Namely, it still failed to explicitly address the following questions:

1. Am I sticking to my monthly budget?
2. Where is my money going?
3. How does my spending compare to my peers’?
4. What is happening in my other financial accounts?
5. Can I get a better rate somewhere else?

Enter the online money management app, the Web 2.0 solution to personal finance. While these apps were founded a few years ago, they’ve become increasingly popular in the past 6-12 months as the recession has caused many to focus more on budgeting and their personal finances. Each of these apps goes beyond simple online banking by automatically importing transaction across all of your financial accounts — checking, saving, investment, and credit card.

Mint.com was conceived in 2005 by CEO Aaron Patzer when he was stressed out about having to spend several hours doing his personal budgeting on Quicken. He figured there must be a more automated way of doing this tedious task. The public beta version came out in September 2007 and its full version was launched in October 2008. It has since been hailed as the premier online money management app on the Web by numerous media outlets.

My user experience notes on Mint.com:

• Clean, graphic-intensive user interface. The pretty charts and graphs make budgeting fun!
• Compare your spending habits against other Mint.com users.
• Granular spending charts in the “Trends” section make it possible to drill down into your spending habits.
• “Ways to Save” section shows exactly where you can find a better rate on a savings account or credit card.
• Cool support features: An iPhone app, SMS updates, and blog.
• My verdict: Robust and graphic-intense, yet still simple enough to set up.

Quicken Online launched in January 2008 at a monthly rate of $2.99 after the 30-day free trial. Thankfully, they’ve since come to their senses, and began offering their product free of charge beginning last October, right around the time when Mint.com was coming out of beta and getting a ton of good press. (Nice timing!)

My user experience notes on Quicken Online:

• The layout and user interface is almost identical to Mint.com’s. Very clean.
• Get helpful reminders about when bills are due. (Avoid those nasty late fees!)
• Homepage offers a basic cashflow summary of money in – money out for the month.
• Cool support features: A mobile version and blog.
• My verdict: Simple and very easy to use.

Wesabe launched in December 2005 and has always been free of charge. Unlike Mint.com and Quicken Online, the Wesabe experience is focused on the community aspect of the site as opposed to the application itself. The idea behind Wesabe is that pooling spending information can aid in better financial decision making.

My user experience notes on Wesabe:

• The UI is a bit clunky compared to Mint.com and Quicken Online.
• Compare your spending habits and shopping loyalties to those of other Wesabeans.
• Unfortunately, there is currently no support for investment accounts.
• The user manual is a major buzzkill. Things that “just work” shouldn’t need a user manual. Case-in-point: do you remember getting one with your iPod? Didn’t think so.
• Cool support features: A mobile version, blog, and ability to talk directly to CEO Marc Hedlund.
• My verdict: The community aspect of Wesabe makes it stand out from Mint.com and Quicken Online, and hopefully they’ll add support for investment accounts soon.

If you have an iPhone, Mint.com is definitely for you. You’ll love the clean interface the iPhone app gives you. For those who love TurboTax or don’t have an iPhone but demand mobile access, Quicken Online is worth a try. If you don’t have investment accounts (or don’t care to track them) and if you want the added value of a community experience, I’d recommend giving Wesabe a try. Do you have a favorite online personal finance app (perhaps one not listed here)? Feel free to leave a comment below. We’d love to get your input.

Social News Sites

1. Tip’d — “A community for financial news, ideas, and tips.” Categories include business, currencies, economy, personal finance, stocks, and more. Tip’d has the largest userbase of any financial social news site, by far, so if you only have time for one, it should probably be this one. (Disclosure: Bankling management has an ownership interest in Tip’d.)
2. FeedTheBull — “Financial and stock market news with a voice.” Stories tagged with stock symbols include the stock’s current trading price. The volume of comments makes for lively discussion on many stories. FTB’s bullish vote button is definitely our favorite.
3. Value Investing News — “Investor powered stock market news.” Categories include bonds, shareholder activism, stock analysis, and of course value investing. VIN also features a robust stock screener from Zacks.com. Members of VIN share in the site’s Adsense revenue.
4. StockTwits — “Real investors. Real ideas. Real time.” StockTwits uses the power of Twitter to offer real-time commentary on stocks. Sign-up is easy. All you need is a Twitter account and an interest in at least one stock. A Firefox extension makes StockTwits more accessible from Twitter. Also features candlestick performance charts on every stock page.
5. PF Buzz — “The best money and finance articles.” Categories include business, career, frugality, financial planning, investing, taxes, and more. The drawback to PF Buzz is that it seems only one new story hits the frontpage on average; also, their forums are dead. But we love their “Top Users” feature on the sidebar.

Social Networking & Stock Picking Sites

6. Motley Fool CAPS — “Investors helping investors beat the market.” (Actually, at Bankling, we’re usually not fans of trying to beat the market. Hey, we’re big Bogleheads over here!) That said, CAPS analyzes individual stocks by polling its users as to whether the stock will outperform the S&P 500 or not. Member commentary on each stock is also available on each stock page.
7. SocialPicks — “Invest smarter together.” At SocialPicks, users can share investment ideas and track peers’ investment performance. Members establish a credible stock investor identity and are able to view or join select investor groups, such as Mad Money, Green Investments, or Value Investors, to name a few.
8. Stockpickr — “The stock idea network.” Users can compare their stock portfolios to Wall Street pros like Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, and George Soros. Individual stock pages display standard stock data as well as a list of investor portfolios that currently hold the stock and recommendations of similar stocks.
9. Wikinvest — “Investing simplified.” A Wiki for investing. Wikinvest has thousands of user-generated content on investing concepts and publicly traded companies. Wikinvest offers WikiCharts, which are stock performance charts that contain user-generated annotations.
10. Covestor — “Make money with Covestor’s proven investors.” At Covester, users can follow the real trades of other members. Individual investors can follow the moves of professional traders and even invest their money in a Covestor account that will replicate the trading portfolio moves of favorite pros. A rankings page shows the best performing member portfolios.

Tip’d SocialTickers

Probably the most newsworthy of the new features at Tip’d is the SocialTickers feature. These are “ticker” pages for every stock traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ, except they’re not a traditional ticker page like you’d see on Yahoo! Finance, with charts and numbers. Instead, they provide buzz on the particular stock from around the Web, importing commentary from social sites like Twitter, Technorati, Delicious and more. For example, here are some of the most active tickers:

• Google, Inc. Social Ticker
• Apple, Inc. Social Ticker
• General Motors Social Ticker

Tip’d Videos

Video was an obvious move for Tip’d: a lot of the best financial content is in text form, of course, but if you have to pick a second-place format, it’s definitely video. Tip’d 2.0 features integration with YouTube and Google Video, so clips from those sites actually load in a pop-up at Tipd.com (no need to click through to the video site). There’s also an investing videos RSS feed, so if you just want to get the latest videos (rather than all Tip’d news), you can subscribe to that.

Tip’d Top 100

One other feature worth a mention is the Tip’d Top 100. Basically, it’s a list of the domains featured the most on the Tip’d homepage (stories which go “hot”). Interesting to see which of these Web sites are producing the most buzzworthy (Tip’d-friendly) articles. Of course, a lot of these are publishers that participate in the Tip’d community (carrying the Tip it! button on their site, and submitting their own stories). Tip’d can send 1-300 referrals for a homepage’d story, so if you write for a finance or investing blog, you may want to add the ‘Tip it!’ button to your blog template.

(Disclosure: Bankling management has an ownership interest in Tip’d.)

Check out the video tour:

• The Crisis of Credit: Visualized — The thesis project of Jonathan Jarvis, a student at the Art Center in Pasadena, CA. This is an animated video that succinctly explains how the miscalculations of homeowners, mortgage lenders, investment bankers, and investors led to the credit markets freezing; also explains why leveraging leads to trouble and how the credit rating agencies got duped. Relatively easy to follow with a bit of humor thrown in to lighten the mood.
• The Subprime Primer — The subprime lending meltdown explained with stick figures. This 45-slide presentation details the creation of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and the fallacy of perpetually rising house prices. Warning: contains PG-13 language (which makes it rather darkly comedic).
• Kiplinger.com: 15 Things You Need to Know About the Panic of 2008 — When the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate from 6.5% to 1% over a three-year period from 2000-2003, money got really cheap really quickly. This forms the basis of the current crisis, as explained in the 14 points that follow. This primer concludes by saying that stable home prices are on the horizon and while the economy may suffer from aftershocks for years to come, there’s no need to lose hope (yet).
• Mint.com: A Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis — An easy-to-follow flow chart that concisely connects events together. It all begins with the mania for home ownership fueled by historically low interest rates and the belief that housing prices will always go up.
• This American Life: The Giant Pool of Money — This radio show was produced in May 2008, prior to the stock market crash of the fall, so the reporting may seem a bit overly optimistic when we listen to it now. Still, this is a fantastic in-depth look at what fueled the demand for CDOs and subprime mortgages, as told by insiders. Explains that from 2000-2007, the median household income stayed flat while housing prices went way up. To pay off debt, homeowners took out home equity lines of credit, thereby going into more debt. This is fine as long as housing prices always continue to go up. Uh-oh!

So for those of you who were in the dark about how this whole mess started, I hope these resources have helped shed some light on the origins of our current economic situation. To keep up-to-date on the current recession and other economic news, check out Tip’d Economy and Recovery.gov.

• Wealthiest Chap: Wikipedia: List of the 100 wealthiest people. You want filthy? Take a look at these guys. The No. 1: Warren Buffet. Net worth: $62 billion. My verdict: Bill Gates, currently at #3 was actually worth over $100 billion for a short while in 1999 before the dot-com bubble burst. Oh well!
• Wealthiest Company: FT Global 500: Wealthiest Companies as of 31 December 2008 [PDF]. Despite plummeting oil prices, five of the top 15 are oil companies. The No. 1: ExxonMobil. Market cap: $406 billion (as of 12/31/2008). My verdict: Texas tea tastes so sweet when you’re the one selling it.
• Wealthiest College: Wikipedia: List of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment. An endowment is a donation to an institution with a stipulation that it be invested for the long-term, instead of spent all at once. The No. 1: Harvard University. Endowment: $36.556 billion (2008). My verdict: Harvard, one of only six colleges that tops the $10 billion, mark crushes everyone else on this list. There’s even been some discussion to use the enormous endowment to get rid of tuition fees.
• Wealthiest Country: CIA World Factbook: Richest Countries by Per Capita GDP. No, the United States is not at the top of the list. The No. 1: Lichtenstein. Per Capita GDP: $117,000 (2007 estimate). My verdict: Good to know that if I started my own country, population me, that my nation would top this list.
• Wealthiest Canine: PetsDo: 10 Richest Pets in the World. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. The No. 1: Gunther IV, dog. Net worth: $372 million. My verdict: This trend of bequeathing an estate to your pet is quite a disturbing trend. Well, what else are the wealthy dead to do with their money now that poverty and hunger are things of the past? Oh, wait a minute.

Well, if one thing’s for certain, reading these lists all day isn’t making you any wealthier. Seriously, have you read that Rule of 72 article yet?

Dorothea Lange: Migrant Mother, 1936 (source)

March of the Unemployed in Camden, NJ (source)

Cattle Skull, Badlands, 1936 (source)

No Way Like the American Way (source)

Free Coffee & Donuts for the Unemployed (source)

All pictures were found on Flickr under the 2.0 Creative Commons License, and each links back to the source. Copyright belongs to the original photographer.

• Forbes.com: The Most Valuable Teams in Sports. Forbes is quick to point out the rise in the value of sports franchises: in 2004, no team was worth $1 billion dollars; in 2008, a whopping 24 teams’ values top that mark. The No. 1: Manchester United, English Premier League. Value: $1.8 billion. My verdict: Does anyone else find it mildly ironic/hilarious that AIG is this team’s title sponsor?
• Forbes.com: Most Valuable College Football Teams. Despite what some college administrators may want the public to think, amateur collegiate athletics–particularly football and basketball–is big business, bringing millions to universities each season. The No. 1: Notre Dame. Value: $101 million. My verdict: Notre Dame’s exclusive television deal with NBC, and the fact that they aren’t tied to a conference, give them a clear advantage. Nevermind that Forbes.com can’t seem to spell the name of their head coach correctly.
• Sports Business Journal: Top 10 Naming Rights Deals (via The Dallas Morning News). We may be in the midst of a global economic recession, but you wouldn’t know it from recent stadium naming rights deals. The largest two deals in history were signed just within the last year. (And by financial service firms no less!) The No. 1: Tie between Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY (Brooklyn Nets, NBA) and Citi Field in Queens, NY (New York Mets, MLB). Cost: $400 million (20 years). My verdict: After receiving $50 billion from TARP, I suppose a $20 million annual budget for having your name on a baseball stadium seems cheap for Citigroup.
• Wikipedia: List of Major League Baseball teams by payroll. Of the four major American sports leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL), only Major League Baseball is without a salary cap. Therefore the teams at the top of this MLB list have the highest payrolls of all American sports teams. No data is available on wealthy non-American sports leagues, such as the English Premier League, as payrolls in these leagues are not publicly disclosed. The No. 1: New York Yankees, MLB. Payroll in 2008: $209 million. My verdict: The Yankees have had the highest payroll in the big leagues since 1995, but haven’t won a World Series since 2000. I guess money can’t always buy you happiness (or even championships).
• SI.com: The 50 Highest-Earning Athletes in the U.S. Some of these top athletes’ earnings eclipse the national GDPs of a handful of small countries. The No. 1: Tiger Woods. Total Earnings: $127.9 million. My verdict: Tiger’s yearly earnings dwarf that of most major American sports teams’ entire payrolls. In one year, he can afford to purchase one of the world’s most expensive homes in cash, completely debt-free!

Okay, so sports isn’t exactly Wall Street in terms of dollar amounts changing hands. But hey, at least we don’t have to bail these guys out!

• HowStuffWorks: Top Ten Most Expensive Houses in the World. Donald Trump’s $125 million home ranks last on this list, so you know there’s some good stuff here. The No. 1: Antilla in Mumbai, India. Price: $1 billion. My verdict: What does one family do with a 27-story mansion stocked with 600 servants?
• Forbes.com: World’s Most Expensive Homes. This list comprises only homes that were on the market and/or properties that sold in 2008, as of Nov. 17. The No. 1: Hillandale in Greenwich, Connecticut. Price: $125 million. My verdict: According to some other sites, this home is currently listed at a mere $95 million, but Forbes still has it at $125 million.
• ABC News: Home Is Where the Money Is. The layout of this list could be easier to navigate, but at 34 homes, it is our biggest list. The No. 1: Villa Leopolda in the French Riviera. Price: $745 million. My verdict: The Russian oligarch who bought this mansion set a world record for purchase price of a home. But hey, Frank Sinatra used to party here.
• Wall Street Journal: World’s Most Expensive Homes, Now at Reduced Prices. A sobering look at how the decline of the housing market has impacted the most expensive homes. The No. 1: Fleur de Lys in Beverly Hills, California. Price: $125 million. My verdict: This 45,000-square-foot mansion, modeled after Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles (pictured above), is in the same Holmby Hills neighborhood as Hef’s Playboy Mansion. What’s not to like?
• Newsweek: America’s Most Expensive Homes. Although there’s no date given, the intro to this list cites statistics from the first quarter of 2007. The No. 1: The Beverly Hills Compound in Beverly Hills, California. Price: $165 million. My verdict: This house has been home to William Randolph Hearst, served as honeymoon quarters for John and Jacqueline Kennedy, and was featured in the famous horse-head scene of The Godfather. Now, that’s an offer you can’t refuse!

What’s that? You aren’t worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Well, then I suppose this has all been fun and games. Recess is over. Time to get back to class. Remember, when buying a home, you should always buy less home than you think you can afford.