Continuing our series on Money Management by Personal Finance Bloggers, today we’re talking to ToughMoneyLove, who blogs at the site of the same name.
Yesterday, we chatted with Jeremy of Generation X Finance.
Mr. ToughMoneyLove, who has one of the best “about” pages I’ve ever seen, writes at http://toughmoneylove.com and http://gotoretirement.com.
How do you spend: cash, debit or credit?
I use cash, debit card plus I have one credit card that I use when I travel.
Do you bank online? How about use a financial aggregator (Mint, Wesabe, Yodlee, etc.)?
I do all of my banking online. All accounts are aggregated inside Quicken for generating transactions and tracking balances.
What recurring bills do you have set on autopay?
All of my bills are paid electronically from inside Quicken. Four (my electric bill, natural gas bill, mortgage, and term life insurance premium) are paid automatically. I am prompted automatically to pay the others but being a control freak, I like to decide when the money actually arrives or to withhold payment if I am unhappy about something that the vendor has done.
How are your finances automated?
My finances are automated by having every account interact with Quicken and then setting billing reminders in Quicken when a bill is due. The same applies to investment accounts. I can view an updated net worth daily if I wish.
Do you write checks? If so, how often?
I rarely write checks. When I do, it’s usually to pay a balance on a health care bill after the insurance company has done its thing.
Where do you stash your short-term savings?
6. My short term money is in a Money Manager Account at Bank of America which is a non-FDIC cash balance investment account that pays interest similar to one of the online banks.
Want to find out more about ToughMoneyLove? Check him out at http://toughmoneylove.com and http://gotoretirement.com, follow him on Twitter @ToughMoneyLove and subscribe to his RSS feed.
