social Media Content
Lending Club
Marc Hedlund says: August 13th, 2007 4:43pm
Thanks, as well, for the mention of Wesabe. Great list!
Investor Trip says: August 13th, 2007 4:53pm
Very nice list of web 2.0 websites. Don’t forget to mention that Zecco offers free stock trades!
They’re one of a king in their field, and are doing an extraordinary job at limiting those pesky commission fees that every trader/investor hates.
Also, Prosper adds another element to one’s investment portfolio.
NetworthIQ is a gem as well.
Ryan Williams says: August 13th, 2007 5:28pm
Cool, we’re first! Thanks for including NetworthIQ and I’ll echo the sentiments here, great list for this topic.
@Investor Trip, Thanks too for the kind words.
Ahmad Tarek says: August 14th, 2007 12:29am
Very nice list - It is really very helpful but what about online personal finance tools?
FredericBaud says: August 14th, 2007 1:30am
For people interested in lists of innovative startups, sites or resources in the world of banking and finance, I’d recommend participating to Bank & Finance Watch - the collaborative site we maintain within BarCampBank..
Daniel Rae says: August 14th, 2007 2:34am
I really like the look of the NetworthIQ site, but it seems to be orientated to US users - I’m from the UK. For example, the income part has no options for currency, presume it’s just in dollars.
Anyone know of anything similar over here?
Estava eu aqui… « LOVE WILL BE YOUR DEATH says: August 14th, 2007 7:33am
[...] 10 Ways to Socially Manage Your Money [...]
GigaOM Om’s WallStripped, Blackle, VM Ware and more « says: August 14th, 2007 8:49am
[...] WebWorkerDaily: 10 ways to socially manage your money.Read more » [...]
» Web Worker Daily covers NetworthIQ Silicon Florist says: August 14th, 2007 9:31am
[...] Fourio’s NetworthIQ was listed in a recent article in Web Worker Daily on social money management tools. Get a read on your net worth. NetworthIQ allows you to track the changes in your net worth and [...]
Serge Lescouarnec says: August 14th, 2007 11:01am
Anne
Must be ‘Financial Tuesday’ as Webware has a story on Quicken Online which prompted me to write about ‘Mvelopes’ an online Personal Finance and Budgeting solution on ‘Serge the Concierge’
Here is the link http://www.sergetheconcierge.com/2007/08/budget-and-pers.html
Serge
Anne Zelenka says: August 14th, 2007 12:35pm
Serge: seems a good time to think about finances with the stock market and general economy looking so shaky! Have you been happy with Mvelopes so far?
I use Quicken on my Mac, but I really despise it. Maybe I’ll move to Wesabe and quit reconciling my checking account.
Volta às aulas e iTunes no megalistão de listas da semana: quase mil dicas « netmania - blog sobre Internet e tecnologia says: August 18th, 2007 6:27am
[...] 10 maneiras de gerenciar o seu dinheiro socialmente; [...]
My Web Travels for August 17th 2007 through August 22nd 2007 | krynsky.com says: August 22nd, 2007 5:32pm
[...] Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive 10 Ways to Socially Manage Your Money « - I really need to spend more time managing my money and hopefully will find time to look into these resources [...]
Bob the Chef says: September 6th, 2007 7:12am
Hahahaha, investment intelligence on a WIKI? You guys are idiots. Trusting a wiki is like trusting a compulsive liar.
Harei Edom says: April 11th, 2008 4:22pm
A friend told me about this little free online personal budgeting utility, and I have been using it for 2 month now, it is nothing short of amazing, a dream for those who like to be in control of their cash. Totally anonymous, safe, simple and easy to use and very functional.
It’s called “Out Of The Dark” and it is available at:
http://www.myexp.org/OOTD_gate.php
Enjoy.