Word: minting
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There are many personal-finance software packages that help people track their money, including the industry mastodon, Intuit's Quicken, which dwarfs Mint with 15 million users. But consumers have taken a liking to online money management, mostly because it's free. Microsoft stopped developing its Money program in June, and Intuit started offering Quicken Online for free in October 2008. Banks, too, have started to offer a similar service to their customers, but somehow, having an outside party monitor your bank seems like a better idea. Mint makes some money - it's unclear how much - by recommending credit cards...
...Mint, which was launched two years to the day before the announcement of its sale, works like a personal financial manager. You sign up and give it the online passwords to all your bank accounts, credit cards, retirement accounts, mother's maiden name, everything. It requires that you show the Full Monty. In return, Mint shows you, with minimal effort on your part, a complete picture of where the heck all your money is going. Many potential investors in Patzer's idea thought people would simply never be bold enough to hand over all that information - Patzer himself admits...
...Mint's big appeal is its access to your financial soul. Because it gets information directly from your bank, it can draw and redraw colorful pie charts and bar graphs that give you a clear picture of the many ways in which your money is seeping away - without you having to do much at all. If you want to know how you managed to spend $2,000 on food last month, click on "Food." Bingo! A new graph, breaking down the details - including the drinks, the fast food and the mid-afternoon coffee runs - suddenly appears. Mint also sends perky...
...good job. To tout a contest for the best food photography, it showcased a fried-egg-and-bacon burger on a bun made of two doughnuts (above). A recurring segment called "WTFood??!" featured a British supermarket that was selling a Wimbledon special--sausage, strawberries, crème fraîche and mint--that sounded bad even for British food...
...Inside, an a cappella version of "God Bless America" echoes over an empty concrete parade ground from a PA system. Long rows of mint green barracks recede down spotless, freshly laid concrete streets. A gigantic garage housing dozens of battle tanks, howitzers, armored personnel carriers and troop trucks has been constructed. Around the base, soldiers bearing tattoos sit or stand in long lines, breaking down and cleaning rifles and machine guns. "We are ready every day to fight if we have to. That's why we are here," says 20-year-old Corporal Sergey Ifankin, a member of the artillery...