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Monday Night Finance- Volume 2

Monday Night Finance Volume 2 banner
Monday, 24 February 2020 / Published in Monday Night Finance

Monday Night Finance- Volume 2

Welcome to Volume 2 of Monday Night Finance where we highlight recent personal finance articles.

14 Free Books Apps To Fuel Your Reading Addiction by The Frugal Fellow

Do you like reading e-Books but hate having to pay for each new book you want to read? Then this post is for you! As someone that frequently travels for work, I love my e-reader. It’s smaller than a single book and has unlimited potential. Unfortunately, I’ve been known to rack up $10-$30 a trip buying multiple books to read on the plane. Bob from The Frugal Fellow did a great job of summarizing 14 different ways to get free content for your e-Reader.

Not only is the (Overdrive) app free, but it also partners with over 40,000 libraries, according to OverDrive. That means you can also get tens of thousands of eBooks absolutely free by using this app. ~The Frugal Fellow

While I was aware of some of the apps (like using Overdrive connected to my public library), I was completely unaware of all of the different ways to obtain content. Several of these platforms, such as Project Gutenberg, focus on digitizing content which is now in the public domain after the copyright has expired. (Think “Great Expectations”). Other apps, such as Prolific Works, connect you with e-Books that are released free by authors to familiarize you with their content. After reading this article I’m excited to see if I can snag a couple of books for my next work trip for free!

4 Ways a Debit Card Can Help You Manage Money by TrueFees.com

It seems like nearly all of our transactions today are done by swiping or inserting a card. For me, I nearly always use a credit card and debit cards are a distant afterthought. In this article, TrueFee$ highlights some of the potential advantages of debit cards.

To determine which card type is best for you, consider your current money situation. ~TrueFees.com

One thing I learned from the article was that some debit cards offer rewards, similar to credit cards! I was unaware that you could earn points when using debit cards. In addition listing some of the other advantages of debit cards, the article highlights some of the best debit card reward programs.

How We Lived On $7,000 ($3,500 each) All-Inclusive for One Year by Screw The Average

For people pursuing FIRE (financial independence & retiring early), there are two objectives: (1) maximize income and (2) minimize expenses. Shannon and Sergio, the couple behind Screw the Average, absolutely crushed #2 last year. When I first saw the headline, I had assumed that there was some gimmick. Were they living in their parent’s basements? Did they barter for food? But the more of the article I read, the more convinced I became that the numbers were real and Shannon and Sergio live a really cool life.

Every dollar spent for the year has been included and we’re making every attempt to be transparent. Also, keep in mind that last year we spent the entire time in the United States and we traveled to Alexandria, VA, Philadelphia, PA, Chicago, IL, Atlanta, GA, and New York, NY.~Screw The Average

Many people’s largest expenses are housing and transportation. Shannon and Sergio minimize their housing expenses through full time house sitting. They also don’t have a car and rarely have needed to rent a car since selling it in 2016. The article is well written and completely transparent about their finances. If you’re living on $70,000 per year, it’s definitely worth a read to see what it’s like to live on 10% of that!

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What you can read next

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Monday Night Finance- Volume 20
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Monday Night Finance- Volume 27
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Monday Night Finance- Volume 48

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Barbara Ann Feeney
16-05-2016

I switched from pencil and paper on grid accounting paper, then to a Google spreadsheet, then to CountAbout. Really happy with how this app makes it easy to track how I doing, staying (or not) on budget.

 
‏@davepurcell
15-11-2016

I rarely tweet endorsements, but -- after years of using/hating Quicken, Countabout is awesome for tracking home budget/finances. Thx!

 
David M.
16-07-2016

CountAbout is as easy to use on my mobile as it is on the desktop and it provides me with the same or better information than Quicken.

 
Nate E.
05-02-2016

Fantastic! I finally found a great replacement for Quicken! CountAbout is entirely cloud-based, so you can access it from whatever OS you happen to be using. And the mobile app isn't hamstrung like Quicken's. No looking back for me, this is a great app and a great service!

 
My Bank Tracker
24-11-2016

...you won’t be bombarded with ads when you log in. Mint, for example, uses targeted ads to help keep the platform free. All in all, CountAbout could be a good choice for Quicken and Mint users who want to start fresh with their finances without losing their past transaction history.

 
Mark Goldfarb
20-01-2017

I love the software – nice and clean – the categories was a must have that your competitors are lacking.

 
Widgets to Compare Monthly Spending in Active Categories
17-02-2017

Huzzah! I can add widgets now and already made one to compare my monthly spending in my active categories to my budget. Excellent. That tool is one of my favorite features in a personal finance product.

 
Shirley Hou
CountAbout was Perfect
15-03-2017

I was looking for finance software to use as treasurer of the parent-teacher association at my child's school. CountAbout was perfect - it had all the register features and download capabilities that I was familiar with from desktop Quicken, but it has the advantage of being in the cloud so I can use it from any computer.

 
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Steve P.
22-09-2017

My search for a cloud-based alternative to Quicken is over! Very easy to transfer my Quicken data and customize my account. Thank you CountAbout!

 
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Jim Powell
17-03-2018

Vastly superior to the execrable Quicken, which caused me to have to choose a new bank password every time I used it. CA is fast, simple, and all you need unless you have a complicated investment portfolio. Its almost fun!

 
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Jeffrey Wilk
02-04-2018

Great product and great customer service. Thanks!

 
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Nancy
10-08-2018

I love CountAbout! I have hated Quicken for years, but didn't have an alternative. Now I do! I love that the cost is only $9.99 per year for the basic service (which is all I need). You can upgrade for more features, if you need them. But for personal use, the basic plan is just fine. When I found CountAbout, I gleefully gave Quicken the boot and I haven't looked back or missed it at all. Bye bye Quicken!!!

 
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Dana Linder
29-03-2019

This is an incredibly well thought out program.

It imports QIF files perfectly. I tried a number that failed miserably.

It has a function that emails reminders about scheduled transactions. That is an extremely useful function that I hadn't seen anywhere.

Tech support is second to none. All my questions were answered in detail within hours (sometimes minutes).

The companion phone app is very simple. You can browse, search, enter transactions and see scheduled transaction. That's really all you need on the phone.

It's one failing for me is that I have a transaction that I have a transaction that occurs on the 3rd Wednesday of the month, and it's not possible to set that up. It's easy enough for me to change the date of next transaction when I enter the current one.

I am extremely impressed with the company. The trial is free for 15 days. You have nothing to lose.

 
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Keith Hurst
22-05-2020

I've been trying to ditch Quicken for years, finally a worthy replacement, but it's so much more, so clean and intuitively designed. I was really surprised and delighted to find a full featured iphone app that meets all my needs.

 
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Amanda Sherlock
25-08-2020

I started using Quicken in 1987, before I had my own PC. I continued using it for years, frustrated by the frequent breaks in the synchronization. Finally I took the leap and used Mint for a year or two. Free software is worth as much as I pay for. Finally, in 2019 I found Countabout. The synchronization is great and I am happy to have a product that's easy to use and reliable. The customer support is excellent and very responsive to my questions.
There aren't as many bells and whistles as Quicken but the simplicity outweighs the complications.

 
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Richard Luna
03-02-2021

I'm a one-person real estate brokerage and having accurate financial records and being able to easily search transactions and generate reports is crucial. I'd been using Quicken for Mac for 10+ years and wanted to migrate to using a Chromebook instead of a Mac, to do that I had to find a replacement for Quicken.

The replacement had to be online; available from my phone, tablet, etc., and no software installations almost every year. I immediately dismissed any 'free' financial software (Mint, etc.) - I believe that you get what you pay for and there is no such thing as 'free.'

I settled on Tiller and CountAbout and subscribed to both; I quickly decided that a spreadsheet is not what I wanted. I wanted something that worked a lot like Quicken and CountAbout fit the bill. It took me awhile to fully embrace it but once I did I've been very happy and would not go back to Quicken even if they offered a fully online version. The few times I've had a question about using CountAbout I've always gotten a response by the end of the day - and often in an hour or less. If feels like I'm working with a small enterprise that's interested in putting out a superior application, improving it and solving issues and responding to questions. I'm very satisfied!

 

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CountAbout® is an easy-to-use online personal finance application that imports data from Quicken and Mint and automatically downloads data from banking, credit card, and retirement accounts. With no software to install, we’re anywhere you have an Internet connection. Our platform is stable, secure, and totally private. Our dedicated customer service team is friendly, knowledgeable, and quick to respond.

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