Wealth...Uncomplicated

Getting the Most Out of Your Electronics - laptop, hdmi cable, hdtv, netflix and more

I am late to the HDTV party, but believe me when I say I made a serious entrance.  While many have taken the plunge and purchased some really nice HDTVs, maybe even purchased a Blue Ray player or an HD cable or satellite package, I've done nothing but buy an HDMI cable.  With this little piece of heaven, you can turn your television into a little electronics playground.

Our Setup

Here's a quick list of what we have and then I'll share with you what we can do with it and why it's hellacheap entertainment:

1. 37" LCD HDTV with HDMI inputs
2. HDMI cable
3. Computer speaker system with subwoofer
4. Laptop computer
5. Netflix subscription
6. Basic digital cable

What We Get from Our System

We get television programming from our cable provider that includes all of our local stations, all of the PBS channels in the region, On-Demand, and some others.  In other words, our version of cable sucks compared to most.  However, we also have a Netflix subscription so we can watch whatever they have - and that's a lot.  Not to mention that the HDMI allows us to hook into anything that our computer can download.

So here's a sampling of what we can put on the tube courtesy of the internet:

• Netflix
• Hulu
• YouTube
• ABC
• NBC
• CBS
• FOX
• WildTangent Games
• DVDs
• And the list goes on...
• And on...
• And on..

Anything you can view on your PC, we now have available on our television.  It might not seem like such a big deal, but let's count the cost compared to an HD package from a cable or satellite provider:

• Basic Digital Cable: $15/month
• Netflix Subscription:  $18/month
• Hulu, YouTube, ABC, etc.:  FREE

The total cost we pay each month is $33 compared to an HD package at nearly $100 per month.  The annual savings is $792 and we get a lot MORE than just cable.  With that $792, we could just as easily buy two new laptops each year or take a nice little weekend vacation or pay for our sons' college educations.

Of course, the value doesn't stop there.  We can also run household budget meetings through the television so it's easier for the entire family to see (by the way, if you're shielding your kids from money matters, stop it!).  Anything that you would want to see on a bigger screen or share with more than a pair, having a laptop and television that have HDMI ports is a major benefit.

Now, it's not perfect...yet.  That's why I'll be adding a wireless keyboard with mouse to the mix so that we can recline, watch the tube, and have a full blown web television experience.

By the way, a 37" HDTV can be had for around $350 and an HDMI cable is $40 on the low end.  If you buy them, you'll drop $390, but if you have even a classic cable package, you'll pay for this purchase within a year and after that...well...it's gravy.

Increasing Productivity with Skype - it's far more useful than you might think

So you've probably heard or it or maybe even seen it in action on Oprah, but how can Skype be used to increase productivity?  As communications technologies go, it's not the end all, be all, but it certainly has some very attractive features that can instantly increase your productivity.  Chief among its benefits is the ability to conduct voice and video calls without your eyes or hands leaving your computer.

It might seem like a small thing to not have to grab the phone and turn your attention away from your work for such a minimal amount of time, but trust me, it's kind of a big deal...depending on what you do for a living.  If you're an IT professional, Skype is almost a must.  If you're a server at a restaurant, maybe not so much.

Those that would benefit most from Skype are those that (1) work a lot on the computer, (2) frequently need input from others to complete job functions, and (3) prefer to get things done as efficiently and quickly as possible.  On the third point, I recognize there are those that like to make a phone call and get away from the desk, but if you're an on-task individual, you'll love the focused work that Skype can deliver.

Some of the best fit professions and industries that I could think of include IT, accounting, telecommuting professionals, internal support personnel, and insurance agents among others.  With tax season approaching, I can see accountants across the country calling their clients for clarification, tax forms on screen, and keying in all of the necessary details.  All of this without moving away from the desktop.

If you haven't tried Skype, it's free if you are calling a fellow Skyper, but you'll need to pay $2.95/month if you want to make calls to folks on regular phones.  After spending a little time on Skype, I can tell you it's a really nice experience, as you can talk, instant message, and even send text messages from the comfort of your computer.  It's nice if you're working on a project to just pop in on Skype, get the answer you need, and fix the issue on the spot without ever breaking your focus.

By the way, the call quality on Skype is unbelievably good.  It's very close to my landline and a few cuts above my BlackBerry.  To learn more about Skype, follow this link.

Calculating When Your COBRA Subsidy Will End - from eHealthInsurance.com

    With millions of Americans out of work, COBRA is an acronym that all too many are familiar with.  While the cost of extending coverage is exorbitant, the federal government does allow for a subsidy to help families with keeping these costs within the realm of reason.  To aid individuals and families that are now using COBRA health insurance, eHealthInsurance.com has created a widget to help in calculating when your COBRA subsidy will end.  This calculator is provided below:

In the event that you are not affected by a layoff or using COBRA, let me give you an idea of what these individuals and families are facing.  This year, our health insurance provided by my wife's employer will cost us $4,020 in premiums out of our pockets.  In addition, her company contributes another $6,000 to subsidize our premiums for a grand total of $10,020 annually.  This doesn't include a deductible of $4,000 or co-insurance of 30% after the deductible is met.

If you consider the average household with $50,000 in earnings for a year, COBRA is great because you can get coverage, but the costs are outlandish.  Again, the government has setup a subsidy to help offset these costs, but keep in mind that even with the subsidy, many households still cannot afford it.    

To learn more about COBRA, click here.

To read more about the COBRA subsidy, click here.

LearnVest Launches Beta - checklist lovers UNITE!!

Previously I wrote about LearnVest as a terrific financial literacy solution.  Guess what?  I was wrong.  It's a helluvalot more than that!  If you're one of those checklist loving freaks like me, you will be spending a big chunk of your Thanksgiving weekend getting your financial life in order with the multitude of checklists available at LearnVest.

While I don't have a lot of time tonight to do the site justice, what I will say is that I am nothing short of ecstatic to see this site go live.  I'll post a more detailed review later.

Before I forget, you should sign up for The LearnVest Daily as well.  This is a terrific email newsletter/blog/give-it-a-name-it's-great-content.

Read the press release

Visit LearnVest

Mint and Intuit - a marriage made in heaven?

It's official, Mint has mopped the floor with Quicken's old, weathered arse, and as is the case with all situations where a well endowed #1 gets knocked off the top, the old adage of, "If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em" comes into full effect.  I was at TechCrunch50 (the same event that got Mint off the ground in 2007) when the news broke last week that Intuit had agreed to pay $170 million for Mint, and as a developer of a competing solution, I wasn't sure exactly how this would alter the competitive landscape.  After all, if you could plug Mint into Intuit's TurboTax and QuickBooks, that'd be one bang up personal finance solution.

If the companies are able to say their vows and have a happy marriage, I think they have what will become the best personal finance management software (or in this case, webware) on the planet.  Patzer is a crazy smart guy and Intuit has resources galore with an annual research and development budget of over $600 million.  The Mint team was able to knockout Quicken in less than two years with a team of only 33 employees, so the additional resources could produce a quantum leap in benefits to consumers.

Of course, not all marriages last, and in business, the numbers are even worse than that of our traditional human marriages.  But alas, they are off to a good start by putting Patzer in charge of the entire personal finance division, and if Intuit's top brass can simply stay out of his way, I feel pretty confident that this marriage will benefit their customers.  In addition, this will also force other solutions like Wesabe, Thrive, Geezeo, and others to look for cross-platform partnerships to keep up with this new beast in personal finance.

While there will be skeptics and naysayers, I for one, believe this is going to be a very good thing for all consumers.  Of course, many details will need to be ironed out and going from startup to being part of a large corporation is a difficult challenge to overcome, but Mint's good enough, smart enough, and dog gone it, people like them.

TechCrunch50: LearnVest, a terrific financial literacy solution

Earlier this year, I featured a series on financial literacy and low and behold, TechCrunch50 debuted a terrific solution to the problem--LearnVest.  The site was initially designed around providing financial education to women, but I think all of us could benefit from spending some time on the site.  They are currently in a closed beta, so you'll have to click to get on the waitlist so to speak.

However, when the site launches, you can bet that learning about money will be a much simpler endeavor, as the creators have organized the content based on life events.  If you're drowning in debt, need to buy a car, or whatever the situation may be, LearnVest provides an excellent resource for learning about each subject.  In briefly reading some of the information, it was clear that the content was very well written--and with good reason.

LearnVest's material comes from experienced financial journalists who have been doing the job for a number of years.  Their experience shows, as even complicated topics were broken down into language that was both enjoyable to read and easy to understand.  When the site goes live in a wide release in the coming weeks or months, go ahead and hit the site now to be an early user at www.LearnVest.com.

TechCrunch50: LIFEmee, managing all aspects of your life

This was the site that had me the most excited at TechCrunch50.  If you could envision a website where you could manage every aspect of your life--from money to friends to business to whatever--this is what LIFEmee has the potential to offer.  In terms of our current lifestyles, we have more and more tools for each area of our life, but we have to go to so many different places to manage it all.  LIFEmee aims to take this problem out of the equation.

Although the site is still in its relative infancy, one feature that I really like is the daily journal that also tracks how you're feeling.  The idea of keeping up with your daily life and then having LIFEmee record it may sound scary to some, but after I'm dead, it's nice to know that I can have a digital diary of my life that will be released to my designated benefactors.  As this site continues to progress and build a truly robust offering, I'd definitely keep tabs on it.  Today you can sign up rather easily if you're already on Facebook.  Check it out at www.LIFEmee.com.

TechCrunch50: 7ages, your entire life in pictures

While we've all seen photo upload sites and others that will convert old paper pictures into digital files, 7ages has taken this to a little bit different level.  Rather than just upload pics with time stamps, you can put your entire life online through pictures.  The site delivers a timeline that allows users to upload pics to a specific time period in their lives and put in all of the details surrounding the picture.

The site also links into Facebook and other social networking sites and 7ages has some social features of its own.  I can see this kind of a solution being plugged into Facebook at sometime and it could be used as a really nice legacy feature for individuals and families.  If you wanted to construct a kind of digital memory book of someone's life like a parent or grandparent, this is perhaps the best way to do it.

Beyond the personal application, I could also see this being applied to businesses that are looking for an easy way to convey their corporate history for either internal or external parties.  For employees, or prospective employees, a timeline of how the company's internal culture has evolved can more easily be expressed in pictures than words.  Couple that with Animoto and those kind folks who organize company gathering could seriously reduce the time they spend putting together those not so awesome slideshows.

If you'd like to check out their solution, they have a very nice video that demos the site and the key pieces of their solution.  Check it out at www.7ages.com.

TechCrunch50: 360desktop, a very cool way to spruce up your desktop

This was probably one of the coolest things I've seen in managing your desktop.  If you can imagine that you're current, old school screen suddently wrapped around you at your desk, that's kind of what 360desktop can do for you.  Essentially, you can have your 'regular' desktop, but then you can create an entirely different landscape with the other 270 degrees around you.

The customization ability has so many implications that I can't fully list them out here, but suffice it to say that you could 'theorectically' have your work station up, but then rotate your desktop to more enjoyable pursuits.  What those other pursuits are, I'll leave up to you, but this seriously helps de-clutter a messy desktop.

For business, if you are engaged in multiple pursuits like me, you can have one section of your 360desktop for your regular work, one for side businesses, and one for pure entertainment.  This way you don't have all of the ridiculous clutter on your desktop when you sign in.  For me, I'll be installing this desktop and creating four sections for each of my major pursuits.

In addition to the 360 degree view, you can also cut and crop web pages that you frequent like Facebook, Yahoo! Finance, and others so you can have them already populated on your desktop outside of your web browser.  This little feature will save a great many keystrokes and give you all of the information that you need.

While I don't have my desktop setup yet, you can be that while I'm watching college football this weekend, I'll be enjoying my 360desktop.  I'll post the pics later as an add on.

In the meantime, if you want to checkout this really cool desktop ware, go to www.360desktop.com.

TechCrunch50: MoonIt, a fun way to rate relationships

This was one of the more entertaining solutions at TechCrunch50, and I can already see many hours of what was productive time at work being spent on MoonIt instead.  If you've ever been curious about how compatible you are with a business partners, lover, friend, or whomever, MoonIt can give you a pretty good idea.  The solution essentially rates compatibility by using a number of criteria and will pull information from social networking sites like Facebook to figure it out.

To get started, you simply enter your name, date of birth, and the type of relationship you want to have rated.  This will give you the quick initial assessment like that below:

In this case, I'm 'mooning' my wife and it's looking pretty good so far.  Well, here's what it looks like after you've signed up...and if I might add, MoonIt is spot on.

So if you have some time to burn or are looking for a little different take on relationships, check out www.moonit.com.  Besides, it's always fun to moon someone, right?

TechCrunch50: MeaninGo, a better way to shop online

If you've ever used Google shopping or some other shopping search, you know that the search results can be overwhelming and outside of what you're really looking for.  This is the fundamental problem that MeaninGo, a new shopping search engine, can help you avoid.  Essentially, MeaninGo plugs into preferred shopping sites like Amazon or Target to help its users find exactly what they're looking for.

To give you an example, if you're looking for a pair of Nine West heels that have straps, you can simply key in what you're looking for and the more details, the better.  Unlike traditional shopping searches, the results are listed by inventory rather than rankings based on page visits, page rank, etc.  Below is a screenshot of MeaninGo to show you what I'm talking about:

What I really like about this search engine is that it pulls only from a small number of web retailing sites and it lays out very cleanly to make finding what you're looking for much simpler.  Also, you can refine your searches by adding relevant keywords that are suggested with each search that you perform.  This makes finding exactly what you need a much less irritating and time consuming process.

As is true with all TechCrunch50 solutions, you can expect MeaninGo to get a lot better over time.  Currently, MeaninGo only pulls from a small number of retailers.  If you like the idea of this kind of shopping, visit their website at www.MeaninGo.com.

TodayForward Blog Launched Today

The official blog of TodayForward was launched today at http://www.todayforward.typepad.com.  As many of you know, I have been developing a personal finance website for more than a year and a half now, and we're getting very close to our public debut at TechCrunch50 on September 14th and 15th in San Franciso.

TechCrunch50 is the largest and most important event of the year for technology startups like ours.  As a semi-finalist in a pool that had over 1,000 companies from 40 countries, we beat the odds and will be in the DemoPit in just two short weeks.

While I will continue to write on topics of interest in personal finance here at Wealth...Uncomplicated, you can follow the progress of TodayForward through the new blog.  If you'd like to find out more about the project, please go to http://todayforward.typepad.com/todayforward/what.html to learn more about this new personal finance solution and sign up for site access in advance of our public release late this year.

Thank you,

Michael

P.S.  TodayForward.com will be online after we finish converting from our project site at DitoAdvisor.com

Dancing is Like Magic

Last night I watched the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance and was delighted to have my favorite dancer be crowned 'America's Favorite Dancer'.  About a month or so ago, I took notice of Jeanine Mason's talent and her continuing improvement on the show.  She certainly has talent and to be frank, I am a true believer that those that can dance at the level seen on the show are something awfully close to magic.

The reason I believe something as absurd as this is that it is far beyond my capabilities to dance in any way other than horribly.  In fact, I won't dance at all...at least not without a dozen or more cocktails in the bloodstream.  Ultimately, I enjoy and revere dance for the simple fact that it is an endeavor that I shall never master or even perform reasonably well for an average guy.

Beyond this, SYTYCD is an exercise not in one's ability to dance in one particular style, but to be able to perform at a high level across a wide swath of styles.  Ms. Mason demonstrated herself to be more than able to perform any task that was given to her.  For many, she was the Dark Horse that just kept coming until finally she won the title.

But was this really magic?  Is it natural born talent that some will be able to dance at this levels and others, like me, not so much?  Obviously the answer is no.

Often when I have met with clients, friends, or colleagues, they too believed that what I did was some sort of magic.  Sometimes it's walking someone throught the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) and reducing their tax burden by thousands, other times it's setting up an estate plan that would eliminate estate taxes, but in all cases, it's simply being able to do what others cannot.

The quiet truth is that we all admire when others can do something we believe important that we ourselves cannot.  For me, it's dance.  For my clients, it's financial planning.

Fortunately, you don't need an ounce of talent to become a master of your finances.  You need only what anyone needs to become a magician at what they do--time, work, and patience.

See, the back story with Jeanine Mason is that she wasn't born to dance.  In fact, she admits that there were many times when she wanted to quit dancing altogether, but her mother pushed her through.  She didn't start dancing last year, but as a child.  She put in thousands of hours at the dance studio, worked hard when she was there, and stayed with it until the ultimate payoff last night.

Often times, I'm amazed that we have financial planners today.  Really, money is as essential as language or mathematics, but somehow we ignore the study of it with many never truly understanding the major money issues, let alone the subtle nuances of our financial system.  It is this fact that we as a nation do not put in the time needed to study our finances; we don't work hard enough at maximizing our financial position; and we certainly don't have the patience to position ourselves responsibly.  In short, we seem to ignore financial education, hate working hard on our money (keep in mind, this is NOT the same as working to earn an income), and ultimately lack the patience to sustain the activities that lead to financial success.

So what do we end up with?  A lot of broken financial homes and the appearance that those who succeed somehow possess magic powers--otherwise, how could they possibly have become wealthy?

Let's face reality for a moment.  Most of us with our finances are just like me when it comes to dance--never have, never will.  With this reality in mind, what is one supposed to do?  I mean, we all want financial security at some level, but how do we put in the time, work, and patience to actually achieve this worthy goal?

Simple.  Technology.

Just as things like the microwave have made us better cooks than the average housewife of the 17th century, we are seeing new innovations in technology that can deliver the magic that we need at a fraction of the cost.

Think about it.  What would it cost to have a personal chef?  A lot, right?  What does it cost to use a microwave?  Not much.  In both cases, you can satisfy your hunger and while a personal chef is going to deliver a better meal, you don't need the best, you just need good enough.

This is where financial services technology is going--satisfying a need by delivering 'good enough'.  Most of us don't need, nor can we afford a $200 an hour financial planning wizard, but what if you could get that kind of advice delivered at say $10 a month?  Would you want to check it out?  Would it make your life better?  Of course it would.

Over the next five years, there will be more independent financial sites like Mint, Thrive, Wesabe, and Quicken that will be delivering more technology to make money mastery seem less like magic and more like a simple non-issue....the way it should be.  Ultimately, financial services technology aims to make you more productive with your time and smarter about the management of your money.

For now, most of these solutions focus on budgeting and cash management, but over time, they will evolve to be much broader solutions.  Five years from now, I fully expect this technology to blossom to the point that many out there will think, "Man, I love my finance website; it's like magic".  And let's face it.  Everyone loves magic.

ByAllAccounts.com - account aggregation for advisors to the the well heeled

In the evolving account aggregation space, there are two major segments--retail and institutional.  The retail side is just now getting off the ground with sites like Mint, Wesabe, and Thrive leading the way, but the institutional side has been around for decades.  Advisors require a great deal of information in putting together financial plans and managing assets for clients and for those who cater to the high net worth crowd, sophisticated account aggregation and the layers of tools built on top of it are nothing short of vital.

The Value of Advisor Based Account Aggregation

While many low and mid-level advisors have been slow to adopt this technology, those working with highly affluent clients have recognized its value.  So what is the value proposition?  Really its three-fold for advisors.  First, the access to additional information provides more timely and accurate information that can be used to deliver better financial planning, investment management, and overall service to clients.  Second, the automation of a once painfully labor intensive process can save advisors anywhere from 70% to more than 90% in costs related to maintaining comprehensive account reports.  These savings are generally passed on to clients in the form of lower fees over time as well as better net personal financial results.  Finally, advisors who use this technology are able to manage a larger portion (often 100%) of an individual's assets.  This last part is something that significantly expands revenue for advisors and also reduces the number of clients they must service to meet revenue goals.

In short, account aggregation provides a better client experience, reduces administrative costs, and provides greater revenue to advisors.  While many might believe that more revenue to an advisor could be a negative, it truly is not.  Considering many low and mid-level advisors service hundreds of smaller accounts that correspond to more clients (perhaps customers would be a better word) than he or she would have time to properly assist, more revenue per client is a very good thing.  Fewer clients equals better service.

ByAllAccounts.com's Service Advantage

Now that the benefits of the technology are out there, what is ByAllAccounts.com's competitive advantage?  Based on what I've gathered about the company, it is their service and technical support.  The company is targeting advisors of high net worth clients which means that the advisors they are working with are already very successful in their field.  As a result, their target audience is seeking quality, not quantity.  Unlike Mint, Quicken, Albridge, or other aggregators on the retail or institutional side, ByAllAccounts.com is a smaller player that emphasizes quality of service and data.

As a former advisor who used a number of aggregation tools, I can tell you that service is the major differentiator.  If there is a problem with some of the mega-providers, it would typically be resolved in short order, but it would be nearly impossible to get someone on the phone to fix the issue.  This human touch is something that high net worth clients and advisors alike assign great value.

After all, there is no technology that is perfect (could IE8 be any more annoying) and we occasionally need to speak with someone to clear something up.  It is by having a person on the other end of the phone that makes the greatest difference.

Bottom Line

In the end, if you are an advisor with a successful HNW practice and don't currently use account aggregation, you're behind the curve.  Fortunately, the technology is incredibly easy to use and you can get caught up in very short order.

Learning HTML, XHTML, and CSS

As many of you know, I'm in the process of bringing a new personal finance web application to market that has been a great deal of fun and extremely challenging--exactly the kind of work I love.  One of the skills that I don't possess is programming in HTML, XHTML, or CSS and as you can imagine, this is something that's important to bringing a website to life.

While my business partner supplies a deep skill set in this area, I thought it would make sense to go ahead and pickup the basics of the language for a number of reasons.  Chief among those reasons is to be able to go in and make minor modifications that are chump work for him and relatively entertaining for me.  Plus, by possessing the ability to read the language, I'll be able to make minor changes without screwing up the rest of the program.

Beyond this, I write this blog and while TypePad supplies a terrific package for people like me to get started, they also allow for a great deal of flexibility that I can't take advantage of until I know the code.  There are some little things and some big things that I'd like to change with this blog, and learning the language is the first step to making this happen.

In an effort to learn web programming, I picked up HTML, XHTML, and CSS:  Your visual blueprint for designing effective Web pages by Rob Huddleston.  Of the three books I saw at Borders on the topic, this was the one that seemed to best fit my style of self-learning.  It's visual so that's a plus and it's formatted in a way that it can be used as a reference book or a step by step course.

The bottom line is that I'll be learning the language of the web over the next few months in fifteen to sixty minute increments and you'll likely see some small changes to Wealth...Uncomplicated sooner than later.  Long-term, I suspect a full redesign will be in the works with some nice blending with my other project that will remain nameless.

Takeaways

• HTML, XHTML, and CSS are the core programming languages of the web
• When you want to learn something new, go find a book written at your level
• Take anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour each day to learn your new subject

Rudder's Mistake

The personal finance web world has been coming along at a phenomenal pace with companies like Mint and Wesabe leading the way.  The core of their technology relates to account aggregation, a process that pulls data from multiple financial institutions and puts it on a single page.  This service is very valuable to individuals as it allows them to see the entire landscape of their finances.  Unfortunately, Rudder, a smaller company in the account aggregation space, made what could be a catastrophic mistake--they exposed hundreds of user accounts.  While this wasn't a result of a security breach, it is a mistake that has touched off a renewed debate about security and privacy on the web.  

What happened was Yahoo! Mail was screening out legitimate emails from Rudder so the company added a patch to their email delivery system so their emails would no longer be kicked to the spam box.  Unfortunately, someone at Rudder made a mistake and the individual emails became aggregated emails with hundreds of user's financial information being exposed.

Keep in mind that Rudder has read only access so there isn't any risk to the financial accounts.  However, some users are now very well informed about 700+ other users' financial circumstances--a bad situation to be sure.  The company's response time was slower than what it should have been, and as of this posting, there is still no indication of the issue on their homepage--a move that should have already been within their contingency plans.

Regardless, the company is responding by offering identity theft services to all affected users which is a similar response to what major financial institutions have done in the past.  The tech world is all over this story with many techies proclaiming, "I told you so".  I'm not sure why this is so exciting or even such a big news item.  After all, they didn't get hacked like Citibank did a few years back.  It was a goof on the company's end, not a failure of this kind of technology.

My bottom line on this is, does it really matter?  Seriously, I just received a new debit card a couple of months ago because my account data was compromised and stories of these kinds of things are out there pretty consistently.  Many want to believe that the internet or even software can be made perfect, but it simply isn't.  It's made by humans who make mistakes and screw up on occasion.

In this instance, there was someone at Rudder keying in the changes so that they could serve their users better.  Perhaps Yahoo! gave them poor specs on the adjustment or maybe someone at Rudder simply keyed it in the wrong way.  Regardless, it was an error, there were some problems for users, and Rudder is doing what they can in cleaning up.

It's my hope that the company survives this incident, as they actually have a pretty strong offering in the PF Web App space, but they're certainly looking at a major setback today.  In the coming hours, days, and weeks, Rudder's management will make or break the company with their handling of this situation.  I wish them the best of luck.

The Real Value of Account Aggregation

I've spent the last twelve years in the financial services industry and it has evolved a great deal over that period of time.  Shortly after I began my career, the industry underwent a major consolidation movement thanks in large part to the passage of the Gramm, Leach, Bliley Act in 1999.  It became the goal of many companies in the industry to become a 'one-stop shop' for all of the needs of their customers.  Banks became insurance companies, insurance companies became investment companies, and so on, until the current crisis brought these firms to their knees and in some cases, brought their demise as well.

What happened?  The internet is what happened and it made everything easy and competition beyond fierce.  The competition led to poor decision making in efforts to maximize profits and the capitalization (stock values) of financial stocks grew to disproportionate levels as revealed during our current meltdown.  This meltdown has been very difficult for our economy and the full effects are yet to be determined.

However, there is a silver lining and a big one at that.  Consumers of financial products today have unprecedented access to information that can help them in maximizing their bottom line net worth.  The most interesting development is the explosion in use of account aggregation software from providers like Mint.com, Quicken, Microsoft Money, Geezeo, Wesabe, and Yodlee.  Account aggregation is the technical term for being able to view all of your accounts across multiple financial institutions in a single place.

The Real Value

While this has been a neat trick that only a small percentage of households have taken advantage of, the trend is unmistakable--account aggregation will become standard to all households.  The value in this is that those desiring to keep tabs on their finances will be able to keep track of their accounts independently of their product providers.  Translated, this means that if you want full control of your money, you can independently decide where to do your banking, investing, insuring, taxes, etc. without being sucked into the one-stop pitch of your financial institution.

To understand this concept better, consider the case of Susan.  She is 34 years old, owns a house, has checking, savings, retirement, college, insurance, and investment relationships.  She opened all of this with her bank because that was the first place she went to get financial advice.  Unfortunately, her checking account pays zero interest, her savings account's yield is pathetic, her retirement, college, and investment accounts are getting pounded, and her insurance is far more expensive than it should be.

Enter the value of account aggregation.  By using a service that is independent of her bank, she can search out to find an interest bearing checking account, a higher yield savings account, better manage her retirement, college, and investment accounts, and find less expensive insurance policies to suit her needs.  Meanwhile, she can still go to a single website to monitor all of her accounts.

What happened here is that Susan thought it was convenient to go to one place to acquire her financial products.  The problem is that her bank isn't the best at everything.  Her bank has the most ATMs and branches in the area, but beyond providing access to her cash, they weren't very competitive in other areas of personal finance.  It's not the bank's fault because a single company can't be good at everything.  In this case, they were good at providing access to cash.

So what about Susan's situation today?  She may choose to keep her checking account at the bank for the cash access, but moving her other accounts will likely provide her with a great deal more value later.  Plus, if the yields on her savings goes down, she can quickly find another account provider online offering a better rate.  Her investment accounts can be moved to another provider that specializes in investments while her insurance premiums will likely drop because she can go to the insurance company that can give her the best rates.

Specialization Matters

This idea of specialization is what account aggregation can deliver.  Being able to see all of your accounts in one place neutralizes the one-stop shop argument from financial services companies.  This allows them to focus on their core businesses and get back to creating better value where it counts.  For example, State Farm can get out of the investment and banking businesses and get back to focusing on what they do best--property and casualty insurance.

If you don't believe that you can get substantial value by using specialists in each area, here are some comparisons that you can checkout on your own time:

• State Farm's mutual funds [$10 billion managed] vs. T. Rowe Price [$270 billion managed]--property and casualty specialist vs. mutual fund specialist
• E*Trade Bank's ATM access vs. Bank of America [You do the math]--brokerage specialist vs. banking specialist
• Fifth Third Bank's mutual funds [1 top quartile 5 yr. performer] vs. American Funds [14 top quartile 5 yr. performers]--banking specialist vs. mutual fund specialist
• Bank of America's trading commissions [$14/trade & $50 semi-annual account fee] vs. Scottrade [$7/trade & no fee]--bank specialist vs. brokerage specialist

These are just a few examples that you can quantify on your own time, but the fact is that if you want the best product in each field of financial services, you MUST go with the specialist in the field.  This is why account aggregation is so valuable.  You are free to pursue the best in each area while maintaining full control over every area.

Go ahead and sign up for one of these services:

• Mint.com--easy to use, best looking of the aggregators
• Quicken.com--easy to use, feeds into TurboTax
• Wesabe.com--relatively easy to setup, user community that focuses on best deals on a variety of purchases
• Yodlee.com--setup is a cinch, transactions available at some institutions
• Geezeo.com--targets young consumers, goal based communities

After you have control of all of your accounts, go find the best products for your needs from specialists in each area.

Entrepreneur Assist - solid tools, great price

Entrepreneur Magazine is always worth the subscription price, and with their tool, Entrepreneur Assist, they've delivered that value-added dimension that so many companies try to do for their customers.  While I have a full suite of productivity software at my disposal, I was very pleased to find some additional resources to add to my arsenal.  The tools that I found of use to me include online web meetings, business books, and their forms and templates--all at no cost to me.

Online Web Meetings

Unlike GoToMeeting.com that charges $50 monthly, with Entrepreneur Assist, I have access to live web meeting for no cost.  The online meetings are run through Zoho Meeting and do not have all of the bells and whistles of their paid version or that of other expensive competitors.  However, if you just need to have a few key people on a web conference, this is a solid solution.

Business Books

The selection of business books is limited to just a dozen or so books at any given time and all are of the downloadable variety.  They cover a number of topics and in perusing the selection, they are not big time titles, but the content appears to be very worthwhile.  One of the books available now is MadScam written by a well read blogger and ad man, George Parker.  It is well written and very easy to read.  It would appear that the folks at Entrepreneur are attempting to create a useful library that is devoid of textbook-like reading.

Forms and Templates

Among the many forms and templates available are a mutual non-disclosure agreement, partnership agreement, and startup cost worksheet.  In essence, the basic forms used by all sorts of businesses are available to you in a format that is also customizable.  Being able to take content and customize it can save entrepreneurs many hours of wheel reinvention time making this part of Entrepreneur Assist very attractive.

Other Features

The other features that are offered through Entrepreneur Assist include:

• Word processing documents
• Spreadsheets
• Presentations
• Calendar
• Task list
• Notepad
• Entrepreneur.com bookmarking

In essence, all of the tools a startup would need are available through Entrepreneur Assist for free.  For anyone starting a business or working on a side business, this tool will save you hundreds of dollars in software costs and allow you to work more efficiently in your core endeavors--spending less time on the sideshow.

Major kudos to Entrepreneur Magazine for bringing this suite to the masses at a price that is nothing short of perfect.  Just follow this link to learn more about Entrepreneur Assist or use the link below to subscribe to Entrepreneur Magazine.