Do you use a personal finance manager (PFM) like Quicken or Microsoft Money? Have you thought about using an online PFM in its stead? There are clearly some advantages to going “cloud,” but the sheer volume of websites offering PFM services makes a commitment seem a little far off. This is a quick reference and comparison guide for seven of the most popular online finance managers, and specifically relative to the features that I consider important.

The Criteria

As I began researching the different PFM options, it became clear to me that there are several features that make an online solution appealing to me. These features may not be important to you, so I encourage you to do your own math/evaluation as appropriate. Regardless, here are the categories in which each site was evaluated:

1. Non-Bank Accounts (Cash Accounts) - does the site allow you to add accounts that are not directly linked to a bank account? The classic example here is a cash account: can I create an account to track things that I spend cash on, instead of trying to split an ATM withdrawal into 100 pieces?
2. Mobile Version - does the site have a mobile version that looks good on my iPhone? For you non-iPhone, smartphone-toting people looking for a mobile version that looks great on Opera…sorry. If it looked nice on my iPhone, thumbs up.
3. Email Updates/Notifications - does the site send you daily or weekly summary updates on your account activity?
4. Text Message Updates/Notifications - the same basic qualification as above, but to your cell phone (via text message). For simplicity, I’ve combined interactive (two-way) SMS and SMS notifications (one-way) in this single category. Some sites allow you to send them text messages to inquire about balances or add transactions, while other sites only send you SMS notifications when certain conditions are met.
5. Banks Supported - this one is extremely biased towards my personal case, but here’s the approach. I use the following financial institutions with routine: USAA Federal Savings Bank, Navy Federal Credit Union, Wells Fargo, and American Express. If the site in question allowed for automatic synchronization (read: did not require me to download a statement and upload it) with all of those banks, thumbs up; otherwise, thumbs down.
6. Budgeting - does the site support budgeting? Can I create a budget with custom categories, and track my progress?
7. Manual Transactions - in line with the “cash accounts” criterion above, does the site allow you to enter transactions manually? This is helpful for maintaining a “real” balance before transactions appear on your bank statement, and imperative for those of us trying to track cash transactions.
8. Cost - what does it cost to use the site? Many sites have subscription fees that are optional for upgrade, while others require a mandatory fee for use.

For scoring, I assigned a simple value of yes/no (1/0) value to each category. With eight categories, each site could earn a possible eight points. The “price” category, which is a little ambiguous (what’s a good price?), is based exclusively on my built-in threshold of $5/month. I’m willing to spend $5 each month on a decent tool…which means that every site passed except for Mvelopes. Summarily, all sites are ranked on a total score out of eight.

The Sites

- Score: 4 out of 8 | Geezeo takes a very community-oriented approach to finance management, and it does some pretty fun integration things with things like goals, confessions and groups. By encouraging its users to be public about their financial objectives, successes and failures, Geezeo adds a peer-like element to finance management. Unfortunately, Geezeo really falls down in this particular line up as email updates, non-bank accounts, manual transactions and a mobile version are all missing.

• Non-Bank Accounts: No (0)
• Mobile Version: No (0)
• Email Updates: No (0)
• SMS Support: Yes (1)
• Banks Supported: Yes (1)
• Budgeting: Yes (1)
• Manual Transactions: No (0)
• Cost: Free (1)
• Total: 4

- Score: 6 out of 8 | Quicken Online provides an eye-pleasing interface that covers a good chunk of the bases. Quicken does an especially nice job of providing daily balance updates via SMS (if you choose) for all of your accounts, and its mobile version is adequate. Sadly, Quicken does not provide for non-bank accounts or manual transactions. But as the runner-up in this little evaluation, Quicken may be a solid choice for many people (especially those who can afford the $2.99/month).

• Non-Bank Accounts: No (0)
• Mobile Version: Yes (1)
• Email Updates: Yes (1)
• SMS Support: Yes (1)
• Banks Supported: Yes (1)
• Budgeting: Yes (1)
• Manual Transactions: No (0)
• Cost: $2.99/month (1)
• Total: 6

- Score: 5 out of 8 | Mvelopes is the most unique of the sites covered here in that you actually have to learn how to use the system. Conceptually, Mvelopes simulates a series of item-specific envelopes that you place money in each month; if the money isn’t there, you can’t spend it. You could describe Mvelopes as being proactive as opposed to reactive, and in many ways it’s extremely fascinating. I am personally a very big fan of the approach used by Mvelopes, and believe that a “spend once you have it” approach would help everyone. That said, Mvelopes doesn’t support email notifications or SMS, and it costs $15.95/month ($39.60 per quarter). The $15.95/month price point is simply to steep for me, considering the alternatives…though I was a subscriber for 3 quarters last year. I could easily make the case that the ingenious approach to money management at Mvelopes is worth $15.95 - until I remember that the site is 100% Flash, and bogs down on every machine I own. If Mvelopes could implement an AJAXy version of their site and lower the price just a tad ($9.99/month might be the trigger), they would win competitions like this one…in spite of having a lower total sum at the end.

• Non-Bank Accounts: Yes (1)
• Mobile Version: Yes (1)
• Email Updates: No (0)
• SMS Support: No (0)
• Banks Supported: Yes (1)
• Budgeting: Yes (1)
• Manual Transactions: Yes (1)
• Cost: $15.95/month (Billed Quarterly) (0)
• Total: 5

- Score: 7 out of 8 | At first glance, Buxfer presents itself as a great way to split bills with your roommates and track IOUs; after a little digging, Buxfer emerges as the clear winner in this exercise. The website is aesthetically pleasing while being quick to load, its mobile version is top notch, and its SMS services are extremely robus. Ironically, Buxfer receives only seven points here because it does not automatically synchronize with Navy Federal Credit Union (note: Buxfer has a Firefox extension that is “trainable” and should get new electronic statements from your bank and upload them automatically if the site won’t synchronize; this feature does not work for me with Navy Federal). From a feature perspective, Buxfer really gets it done. I have upgraded to the Pro version, which entitles me to new features as they’re released, cash flow projections, reminders, etc.

• Non-Bank Accounts: Yes (1)
• Mobile Version: Yes (1)
• Email Updates: Yes (1)
• SMS Support: Yes (1)
• Banks Supported: No (0)
• Budgeting: Yes (1)
• Manual Transactions: Yes (1)
• Cost: Free, $1.79/month or $2.79/month (1)
• Total: 7

- Score: 3 out of 8 | Rudder probably shouldn’t be included in this list, as its intended usage appears to be so much more limited than the other entries. But given that they advertise a way to “take control of your finances,” I’m guilt-free. Rudder lets you add accounts, bills and your email address. The system will check for updates (automatically) on your accounts, and send you a daily email with new activity and upcoming bills for all of your accounts. The presentation is quite nice, and Rudder does a great job of consolidating information in the daily messages. While by itself Rudder is not a real solution for me, I continue to receive their daily updates.

• Non-Bank Accounts: No (0)
• Mobile Version: No (0)
• Email Updates: Yes (1)
• SMS Support: No (0)
• Banks Supported: Yes (1)
• Budgeting: No (0)
• Manual Transactions: No (0)
• Cost: Free (1)
• Total: 3

- Score: 5 out of 8 | Mint comes into this competition as the most widely touted online PFM, with pretty substantial VC backing, and a lot of momentum. The site’s layout is gorgeous, very Web 2.0, and free. Their business model of pitching financial services and offers is unique, and it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Mint has a good SMS implementation, providing bill notifications and pretty customized alerts for various conditions. Sadly, Mint lacks a mobile version (WHAT?!), and doesn’t support non-bank accounts or manual transaction entry. This combination has always struck me as particularly ironic: if you can’t manually add transactions, and you can’t check your budget progress wirelessly from your cell phone, how is one supposed to be proactive? There’s no answer here from Mint - the prettiest of the bunch, and the biggest relative let down.

• Non-Bank Accounts: No (0)
• Mobile Version: No (0)
• Email Updates: Yes (1)
• SMS Support: Yes (1)
• Banks Supported: Yes (1)
• Budgeting: Yes (1)
• Manual Transactions: No (0)
• Cost: Free (1)
• Total: 5

- Score: 6 out of 8 | Wesabe has a lot in common with Geezeo in terms of its social approach to finance management. The site is clean, and easy to use. But the really cool features of the site are seen in the “Tips” section, where consumer-specific recommendations on services and vendors are generated based on user-entered data. For example, the site might recommend that you eat at Burger King instead of McDonald’s, as the average Wesabe user spent only $4.25 at BK while spending $5.50 at McD’s. When entering new transactions, you can express your support for the vendor who took your money - or warn off other Wesabe users. It’s a very fun social environment, but it falls down on some key features for me, including email, mobile, banks supported and budgeting, and could be a very compelling option for those of you who don’t care too much about email updates. [Edit: Marc Hedlund - CEO of Wesabe - left a pretty detailed comment below, correcting me on at least one thing. I incorrectly said that Wesabe doesn't have a mobile site. I'm not quite sure how I missed that, as the Wesabe mobile version is quite nice. Marc also directs us to a "spending target" function that acts as a budgeting tool. Thanks, Marc. ]

• Non-Bank Accounts: Yes (1)
• Mobile Version: No Yes (1)
• Email Updates: No (0)
• SMS Support: Yes (via Twitter) (1)
• Banks Supported: No (0)
• Budgeting: No Yes (1)
• Manual Transactions: Yes (1)
• Cost: Free (1)
• Total: 6

In summary, Buxfer comes out the winner for me. I’m paying for their premiums services, and have cancelled by paid subscriptions to Quicken and Mvelopes. I’ll be keeping my Rudder account, as I appreciate the daily email updates, but I’m no longer hanging out over at Geezeo, Mint or Wesabe (despite their being free).

I expect that there will be a decent amount of debate/discussion on this topic, so I’m happy to answer questions about why certain elements are important to me, how I evaluated them, etc.

A general commentary on the things that are strange, uncomfortable, or worthy of mockery while riding an airplane.

1. The “window shuffle.” This is a situation that simply can’t be avoided, and is easily demonstrated. The next time you’re on an airplane, and in a seat other than the window seat, sit forward just a little in your seat and look out the window. While this phenomenon works especially well when you’re in the middle seat (or immediately adjacent to the window seat), it’s effective on the aisle side, too. Now that you’re looking out the window, watch the person sitting in the window seat. Watch for them to make eye contact with you, wondering if they’re looking at them…then watch them turn and look out the window, just like you. Having someone staring directly past your face is not only uncomfortable, it’s just plain impossible to tolerate…apparently.
2. The “We’re at the gate, now stand up” game. This one doesn’t take anything from you to simulate. Just ride the plane, and pay attention once the plane is at the gate. As soon as the plane stops, and the seatbelt light comes off, heads up: 60% of the plane’s occupants will unbuckle immediately, and stand up. There’s another three or four minutes before the doors will be open, and they know it…but that’s not going to stop them. What’s even better? Half of those 60% are actually stooped over uncomfortably because they’re not in an aisle seat…
3. The “five-pound bag” game.” Somewhere deep in my psyche there lied an assumption about carry-on baggage. I always assumed that the dimensions of your standard overhead compartment were published, standardized and well-known within the “luggage industry.” [Note: I can't attest to there actually being an industry here, as opposed to a random collection of companies who make bags.] You can see that assumption of mine proven wrong, in real-time, every time you’re on a plane. Try and get on the plane early so that you can watch the rest of the passengers stroll aboard with their “carry-on luggage.” Take note of the number of bags that are lifted into the overhead with the wheels facing the aisle, then immediately rotated 90 degrees because the bag is too long/tall to allow the compartment door to close. What remains is absolutely hysterical: a bag taking up half of the width of an overhead space, while allowing about 5″ of space in front for someone to use. That remaining space works really medium-weight winter coats; I’d encourage you to bring one and test my theory here…I know I’m right. You can squeeze at least one jacket in the remaining space.

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We saw this little bugger last week, at Salt Creek Golf Course in Chula Vista. He’s a rattlesnake, about 2.5 feet long. Interestingly, the squirrels were *very* unhappy about him floating around around on their cart path…

As I was going through the iPhoto library, I happened upon this fun little shot; the KP gym, taken with the iPhone. Sharing is caring.

This story highlights the importance of all those “damned safety regulations.” Bravo to the crew of the Explorer, and to the passengers who got their asses in gear.

In frigid air, passengers and crew waited in open lifeboats more than four hours, bobbing as the seas turned rough, and two nearby ships steamed to their rescue.