Personal finance trackingis something that we care about here at Mint. Learn more with great personal finance tracking in our blog article index.

Losing your wallet or purse can be like losing a Wii Sports tennis match to your 6 year-old nephew: it’s demoralizing and humiliating, and had you just been a bit more careful, it probably wouldn’t have happened.

Luckily, you can easily amend this problem by taking the batteries out of the Wii remote, which will really teach the little guy why he shouldn’t mess with an adult. That is…

What we meant was, losing your wallet is not the end of the world. There are steps you can immediately take to protect yourself and steps you can take to prepare yourself — just in case you do lose your wallet some day. Let’s call in a different kind of personal finance tracking.

Top Six Things To Do When You Lose Your Wallet

1. Take action quickly your wallet is an important money tool. Once you’re positive the wallet is lost or stolen, every moment counts. Sure, you may get lucky and the wallet may be found or returned to you; but to ensure the liabilities to yourself are limited, you should get started on the following steps as soon as possible.
2. Call your bank and report your ATM card lost or stolen. This step should follow all other steps, as debit card liability could be as little as $50 if you report it immediately within two business days. If you report it after two business days, though, your liability jumps up to $500. Totally forgot to report it? After sixty days, your liability could be unlimited.
3. Call your credit card companies. As you report the card lost or stolen, remember to tell the representative the place, time, and amount of the last transaction you know you made. Here’s what to expect: Some issuers will ask various security question to make sure you really are the person that lost the card. They may ask for your address, mother’s maiden name, recent purchase details, and so on to confirm your identity.

Numbers to major banks and card companies:

• American Express: 1-800-528-4800
• Bank of America:
  • Debit Card or Checkbook: CA, 1-800-622-8731; ID & WA, 1-800-442-6680; All other states, 1-800-432-1000
  • Credit Card: In the US, 1-800-848-6090; International, 1-757-677-4701
• Citi Credit Cards: 1-800-950-5114
• Chase Debit Cards: 1-800-935-9935

4. No one likes the DMV. Even comedian Dane Cook jokes that in the future, when everything is instantaneous, the line at the DMV will still take nine seconds. Regardless, you’re going to need to get in that endless queue and get your license replaced as soon as possible. Many states issues temporary paper license while they process your request. If your state’s DMV has an online appointment schedule feature, use it! If you neglect to get your license replace and your unlucky streak continues, the police officer that pulls you over may not believe your lost-wallet sob story!
5. Call the police (non-emergency line) and file a report. You may have to go to the local precinct; or someone may come to file the report for you, as well. Even better, most police precinct will give you a helpful list of companies to call so that you can solve the various issues associated with a disaster like this. Sometimes they can even be their local numbers, which get you a human faster than the 800 numbers.
6. Call the credit reporting agencies. Pick from either Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion, as they will forward the information to other agencies on your behalf. Use them to place a temporary security alert on your file, so that lenders will need to verify your identity before opening any account. This temporary security alert lasts for about 90 days on your credit file.
   • Equifax: 1-800-525-6285 or write to P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA. 30374-0241
   • Experian: 1-888-397-3742 or write to P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
   • TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289 or write to Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA. 92834-6790

Bonus Tip:

Just in case you have your social security card in your wallet (which, incidentally, you shouldn’t), here’s how to get your card replaced: Head to the social security website and fill out form SS-5. If your card was lost or stolen, you are entitled to a free replacement. You’re limited to three replacements per year, and ten during your lifetime.

Identity theft worries? The Federal Trade Commission has an in-depth page on steps to take in preventing and fighting identity theft.

Top Four Things To Do Before Losing Your Wallet

1. Make a list of the contents in your wallet and jot down the number to call for each card. For some extra handiness, make this document electronically available by placing it on an online source such as Google Notebook. Don’t forget to keep this list up to date! Not comfortable with keeping it electronically? Try this check list (100kb, PDF) from the University of Oklahoma Police Department.
2. Store some backup cash at home, at the office, or at some other accessible and secure location. If you’re not a cash carrying person, this tip can give you a bit of peace of mind while you’re stranded without your ATM card.
3. Stash your social security card in a secure location, instead of your wallet!
4. Remove that little slip of paper from your wallet with your PIN, passwords, and login info. The people that keep these little papers in their wallets know who they are.

Further Reading on Personal Finance Tracking

• Personal finance Tracking
• Money tools
• Financial Tools
• Budget Software and Tracking

Learning to use debt management tools is something that we care about here at Mint. Learn more with about great debt management tools and tips in our blog article index.

Every once in awhile, Mint gets email with questions on personal finance; and every once in awhile, we put on our thinking cap and (try to) write a thoughtful response to these emails. Here’s one such email from one of our readers, and the corresponding opinions from this very minty blog. While you read this post, think about how Mint’s debt management tools may help you.

Dear Mint,

I have a credit card on which I carry a balance of about $9,000. All of my monthly bills are charged to this card, which come to $800. The interest charge is about $120, so that equals a minimum payment (in my way of thinking to keep my balance from going up) of $920. I pay more whenever possible, but it’s usually not much.

Two things:

1 – I know that using my credit card to automate my bill payments while I’m carrying a balance is not the smartest thing. The convenience is really important to me, though. I’d like to find out what the cost of that convenience is. Which leads to number 2.

2 – If I was to break down the $920 into four payments, one about each week, would that save me any interest?

The answer would seem to be yes, since my credit card company uses the daily method to calculate interest and the twice-a-month method to compound it. I set aside time for my finances once a week, so it would be no particular extra work to set this up. However, I would be interested to see a post about this or better yet, an online calculator, so I can enter my balance, interest rate, payment, etc. to discover how much I would save in interest, and maybe an add-in that would show me how I would save if I made no charges on the card.

Mint’s two cents:

1. Putting additional charges on a card already with a balance will definitely cost in terms of interest, but as for how much, it really depends on when the charges are place during the credit card’s billing cycle.

Having said that, let’s take it from a simple perspective. Whenever you have a balance, the grace period (the time where finance charges aren’t incurred on a credit card) won’t be available when you make a new purchase. If you have no balance, the grace period is generally 20-25 days before interest starts accumulating on your purchases.

Thus, $800 per month of charges at 16% interest amounts to about $10.67 per month in finance charges, which may not seem like much, but will be more than $130 per year. That’s an extra $130 that can put towards a balance!

2. Breaking the payments down will definitely reduce interest somewhat, but unless we know exactly when the charges are being made, it is difficult to come up with a number. But as as mentioned by the reader, breaking down payments should indeed reduce interest by a good amount, base on that particular card’s calculation and compounding method.

We couldn’t find a calculator that does exactly what the reader wanted, but check out this minimum payment calculator, which shows a good graphical breakdown of how paying minimum only can end up costing a staggering amount. At Mint, we have some debt management tools available as well.

A quick note: Paying the minimum only on the credit card above will really be difficult, as it will take more than a life time to pay off the card! In fact, you won’t reach $1,000 in balance until about a hundred years later if you only pay the minimum per month, as so little of it goes towards the principal amount.

Certainly, most people would put a large payment towards the card whenever possible, so the calculator’s scenario isn’t exactly realistic — but it still paints a gloomy picture if you really do only pay the minimum!

3 – Okay I guess its three things. If I didn’t use my card to automate my monthly payments, I would have to write out all those pesky checks and have to choose (and buy) check designs and buy stamps and actually go to the post office and make sure that there is enough time between the mailing date and the due date so that I don’t get a late charge. Is there an alternative?

Thanks!

Mint’s extra penny:

3. There is definitely an alternative, and as everyone can tell from the numbers above, saving additional interest charge on this 16% APR credit card will really help!

Thus, it may be worthwhile to consider using a check/debit card to make the bill payments instead. They have the same convenience factors as a credit card, and you wouldn’t have to worry about mailing the check or due dates.

Most checking accounts should have a check/debit card available to them, with a VISA or MasterCard logo on them. They enable you to make charges to your checking account the same way you make charges to your credit card. You can also schedule automatic bill payments will these check/debit cards as you would a credit card.

If you don’t have a check/debit card, you should request your bank for one. If your particular checking account doesn’t have it as a feature (which is quite rare), there will be many other financial institutions that will be more than happy to offer you a fee-free checking along with a check/debit card.

Some Food for Thought:

1. If you’re carrying a balance on your credit card, consider switching to other types of payment for your purchases, as charging additional purchase on the card will make it more difficult to pay off the balance.
2. Check/debit cards are a great alternative to the convenience enjoyed by credit card purchase. You may find that your home budget will just fall into place.
3. Paying only the minimum on a high interest rate credit card can really cost you! If you’re carrying a balance on your card, you should check out the minimum payment calculator and see how much money you can save just by adding an extra percentage or two into your monthly payment!

Thanks to anonymous reader #1350 for the great question and for letting us repost the question!

Further Reading on Budgeting Tools

Money saving tips, tracking, and tools
Household Budget Software
Create a Personal Budget Online
Expense Tracking and Planner

Tracking finances is something that we care about here at Mint. Learn more about tracking finances in our blog article index.

In the late 90’s when the world was ablaze with dotcom millionaires and it looked as though the stock market could make me wealthy too, I bought a lot of technology stocks — including some start-ups and IPOs (Linux, Red Hat, Pilgrim Technology Fund, EMC and others that I have since become an amnesiac for, thankfully). I rode them all up on a wild ride, and then rode them all down again. When I was tracking finances, I was riding a roller coaster

The actual dollar cost I lost wasn’t too traumatizing, but not selling when the P/E ratios were in the stratosphere was a big mistake that has cost me in the neighborhood of $100,000. To add insult to injury, during this time I came across a beach area lot that I bought, because of its terrific price… but of course, the proceeds I used were from selling my highest-quality investments, and I was left with the speculative garbage or what remained of them. Sell the losers and the low-quality first, and keep the long term winners.

Train Wreck Tuesdays are a weekly post of horrible financial mistakes. They are posted anonymously. Submit your story; if you’re selected, you get a free personal finance book. The best comment gets the same prize! Check out past Train Wreck stories.

Further Reading on Tracking Finances

• Tracking Finances
• online financial calculator
• personal finance tools
• personal expenses management

Personal finance tools and budget tracking are two things that we care about here at Mint. Learn more with great personal finance tools and tips in our blog article index.

It’s finally over. All those late night of hard work, sweating away — pummeling your controller in marathon Smash Brother tournaments with your room mates. Ah, good times.

You’re all done with college, you picked up your B.S. or B.A., and now you’re ready to actually do something with that piece of paper. Presenting it at the next Burger King won’t get you a meal, so getting a job is the next best thing.

That job, though, presents a new problem now that you’re no longer under your parents’ financial umbrella: how on earth do you manage your money after college? We recommend some personal finance tools.

We’re one step ahead of you.

Step 1: Double-check for any debt.

If you have debt (and lots of it), continue on to Step 2. If you’ve managed to skate through the past four years with a clean debt record (and we can’t imagine how, you lucky grad), skip ahead to Step 4.

Step 2: Look at your bills and cry.

So you have a mountain of debt. You went a little overboard on the “inebriation aids,” or the spring break trips, or the cell phone bills, or the restaurant tabs, or the fancy gifts for that girl/guy you can’t afford… or the student loan for that private liberal arts college to study Philosophy.

Take it all in. It is important for you to have a good, clear look at your debt. Think about how you would use personal finance tools to aid with your budget tracking.

Tip: Pretending it doesn’t exist won’t help. Differentiate the type of debt you have. Which ones have the highest rate of interest? Which ones are revolving (credit cards) and which ones are installments (automotive or student loans)?

Understand how you arrived at these debts. There’s not much to be said about student loans, but if you graduated with a large credit card bill, consider carefully if it was necessary spending, or if your habits of splurging caught up with you.

By being aware of where you stand financially, you can better plan where you should go next. With that in mind, let’s move on to Step 3.

Step 3: Paying it back, without resorting to Mom and Dad.

If your parents were willing and able to pay for your education, all the better. But if not, that’s okay, too. This is your education, after all. As long as you got something out of class besides an extra nap or two, that degree is your ticket to the next chapter of your life.

Remember that in Step 2, you figured out which debts were more expensive (higher interest rates, etc.)? Your best bet is to tackle those high-interest rate debts first. If your credit card debt is derived from frivolous spending, it’s crucial that you improve your spending habit as you pay off your debt. If you don’t change your ways, you can be paying the right percentage but still accumulate even more debt. Of course, as a Devil’s Advocate: There is a theory by Dave Ramsey that you should conquer your easiest debt first to get a psychological win. You can choose which is best for you.

One easy way to come up with more money is to cut any unnecessary expenses. Luxuries like cable TV or high-speed Internet may not be necessary in the short term. And although you’re attached to the hip with your cell phone, doing without its extra bill for a few months isn’t impossible either.

You should also understand that some of the debt you have may actually have tax advantages to them. Take, for example, student loans: Many types can be deducted as educational expense in tax filings, so you’ll want to keep your eye out for perks like these to manage your load. Take steps to research and familiarize yourself with your student loan terms. Paying attention to when you can consolidate your loans (and lock in lower rates) can also save you more money, and in some instances lower your monthly payment without incurring more finance charges.

Finally, in any debt repayment plan, proper budget tracking is important. The Fed of Chicago has a great page on how to budget. Once you have a better picture of your fixed and variable expense by creating a simple budget, you’ll have a better idea of how much you can afford to put towards your debt.

As you make progress in reducing and paying off your debt, you can head to Step 4 and take a breath of relief.

Step 4: Paid it off? No debt? It’s time to plan that future of yours.

Seeing as how we’re living longer these days — and hey, you might even wake up one day and decide you want a spouse and kids — you’re going to need to plan for that future now, so you don’t curse your 22-year-old self later. This is where the personal finance tools really shine.

Start out by determining your mid-term and long-term financial goals. Retirement goes in the long-term category, of course, but a mortgage down payment may be in the mid-term. Buying a car soon? Moving to Bahrain? Naming your future seven kids? Put it all in the hat. It may feel odd to think about what your financial goals will be five, 10, even 25 years from now; but putting a long lens on your future plans can really help you put the right foot forward in the next six to 12 months.

Retirement may seem awfully far away, too (after all, your parents might not even be retired yet, right?); But it’s imperative that you start making an automatic deposit towards your retirement as soon as you get that first paycheck. As you’ve probably already read or heard from other sources: The earlier you start to save and invest, the farther ahead you’ll be in the future. Read The Richest Man in Babylon for some great financial principles.

Because the amount you’ll need to retirement is obviously dependent on how you want to live when you’re old and feeble (we kid, we kid), it wouldn’t hurt to do some minor soul searching before you start utilizing online retirement planning worksheets.

Now that you’ve successfully stuck your head 40 years in the future, then, it’s time to take another look at the present by heading to Step 5.

Step 5: Staying in college-finance mode doesn’t hurt.

38-cent Cup O’ Noodles. 99-cent value meals. Huddling in a small room with friends (that always have worse hygiene than you). Most of us have gone through the usual college diet, and generally these are not by choice.

But just because you’re out of college and you’ve landed that hot-shot job at that investment bank, or that defense company, or that yet-another-Web 2.0 company — doesn’t mean you need to start spending it like there’s no tomorrow.

You don’t necessarily have to update your ride, your lodging, or your entire wardrobe, either — although something besides freebie t-shirts would admittedly be nice. If your lifestyle is still comfortable to you, then there’s little reason to change. Don’t start buying certain things because it seems “appropriate to do.”

Of course, on the other hand…

Step 6: Upgrade that concept of partying, please.

It’s okay to spend a little too. You’re older now. More sophisticated. You talk about politics as if you’ll really vote. You can actually name more than five items off of that fancy French menu. Burritos are no longer your sole source of food substance.

Just remember that Step 5 comes before Step 6, so don’t go crazy with your newfound cash flow.

Step 7: There’s still a long way to go.

Maybe it felt like forever (”super senior,” anyone?). Maybe the eight-ball is saying: “Outlook not so good.” Regardless of how you feel now, one thing is for sure — there’s more to come.

As with Step 4, there’s a future ahead of you; and whether you like it or not, money is going to help you get there.

Maybe you’d like to take off and travel one day (before you start on those seven kids). Maybe you’ll suddenly want a career change down the line. Maybe you’ll want to start your own company, or (gasp) further your education in graduate school. All of those will require even more from your check book. That’s okay, though: by the time you’ve reached Step 7, you’re ready to charge ahead with that knowledge stored away.

This post was written by Cap of StopBuyingCrap.com.

Further Reading

• free budget software
• online budget management
• personal finance advisors
• free financial calculator