Money Matters

Who's the Minister of Finance in your family? I'd wager that if you're a reporter, that is one position filled by someone else. Why not? After all, didn't so many of us choose journalism for the same reason: "I can't count."

Innumeracy should be as fatal as illiteracy in today's newsrooms, so why do we tolerate a miscalculation more than a misspelling?

Writers are notorious money-manglers and many undervalue their work (why else pay agents 15 percent?). When I first met my wife, she noticed that my checkbook was riddled with blank entries. "Of course, " I told her. "If I knew how much (or little) I had, I couldn't write new ones."

Over the years, I've tried Quicken, Microsoft Money and other personal finance programs, but they either took too much time or were too frigging complicated.
That's not the case with Wesabe.com, a brand-new personal finance and social networking site I discovered the other day. For now it's free and you can even get the CEO on the phone.

Want to know how much you spend on books? Pizza? Godiva hot chocolate at Barnes & Noble?

Want to connect with others who've got good ideas about getting the most out of your money?

Just because we don't get into journalism for the money doesn't mean we shouldn't be smarter about it, whether it's the school board account or your ATM card.

For me, the most striking part about this blog item, besides the fact it's the first in a while, is that I had to create a new category. Words matter. So does money.

Feel free to weigh in on your money matters. Pin numbers not required.

Comments

[Marc Hedlund]

Hey, Chip,

Thanks much for the write-up. It's funny how often the phrase "Minister of Finance" came up when I would talk to couples about their money and how they manage it. It seemed like there was no pattern -- sometimes it was a woman, sometimes a man, sometimes the person who made more money, sometimes not. It didn't even correlate with the person who takes out the trash. :)

The approach I took in thinking about Wesabe was how to make the site useful for the person who was *not* the Minister of Finance. Almost all the MoF's I spoke with said they wished they could get their partner more involved in the household finances. I figured if I could do that, and provide just enough features to keep the MoF happy too, we'd be in good shape.

Thanks again, and I'm glad you're liking the site.

Marc Hedlund, co-founder, Wesabe