Geezeo joins the ranks of Mint.com, NetworthIQ.com, and Wesabe.com as a social personal finance site. The USP (unique selling point) of the site is their mobile accessibility.

It works like this:

Henry’s walking down the street. He stops and wonders if he’s got enough for a Big Mac. He sends a text message to the ether and waits. Moments later a text message comes back with all of my account balances that he setup at the website. Welp. Looks like Henry will have to go another day without food.

It’s targeting students or recent graduates for their service but anyone can use it. They target them because they’re more “connected”. It’s also US-only. Sorry Canada. They have compatibility with 6000+ institutions.

Here are a couple of improvements I would make:

1. Instead of texting the word “geezeo” to get current account balances, make it a common word that I can enter without switching to “abc” mode.
2. Instead of texting the word “geezeo update” to update my balances, it should already be updated when you retrieve your current account balances (see item 1).  Why would anyone want non-updated information?  Deprecate this.
3. Send a pie chart or graph or something via MMS if possible.

There are more things but here’s the one sentence summary: “Geezeo tracks your money automatically and there’s also discussion boards as well.”

Is it useful?  Sure.  Consistent awareness of your financial situation is very important for building wealth or getting out of debt.

Will I use it?  Probably not.  Calculating my net worth at the end of the month is good enough for me.

-h

PS - Sorry about the absence.  I was doing pull-ups this entire time.

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The sooner you and your spouse can agree on where the family money goes, the better. The best time to figure out finances is before you’re married when both of your money is separate.

I’m getting married in November. The shared finances discussion has begun. It will continue for the next few months until we’ve covered all of the ground rules. These premarital financial discussions should minimize the fights while we’re married.

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Buy books that are used. Most are in good condition. You’re buying the book for the words so don’t worry that the spine is a little bent or the pages are a bit folded. I just bought a $35 dollar book on Amazon.com for $15 bucks used.

Some people are irked by buying books used. They’re afraid that the previous owner had abused and neglected their book before putting it on the market. Rest assured: They’re nothing wrong with most used books. The previous owner is selling it because they need the money. Or they do what I do and buy books and then not read them.

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If you’ve ever booked a flight online before, you know how seemingly random airline prices can be. Sure, you can track the prices for a few days and buy when you feel like you’re getting a good deal, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could actually know with some degree of certainty that you are, in fact, paying a good price? Enter Farecast.

Farecast monitors a massive amount of airline pricing data, does some fancy statistical calculations, then tells you whether the current rate is a good one, or if it’s likely to drop in the future. Queries can be performed on flights up to 90 days in advance. It’s not a foolproof system by any means, but it sure beats the heck out guessing.

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I’ll trade you this $10 dollar bill for your $10 dollar bill. Deal?

Budgeting on paper and pencil isn’t for everyone. Money can be hard to track when it’s spent using a variety of sources, such as credit cards, checks, and cash. It’s tough to tell when you’ve exceeded the $200 you’ve budgeted for yourself during the week.

Use cash exclusively to make all of your purchases during the week. A quick glance at your wallet will gauge how well you’re spending your money. You’re not doing so hot if it’s mid-week and your wallet is empty. Conversely, you can consider withdrawing less money for the next week if you have plenty of cash leftover.

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