It’s also part of Mint.com’s commitment to making money management better fit your lifestyle. As Aaron Forth, general manager of Intuit’s Personal Finance Group says,

“As tablet use rises, more mobile-savvy people will be looking for ways to manage their lives across multiple devices, so we developed our Android tablet app to bring simple money management tools to their finger tips.”

How the App Delivers

The new app for Android tablets offers popular Mint.com features, letting you:

• Organize all your accounts in one place. One tap delivers a complete overview of your finances.
• Interact with your data. Pinch, tap and flick through your graphs to drill into spending by category, merchant or budget.
• Get personalized updates. New streaming delivery of account alerts, bill reminders and personalized advice helps you make smart financial decisions.
• Sync automatically across platforms. Changes made on your Android table automatically sync on all devices.
• Track cash spending on the go: The app’s geo-location capabilities help you track cash spending. That means no spending goes unaccounted for in your budgets.
• Review finances without an internet connection. The app stores data from the latest download, allowing easier viewing of finances, anytime, anywhere.
• Stay safe. Your Mint app is password protected, keeping your account information safe and secure, even if you share or lose your tablet.

The Mint.com app for Android tablet joins a growing selection of Mint.com mobile applications for iPhone, iPad and Android. It also melds the bank-level security of 128-bit encryption with the easy-to-use convenience of Mint.com. Download the free app at the Android Marketplace.

To learn more about the Mint.com app for Android tablet, click here.

New Year’s Eve is almost here, but don’t let that stop you from making some important money moves now, before Dec. 31, so you can reap the benefits in 2011.

Check your paycheck

Did you get a raise, a promotion, or tie the knot?  If you were lucky enough to increase your income as a result of these or other benefits, you may need to adjust your withholding for December. If you’re withholding too little from your paycheck, you’ll end up with a higher tax bill in April. Contact your HR department to request a withholding change on your W-4 form for more to be taken out of your last few paychecks. If it’s too late to do that, you have until January 15 to pay estimated taxes on Form 1040-ES. If you’re getting a bonus that could put you into a higher tax bracket, ask your boss if you can receive it next year instead.

Use a tax calculator to help you estimate your liability. When doing so, don’t forget to include any retirement distributions, unemployment income, and in some cases, social security income you received.  If you had to dip into your retirement funds to stay afloat, you should definitely check your tax liability and adjust your withholding. Even if you were unemployed while doing so, you’re taxed at your regular tax rate plus an additional 10 percent if you weren’t 59.5 years at the time of the retirement distribution. If those distributions were related to a hardship, like saving your home from foreclosure, tell the administrator of your retirement fund.  You may be able to forgo the additional 10-percent tax, but you have to notify them in advance so they can code your distribution as a hardship on your 1099-R.

Max out your retirement accounts

Whether your company matches your contribution or not, your 401(k) is still one of your top savings vehicles, and you should fund it as much as possible by year-end. The maximum contribution in 2011 is $16,500, plus a maximum “catch-up” contribution of $5,500 for those 50 and older.

Contributing to an IRA is also a great way to reduce your tax liability, although you can wait all the way till April 17, 2012 to make a contribution for 2011. You can contribute up to a maximum of $5,000, plus an extra $1,000 if you are 50 or older depending on your modified adjusted gross income.  Use the TurboTax IRA calculator to calculate how much you can contribute.

Cut your losses

The end of the year is a great time to review your investment portfolio and your asset allocation. If you have a dog of stocks or a mutual fund that you want to eliminate, it’s often a good idea to do it by Dec. 31st.  The losses you take can offset the gains you made on other stocks or funds, and help reduce your tax bill. For example, say you sold your stocks and made $10,000. Let’s also say you have a poor-performing mutual fund that, if you sold it, would result in a $5,000 loss. When taken together, the losses from selling leave you with a net taxable gain of $5,000, far less than had you not sold the poor performer.  If you have an overall net capital loss for the year, you can deduct up to $3,000 of that loss against other kinds of income, including your salary.

Check your health

Book last-minute trips to the doctor so you can start 2012 with a clean bill of health — and more tax deductions.

Medical expenses used to improve your health are tax deductible if you itemize deductions and they exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income.

If you’re enrolled in your employer’s flexible spending account, use any remaining funds (you can sock away up to $5,000 annually on a pre-tax basis) in them to pay for doctor visits and prescriptions. Although you avoid income and Social Security taxes from your contributions, any excess funds not used by the end of the year are forfeited. If you don’t have one yet but want one, typically open enrollment is the only time to make changes to your healthcare plan. If you experienced a “qualifying life event,” such as a marriage, divorce, new child, a change in your employment, or you went on family medical leave, you’re probably eligible to get this account before open enrollment starts again next fall.

Be charitable

Tis the season for gift giving, and if you have been one of the lucky ones who did better financially than you expected, maybe you are up for sharing more of it. Donating money is usually deductible — as long as you itemize. If you are donating your services, only mileage is deductible, and not the time you spent. If you’re donating goods, like that furniture or clothing collecting dust in the basement, you can receive a deduction of up to $5,000 on your taxes without an appraisal. Just make sure you get a receipt for any donation over $250, and you must use thrift shop value to value the property.

Go green

The cold weather currently is a good prompter for you to make energy-efficient improvements to your home so you can take advantage of the Residential Energy Tax Credit. If you make eligible energy-efficient improvements on your principal residence, you may be eligible for a credit of up to $500 for insulation, roofs, or doors if you install them before December 31st.

Speaking of home tax deductions, consider paying January’s mortgage in December. Making that early loan payment will increase your mortgage deduction on your 2011 tax return.

Visit the TurboTax blog website for these, and more, helpful tax tips.

“People write in all the time with inspiring stories about how and why they use Mint.com, and it helped us to envision this new product,” said Aaron Forth, general manager of Intuit’s Personal Finance Group. “For couples reviewing their combined savings at home on the couch, or for parents teaching their kids about money, our new iPad app lets them tap, pinch and flick to make the experience more collaborative and social, remove another level of intimidation, and even make it fun.”

How the App Delivers:

The new iPad app re-envisions Mint.com users’ favorite features, letting you:

• Organize all your accounts in one place. One tap delivers a complete overview of your finances.
• Interact with your data. Pinch, tap and flick through your graphs to drill into spending by category, merchant or budget.
• Get personalized updates. New streaming delivery of account alerts, bill reminders and personalized advice helps you make smart financial decisions.
• Sync automatically across platforms. Changes to one platform – on the Web, smart phone or iPad – automatically sync on all devices.
• Track cash spending on the go: The app’s geo-location capabilities help you cleanly and immediately categorize cash spending. That means no spending goes unaccounted for in your budgets.
• Review finances without an internet connection. Storing data from the latest download allows easier viewing of finances, anytime, anywhere.

Mint’s app for iPad joins a growing list of apps we’ve designed specifically for mobile devices, including iPhone and Android. It even features a unique Overview screen, enabling you to track multiple pieces of financial information on a single screen. And it provides you with all the security features you’ve come to trust with Mint, such as application-level passcodes, read-only access, and the ability to disable mobile account access from the web.

Things are moving more quickly these days. Our app for iPad can help you get up to speed and stay on top of your finances.

To learn more about Mint.com’s new app for iPad, click here.

Mint is the go-to mobile app for tracking activity across multiple bank and credit accounts, but until recently, there wasn’t an easy way to enter cash or check transactions on your Android phone. That’s all changed with the addition of a new feature that allows you to manually enter in cash or pending transactions, so you can get the most accurate view of your spending. Using an intuitive entry-form, you can now record cash you’ve spent or received, checks you’ve written, and other transactions that haven’t cleared your bank yet.

Manual cash entries flow through to both budgets and trends, so using this tool regularly can help you narrow down your spending habits. Here’s how to get the most out of this new feature.

Cash Transactions

Consider a situation where you’re having lunch with a group of friends. Instead of forcing your server to run six credit card tabs, you decide to split the bill and pay with cash. Instead of waiting until you got home to enter this expense, by logging on to Mint.com, you can enter your share of that group luncheon right from the table.

To create the transaction, tap the “+” symbol on the lower right corner of your phone.

A calculator-like screen will appear. Here you should enter the amount of the transaction. Tap the “Choose merchant” menu.

Our geo-location feature will pinpoint your whereabouts so you can select from a list of nearby vendors.

If the merchant does not appear in the list, you can manually enter it in the top field. If you’re entering an expense that was incurred in a different location, just skip this step and leave the merchant blank for now. Tap the Next button.

The Save transaction screen will appear. Here you can add details about the expense, such as a spending category or tags (such as “reimbursable” or “tax-deductible”). You can also modify the date of the transaction or change the location, by double-tapping the map icon and dragging the map tack to the right place. Once you’ve entered all the details you want to record, tap “Save.”

Now the entry will be added to your transactions. You’ll be able to see it recorded under the All Accounts heading of your Overview page.

Note: By default, Mint will mark the ‘Split from my last ATM’ box. Unless you have separately recorded cash income, it’s best to leave this checked–when checked, your cash spending will be taken from your latest uncategorized ATM withdrawal. If you do wish to change it, tap on the Expense field. If you uncheck this box, then you may wind up double-booking your spending: you’ll see both the cash withdrawal and the cash spending you just entered, even though you can’t spend money twice that you only withdrew once (though it would be oh-so-nice if you could).

Check Transactions

Cash spending isn’t the only thing you can record with this new function. You can use check transactions to record checks you write, long before your bank becomes aware of them. Start the process as you do with cash transactions, by tapping the + symbol on the bottom right corner. Tap the Expense menu to go to the Transaction Type screen. Tap the “Check” radio button. A menu will appear just below where you can edit the account and enter the check number. With a check number, Mint.com will auto-reconcile your check entries with your bank account, once the bank has processed the check.

Tap the “Back” button on your phone to return to the Add Transaction screen. Enter the amount of the check you’ve just written and select the payee from the “Choose merchant” menu (or enter one manually at the top of the screen).

You can review your entry and add as much or as little additional detail as you like. You can adjust the date of the transaction and select the appropriate spending category. Like cash transactions, you can also add tags and notes to your check transactions to better categorize and describe your spending. Tap “Save” and your check will be recorded under the Pending heading of the All Accounts screen.

Pending Transactions

Pending transactions are used to track non-cash spending that you’ve incurred, but that has not yet posted to your bank or credit account. For example, if you go on a shopping spree with your credit card on Saturday, the damage may not appear on your account balances until after the weekend. In order to always have an accurate figure for your remaining bank or credit card balances, you’ll want to enter such spending as pending transactions.

To log a pending transaction, start by tapping the + symbol on the bottom right corner of your phone. Enter the amount of the purchase you’ve made. Tap the “Choose merchant” menu to enter the appropriate vendor, then tap the “Back” button on your phone.  Tap on the Expense field to change Payment Type to “Credit/Debit Card.” When you do, the Account menu will appear below.  Select the proper checking or credit account from the menu, then tap the “Back” button on your phone to return to the “Add Transaction” screen. Tap the “Next” button.

The transaction confirmation screen will appear where you can edit details such as the date, category and tags related to the transaction. When entering pending credit card transactions, try to be accurate with both the date and the amount. When your credit card is updated in Mint.com, we will try to automatically reconcile the pending transactions. We do this based on matching both the amount and the date range. If there’s no match, you’ll have to manually reconcile the pending spending to your credit card. After completing the basics, you can review your entry and add as much or as little additional detail as you like. Once you’ve reviewed your entry, tap the “Save” button. Your spending will be recorded under the Pending heading of the All Accounts screen.

Deleting Manual Transactions

To delete any of the manual transactions that you’ve made on your Android phone, login to Mint.com from your computer.

Sign Up or Log In to Mint.com to try these features today.

Managing your bill reminders is easy, since Mint does most of the set-up work for you. You’ll notice the “Upcoming Bills” section appears on your Overview page (under Advice). Mint automatically scans your account to identify anything that is likely to be a recurring bill and determines the due date. All your bills will be displayed on a timeline with green bars that give you visual representation of how much money is due.

Mouse-over a green bar on your timeline to see the upcoming bill. You can also see details of all your bills due in the next four weeks in the list below. To collapse this window, just click “Hide Details” and you’ll simply see the timeline view.

Setting up your bill reminders

Some bill reminders will be implemented automatically (such as credit card and loan payments). Mint will also make suggestions based on your transactions.  To see these suggestions click Change Your Reminders on the top right corner of the Upcoming Bills module. A pop-up window will appear with all the items Mint has detected.

Click the X for any items you do not wish to receive a reminder. To add a reminder, click Remind Me. You’ll be able to edit the bill name, the amount, the due date and select whether it is a credit or loan payment and whether the amount varies. Click Set Reminder and you’re done.

Creating a bill reminder from a transaction

To add a reminder for a bill Mint hasn’t automatically detected, find an instance of that bill under the Transactions tab. Click Edit Details and you’ll see a “Remind Me” button on top right corner. You’ll be directed back to the Your Bill Reminders window where you can edit the bill information.

Creating your own bill reminder from scratch

If you want a reminder for an upcoming bill that has not yet appeared in your transactions, you can create on manually by clicking Add a Reminder in the top right corner of the Your Bill Reminders window. Enter a name for the bill in the Add a reminder field (such as “Property Tax” or “Loan payment to Mom”). The window will expand and you’ll be able to enter the amount and how often it occurs. Be sure to set the due date (by default, new bill reminders you create will have a monthly due date based on the day you’ve created them) by clicking the link next to the dollar amount. Click Set Reminder and you’re done.

Setting your preferences

Determine how you want to receive your reminders by clicking the gear icon on the bottom left corner of the Your Bill Reminders window. Select whether you want a reminder via email or text and determine how many days warning you want to receive.

Stuff to know

Bill reminders can be sent to your mobile device, but to make any edits or changes, you need to be logged into your Mint account from your computer. Also, keep in mind that these are just reminders- you’ll still have to pay the bill, either by writing a check or doing an online payment.

Mint.com’s new Bill Reminders feature will help you stay on top of bills by tracking recurring bills in one place. You can see all your upcoming payments on a simple timeline and will receive customized due date reminders on Mint.com, or via email and text message.

“Juggling due dates and amounts owed, and jumping from websites to paper statements is tedious and confusing. Busy people have better ways to spend their time and money, such as saving toward a goal,” said Aaron Forth, vice president and general manager of the Intuit Inc.’s Personal Finance Group. “Bill Reminders simplifies the bill-paying process by letting people see all bills in one spot, set up personalized reminders and avoid costly late or overdraft fees.”

Mint.com already offers reminders for credit cards and loans. The newest feature, developed in response to customer requests, helps you consolidate and track these payments alongside other important bills, such as those from phone, cable, auto and electric companies.

How it Works

When logging into Mint.com, you will see regular bills automatically identified and added to the new Bill Reminders feature, based on prior bank statements and monthly spending patterns. From there, you can:

• See all bills in one place: You no longer need to log into multiple sites to track upcoming due dates.
• Get bill due date alerts: You’ll receive an email or text message reminder to avoid missed payments, late or overdraft fees.
• View a timeline of bills: See upcoming and past bills right on the homepage.
• Set up your bills easily: Automatically add bills that are suggested by Mint, or simply add a bill from a transaction.

Bill Reminders is part of Mint.com’s ongoing commitment to helping you better manage their money and plan for their financial future. The new feature also reflects Mint.com’s dedication to customer satisfaction, as it was tested for several weeks by a group of users who had a say in the final product.

For more details instructions on using the new bill reminders function, see our how-to post.

Never again worry over how much of your money is available at any given moment and to where all that cash you just pulled from the ATM went– with Mint.com’s updated iPhone app, you can now track spending on-the-go. Responding to users’ top requests, Mint.com launched an update to its free, award-winning iPhone app that lets people manually enter cash transactions and pending expenses like checks or credit/debit card transactions not yet cleared. The result is greater accuracy, which lets people more closely track to budgets.

“If you’re walking around with cash, it’s easy to end up back at the ATM thinking, ‘where did it all go?’”, said Aaron Forth, General Manager of the Intuit Personal Finance Group.  “At Mint, we’ve always been great at accurately tracking what’s spent on plastic, but now we’re cutting out the tedious work of sifting through receipts to ferret out where cash went, or checking online bank statements to see what checks bought, by creating an always-there mobile tool that allows immediate reconciliation.”

To make management of on-the-go spending as easy as possible, Mint.com has built geo-location capability into the app to help instantly match a transaction to a point of purchase. Users simply open the app to register recent spending, and then choose a merchant from those found nearby. The amount spent is automatically deducted from the most recent ATM withdrawal, so the cash balance is kept up to the minute.

The result is an accurate read of how much cash is in a checking account, total credit card debt, and all other account balances right in the palm of the hand. People can check both their current balances (what is in an account right now) and their available balances (which takes into account pending transactions) wherever they are – granting a more accurate view than they can get from many banks.

With the new update, Mint iPhone users can now:

• Enter spending on-the-go: When money leaves the wallet, users can tell Mint where it went in real-time, adding a new layer of clarity. Geolocation takes out the need to even find the merchant.
• See available balances across accounts: By entering all pending transactions, people know their reflected balances are accurate, so they can avoid overdrafts or other fees.
• Track budgets up to the minute: By cleanly and immediately categorizing cash spending, no purchases remain unaccounted for in people’s budgets.

The latest update adds to current mobile functionality, which lets Mint iPhone users view automatically categorized recent transactions; receive alerts on spending versus personalized budgets and cash flow, account balances, bills due and more; see investment performance, sign up for Mint and add/edit accounts; and take advantage of personalized recommendations directly from their smartphone.

Users can feel safe managing money on the go, with an application-level passcode, read-only account access, and the ability to disable iPhone access to account information at any time from the Mint.com website.

The Mint iPhone app is available for iPhone and iPod touch. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later. For more information, visit http://www.mint.com/how-it-works/anywhere/iphone/

Mint is the go-to mobile app for tracking activity across multiple bank and credit accounts, but until recently, there wasn’t an easy way to enter cash or check transactions on your iPhone or iPad. That’s all changed with the addition of a new feature that allows you to manually enter in cash or pending transactions, so you can get the most accurate view of your spending. Using an intuitive entry-form, you can now record cash you’ve spent or received, checks you’ve written, and other transactions that haven’t cleared your bank yet.

Manual cash entries flow through to both budgets and trends, so using this tool regularly can help you narrow down your spending habits. Here’s how to get the most out of this new feature.

Cash Transactions

Consider a situation where you’re having lunch with a group of friends. Instead of forcing your server to run six credit card tabs, you decide to split the bill and pay with cash. Instead of waiting until you got home to enter this expense, by logging on to Mint.com, you can enter your share of that group luncheon right from the table.

To create the transaction, tap the pencil icon on the top left corner of your iPad.

A calculator-like screen will appear. Here you should enter the amount of the transaction.  Meanwhile, our geo-location feature will pinpoint your whereabouts so you can select from a list of nearby vendors. You can leave the Expense menu unchanged.

Once the amount is entered, select the Next button on the bottom right corner.

After your location is pinpointed, tap the “Choose a Merchant” field. You will see a list of nearby merchants, but if the appropriate one does not appear, you can manually input it from the top field (it will be saved for future entries).

By default, Mint will mark the ‘Split from my last ATM withdrawal’ box. Unless you have separately recorded cash income, it’s best to leave this checked–when checked, your cash spending will be taken from your latest uncategorized ATM withdrawal. If you do wish to change it, tap on the Expense field.

If you uncheck this box, then you may wind up double-booking your spending: you’ll see both the cash withdrawal and the cash spending you just entered, even though you can’t spend money twice that you only withdrew once (though it would be oh-so-nice if you could).

After completing the basics, you can review your entry and add as much or as little additional detail as you like. You can adjust the date of the transaction and select the appropriate spending category. The cash transactions feature supports Tags and has a Notes field, so you can further categorize and describe your spending.

With everything filled in to your liking, click the Done button, and the entry will be added to your transactions. You’ll be able to see it recorded under the All Accounts of your Accounts tab on your iPhone or the Balances tab on the iPad.

Check Transactions

You can use check transactions to record checks you write, long before your bank becomes aware of them. Start the process as you do with cash transactions, by tapping the pencil icon on the bottom right corner. Enter the amount of the check you’ve just written. Tap on the Expense field to change Payment Type to “Check.”

When you do, the Account menu will appear below.  Select the proper checking account from the Account menu, and make sure you fill in the proper check number.

With a check number, Mint.com will auto-reconcile your check entries with your bank account, once the bank has processed the check.

Once you’ve entered the account and check number, tap the Back button on the top left corner of the phone to return to the “Add Transaction” screen. Tap the Next button. You can review your entry and add as much or as little additional detail as you like. You can adjust the date of the transaction and select the appropriate spending category. Like cash transactions, you can also add tags and notes to your check transactions to better categorize and describe your spending. Tap “Done” and your check will be recorded under the Pending heading of the All Accounts screen.

Pending Transactions

Pending transactions are used to track non-cash spending that you’ve incurred, but that has not yet posted to your bank or credit account. For example, if you go on a shopping spree with your credit card on Saturday, the damage may not appear on your account balances until after the weekend. In order to always have an accurate figure for your remaining bank or credit card balances, you’ll want to enter such spending as pending transactions. Just like check and cash transactions, start by tapping the pencil icon on the bottom right corner. Enter the amount of the purchase you’ve made. Tap on the Expense field to change Payment Type to “Credit/Debit Card.” When you do, the Account menu will appear below.  Select the proper checking or credit account from the menu, then tap the “Back” button on the top left corner of the phone to return to the “Add Transaction” screen.

The pending transaction form is much like the cash transactions entry screen, but with the addition of an Account pop-up so you can pick the proper account. When entering pending credit card transactions, try to be accurate with both the date and the amount. When your credit card is updated in Mint.com, we will try to automatically reconcile the pending transactions. We do this based on matching both the amount and the date range. If there’s no match, you’ll have to manually reconcile the pending spending to your credit card. After completing the basics, you can review your entry and add as much or as little additional detail as you like. You can adjust the date of the transaction and select the appropriate spending category. The pending transactions feature supports Tags and has a Notes field, so you can further categorize and describe your spending. Once you’ve reviewed your entry, tap the “Done” button. Your spending will be recorded under the Pending heading of the All Accounts screen.

Deleting Manual Transactions

To delete any manual transactions you’ve made on your iPhone or iPad, tap on the manual transactions located within “All Accounts”. You can then click on the Trash icon on the top right to delete.

Sign Up or Log In to Mint.com to try these features today.

Photo: iStockphoto

In this Mint Answers roundup, we feature questions from Mint users that focus on kids and money: when to start allowances, how much to give them, teaching kids about budgets and the value of money.

Click on the links to read more answers or to chime in with your two cents.

At what age should I begin giving my child an allowance?

At what age should I begin giving my child an allowance? How much should I give them? I have a five year old and a seven year old. I have heard to start at about 5 years of age and give $1. Then give $1 more at each birthday after that. What do you think is appropriate?

Answers:

-I have a 3-year old and we have started giving him an allowance: $0.30 a week. He does have to earn it however. Since he is only three, he has small “chores,” such as putting his plate on the counter after dinner, keeping his room tidy, and behaving at daycare. He then must save 1/3 ($0.10 into his piggy bank) and give away 1/3 (to church/charity/wherever he wants, even to his baby brothers’ piggy bank if he decides). The final dime is his to do with whatever he wants. We also keep track of his money on the fridge: if he wants to trade Mommy or Daddy $0.35 for a quarter and dime so he can get gum from a quarter machine, we check to make sure he’s not “dipping into” his 1/3 savings and just using the extra money. He absolutely loves this system, which we’ve based on Dave Ramsey’s teachings.

-I don’t think allowance should be a reward for doing chores or helping around the house, that seems to send the message that you are not expected to do those things as a good person, you are expected to do because you are paid. It creates an odd carrot and stick effect and it stunts the development of internalized rewards; the only reward they know is money. But I also don’t think allowance should be given just for the sake; it should be used as a tool for learning money management skills. Instead of figuring out how much to give, instead figure out where you think your child should be spending their own money. Maybe you always buy them some candy at the grocery store. Instead of buying it, provide them an allowance that would allow them a small candy for each visit or a better one fewer times a week. You explain that they have to buy it with their own money and help them reason through the choice to buy something they don’t want as much now or to save for something they want more. As they get older, extend this to more things.

-Never.  You shouldn’t ever just give your kids an allowance.  What message are you teaching them?  That it’s ok to mooch?  My 3 yr old (yes 3) gets one dollar when he helps to pick up his toys.  Why $1?  Because he can’t swallow it like he can swallow change.  Then we put it in his piggy bank and when he gets a few bucks I’ll take some out and re-use them.

-To skirt the whole hand-out issue and still give your child some personal finance practice, I’d recommend the following: Take some area of spending that you’re already doing for your child – clothing is a classic one. Sit down with your child and collaborate on a budget for it. Give them an allowance for that type of spending that is equal to the budget. Turn the purchase decisions over to them (only exercising veto power on very rare occasions – perhaps when the purchase seriously violates some family rule/value). Do not allow them to exceed the budget.

How much allowance?

Answers:

-I believe kids should be an active member of the family so ideally, nothing. With that said, kids do need to understand the meaning of money and making money doing chores is a start. I would say enough so that at the end of the month he/she has enough to buy something they can enjoy. I.E. Video game @ $60, therefore $15 a week.

-Of course it’s a personal choice, but when I was 13 (which was only 10 years ago) my parents gave me an allowance of $20.00 per week with the stipulation that they would not be giving me money to buy Christmas presents for others when the time came. It helped me learn how to spend what I wanted and save what I needed.

-Depending on if he does chores around the house, I’d say $5 to $10.

Do you have a kids and money question of your own? Go to Mint Answers and ask away. While you’re there, feel free to answer questions from other community members.

At what age should I allow my children to open a bank account?

I am a single mother, and find it imperative that my children learn about finances early in life. My 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter recently asked if they could open their own bank accounts. Although I am proud of their interest in saving money, I am concerned that it may be too early for them to take on that responsibility. At what age do you think it is appropriate for a child to open a personal account with a financial institution?

Answers:

-My credit union has a kids club for 0-12 year olds. Besides a lower minimum deposit, they have games, a newsletter, etc. that focuses on kids. You can never be too young for fiscal responsibility.

-As with most things related to raising children, it depends a lot on the maturity of the kid. A debit card tied to a checking account is a great way to learn responsibility that will be required for independent living. Some are ready at 12, and some adults will never be ready. I don’t remember exactly when I opened a checking account, but I remember getting a job the week I turned 16, and I already had one. My parents still covered a lot of my real living expenses (groceries, housing, clothes, insurance) but my checking account was a great way for me to learn financial responsibility. I had to budget for things like gas, car maintenance, music, eating out, trips to the mall, you know really important stuff at that age. With the prevalence of debit cards and check cards, I would say a lot of kids should be learning how to manage this at age 14 or 15. The younger (or less mature) they are, the more guidance and oversight they will require. In my opinion 18 is too late.

Do my kids have to pay taxes on their lemonade stand?

My children and their friends want to set up an old fashioned lemonade stand. Do I have to worry about the IRS coming to my door asking for my kids tax records? How does that work?

Answer:

I am not a tax advisor.  But I believe that as long as they are under $400 in income, they should be fine.  That’s a lot of lemonade.  I would be more worried amount permitting and permissions from the local government.  It seems every year there is some debacle of overzealous local officials interrupting the young operators.

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So you’re about to get hitched and looking for a fun place to go for that last hurrah with the guys? Bachelor parties, like weddings, have become victim of the Matrimonial Industrial Complex, and are now increasingly elaborate (and expensive affairs).  Just going to a steakhouse and a — ahem —  local entertainment establishment, may not cut it any more, not when your best friend’s bachelor party turned into a three-day Las Vegas bacchanalia that would make the Nevada tourism authority blush. Like a bride who wouldn’t want to get caught dead wearing the same gown as her friend, you want your own party to be a distinct adventure that will keep them talking for years.

With that in mind, here are some overseas cities with an electric atmosphere that will appeal to the bachelor set. They all made the cut in AskMen.com‘s latest survey of top cities for men to visit in 2011, which ranked towns on a combination of factors including weather, sports culture, nightlife and buzz. These particular selections all scored high marks on the affordability (calculated by the average costs of a hotel room, cab ride and pint of beer), so while it may cost you to get there (hope you banked those frequent flier miles!), you’ll save on spending once you arrive.

Talinn, Estonia

British bachelors have already discovered the charms of this Baltic capital, but you’ll still get points for creativity from your American brethren if you choose this destination for your stag weekend (and make that a long weekend, at minimum it’s a 12-hour journey from the East Coast, with a layover in another European city). The historic city ranks high for explorability and the medieval churches are not the only picturesque attractions. Budget just $40 a night for a hotel room and $5 for meals.

Bangkok, Thailand

Adventurous eaters with a penchant for spicy food can score amazing deals at Bangkok’s many food stalls. Recover from the city’s legendary late-night revelries with a three-hour massage for just $30. An overabundance of five-star hotels means $200 can easily get you a deluxe room, but rest assured you can experience your “one night in Bangkok” for significantly less.  To combine your urban holiday with a little surf and sand, you can get to the beaches of Pattaya in just two and a half hours by bus for less than $4.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Bachelor party traditionalists can still get their steak dinner, but you’ll be able to wash it down with a delicious bottle of Malbec, all for a fraction of the price you’d pay in New York or Las Vegas. Thanks to the cheap peso, you can easily find a room for around $80, which is a good thing– because you won’t be spending any time there. Buenos Aires’ nightlife extends into the morning hours. If you have any energy left, you can check out a soccer match to experience for yourself the Latin love affair with futbol.

Lisbon, Portugal

Portugal’s banking crisis is bad news for the country’s debt rating, but good news for travelers who want to make their dollars go farther soaking up European style and history. The city’s rich restaurant scene is a gastronomic heaven (especially for seafood lovers). There’s plenty of time to sleep off dinner before you head out for the night, since the clubs don’t get going until 2 a.m. If you visit in the summer, when the mercury rises to searing levels, you can seek relief at the nearby beach towns.

Mexico City, Mexico

Mayhem on the border has pummeled Mexican tourism as a whole, so even areas that aren’t part of the narco-turf war have seen a drop in demand, prompting lots of discounts and incentives to entice intrepid travelers. Unlike Tijuana or the spring break resorts on the Yucutan, the capital has culture and sophistication, but you can still unleash your wild side, taking in a (Mexican) wrestling match at the Arena Coliseo or doing shots of mezcal at a cantina. Best of all, you’ll save on your bar tab: Mexico’s City’s high altitude means every alcoholic drink is the equivalent of about two cocktails at sea level.

See the full list of Top 29: Best Cities to Visit on AskMen.com