Hello, I wish you all the best in health, wealth, peace of mind and success in your financial goals for 2012.
I thought I’d start the year off with some trends; especially in technology, which could help you better achieve your personal financial goals, because there are a plethora of personal finance services and apps, or apps as they’re called, that are going to change the way Americans invest, bank , we keep track of our finances, shopping, getting coupons, etc.
Some of these applications use the web, but increasingly, many are available on mobile devices because more than a third of all American adults now carry “smartphones” with staggering amounts of screen that use processors that are as powerful as those of your laptop.
In fact, if you are like many of my clients who have resisted the encroachment of technology, you may want to reconsider your decision in 2012. This could be the year to let the benefits of these innovations help you win better. control over your finances.
Maybe now is the time to stop using a pen to write checks, paper to track spending, and scissors to clip coupons, to let technology streamline this process a bit, and in doing so, increase your savings and bottom line. . . Because let’s face it, your best deals on hotel and airfare coupons or discounts no longer appear as inserts or ads in your newspaper—they go to those who use the Internet.
So here are a few ideas for you to ponder and consider opening up, and while I encourage you to listen to them with an open mind, embrace only those you feel 100% comfortable with, knowing full well that you can always go back to pen and paper if it turns out. that this is not what you like, so here are some new ways of thinking:
1. Think “mobile money” What do you think? Well, here’s the truth. With today’s technology, you can now wave your smartphone in front of a smart device to make all sorts of payments, and this trend seems to be gaining ground because it helps retailers, public transport operators and others sell more while cutting costs. mobile money, your smartphone is securely linked to your bank or credit card account and saves you the hassle of carrying a card, swiping it, getting a bill, signing it, etc., and saving the seller money too. Also, I suspect that merchants and service providers like Google Wallet will make this more attractive by offering promotions and discounts to people who adopt this mobile payment technology, just like they offered incentives in the early days of the internet.
2. Think: person-to-person payments. Remember how, when you’re at a restaurant with friends and it’s time to split the bill, you ask for separate bills or find cash to pay your share of the bill. Well, how about just clicking your smartphones against each other and voila? Companies like American Express, Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal now offer a number of services that allow you to easily transfer money between friends using verified bank accounts or credit cards. This makes sending money across the street, neighborhood, or country faster, easier, and less expensive, and remember, you are ALWAYS the bearer of any charges your bank or credit card company incurs on all transactions you make, so if this technology cuts costs, chances are some of those savings will flow to you, too.
3. Think: Money management. There are new websites that have also become apps on your smartphone, like Manilla.com, which I mentioned a few weeks ago in my interview with Terry Savage, and Pageonce, which help you manage bills, payments, subscriptions, coupons and more. . ; free! So you never have to worry about a late payment, late fees, trips to the post office, stamps, missed deals where you could have used a coupon to save big, etc. What’s more, many of these services actually have a green agenda and want to help replace the paper clutter with electronic statements. Other, more specialized sites, like savvymoney.com, help customers manage their debt: credit card payments, mortgages, car loans, and automatically give you tips on when to refinance or make additional payments to reduce your overall interest expenses, etc Others, like betterment.com, are designed to make investing simple, and finally there’s mint.com, whose CEO I interviewed about a year ago, and which was the first site like it to go live. And it’s a good place to gather all your financial accounts. So with an open mind, check them out and sign up for the ones that make sense to you. And remember, you can always opt out if you don’t like them.
Now, before I go any further, I want to emphasize that I am not recommending these specific sites or validating what they offer, but merely citing examples of technological advancements in personal finance that are worth exploring further.
4. Think: personalized offers. We’ve all heard about the promise of personalization, and while this has happened to some degree with the Internet, it hasn’t quite worked in the personal finance space, until now. In fact, to understand personalization, consider trying this experiment. Take your laptop to a friend’s house and type the same search phrase: say, “Top 10 Miami deals” into google.com or any other search engine: your friend on his computer and you on your laptop Using your friend’s internet connection while sitting next to him, I’m almost 100% sure that your search results will be different because search engines customize search results based on your browsing history. The good news is that with smartphones and location-based services, stores can now know when you walk in, what your shopping history and profiles are, and entice you with special offers just for you: personalized discounts and immediate offers for customers. willing to opt for these programs. And frankly, for the most part, you have little personal information to lose that you haven’t already lost simply by using the Internet, Facebook, email, search engines, or smartphones at home.
I know it sounds a bit scary: like an Orwellian universe, but it’s not as bad as that. YOU have the right to agree or not to participate in any of these services.
5. And finally, think: social commerce. The internet spawns weird terms like this, but what the heck! Apps now allow you to borrow or even take money legally from people all over the world: who might want to give you a loan where they believe in you more than a bank, help you in a crisis, lend you money to fix a kitchen or bathroom? bathroom, or simply invest in a brilliant idea: individuals come forward and open their wallets in what is called borderless social commerce. Visit sites like weemba.com or kickstarter.com if you have an idea that you think others may want to fund. It’s actually great to think that banks will no longer control what you can and can’t do financially. I love free markets.
But don’t think the big banks and corporations aren’t watching all of this very closely and actively participating where they see success: so in 2012 you’re likely to see a lot more in the personal finance technology space… and how we got started In the new year, I urge you to try “doing it” if you want to, and explore ways to save time and money by using technology to your advantage.