Honestly, I was a little dissapointed to not find anything on the Mvelopes website that outlines the difference between the free account and the paid version.  I was hoping they would be more open about this, but I had to sign up for the free account to understand the differences.  However, no concern for you as I’m going to share my findings.

I was taken to a confirmation screen that immediately let me know I could sign up for the Premier account if I desired some of the additional features.  With the Premier version you get unlimited accounts, which I take it to mean you can link to as many checking and/or savings accounts as you desire.  Also, you get access to the debt management program and online bill pay with the Premier account.  Outside of those limitations, it appears you get to use the core functionality of creating a spending plan, managing your virtual envelopes, assigning transactions, etc. [Pretty Cool!]

As I logged into my new account, I was surprisingly led to a new interface that provided a step by step guide to add my accounts, define incomes, create a spending plan and fund envelopes.  It’s been a while since I’ve used Mvelopes so I’m pleased to see they’ve put this instruction out there for users who I know can become easily overwhelmed by the set up of new software and using technology to manage their finances.

After browsing around a bit, it was clear the makers of Mvelopes have redesigned the entire product with a new updated interface.  Overall, it looked clean and simplified.  However, I didn’t see any new features available in the product which was sort of disappointing.  At the same time, I’ve always felt the basics of the product work great and do believe it can help you manage manage your monthly spending and achieve your financial goals.

So, is the free version a good deal?  Absolutely!  If you prefer envelope style budgeting this is a great product for you to try.  Off-hand I can’t tell you how many free accounts you can have.  That might be the only concern for me in using the free product.  You can use bill pay through most banks so I don’t think you necessarily need the Mvelopes version.  Also, the debt tool feature is nice, but online debt calculators will help you create your debt payment plan as well.

Note:  read my Mvelopes review for an overview of all the features.

Will you give Mvelopes a try now that it’s free?

Personally, you’ll usually find me recommending Mvelopes because of its unique design around the envelope budgeting concept.  Envelope budgeting is a proven method that works well for planning and controlling monthly expenses.

Mint has brought a new perspective to personal finance software.  Mint helps find you ways to save money by “comparing your needs to product, bank or service offerings” (as mentioned on their website).

Differences between Mint and Mvelopes

I’ve always been curious about the differences between the two products.  In the past I haven’t considered Mint seriously because it didn’t have budgeting capabilities.  They have not implemented a budget module in the product.

To learn more I signed up for my free account with Mint and also reached out to my Twitter network to see if anyone had experience using both products.  Wojciech at Fiscal Fizzle immediately sent me a reply message letting me know he’s used both of them and would be willing to help answer some of my questions.

So, without further ado, here are Wojciech’s responses to my questions about Mvelopes and Mint.

Budgeting Comparison

Mvelopes is known for automating envelope budgeting, does Mint have a similar capability or budgeting feature?

Mint does feature a budgeting module, and you can set it up to “roll over” from month to month, which is kind of like having an envelope, especially for irregular transactions. However, this is still a “traditional” budget setup, where you set an upper limit, not a $0 limit. It’s a small distinction, but I believe it makes a big psychological difference.

Mvelopes takes my bank account balance and tells me what job each dollar has, including regular expenses like loan payments or rent. Mint tells me how much I can spend in each category (usually discretionary expenses are what most people set up), without considering the whole picture.

Note from Jason: I think the $0 budget is important in avoiding over spending and staying on track with savings, debt reduction, etc.  For those who don’t know, a $0 budget means you find a purpose for every dollar each month and balance your income and expenses.

Favorite Feature Comparison

What is your favorite feature of Mint that Mvelopes doesn’t have?  What is your favorite feature of Mvelopes that Mint doesn’t have?

My favorite Mint feature is alerts – I get weekly summaries of my activity, as well as large deposit and withdrawal alerts.  My favorite Mvelopes feature is the program’s automatic ability to set aside money whenever I charge something on my credit card to pay it off at the end of the month.

Use Mint to manage your budget

Note from Jason: I noticed there are a lot of different alert options with Mint which I think could be quite handy for staying on top of your finances.  Examples include bill reminders, low balance reminders and unusual spending notifications.

Social Networking

Social networking or the ability to learn from or leverage cost savings from others has become a feature in some products today.  How do you think that either product provides these benefits?

Mvelopes is starting to develop some social features – currently, they have a blog that showcases “success stories” and tips, and a Twitter account. Mvelopes also has forums for interacting with other users and getting help, “groups,” where people with similar goals can join together, and “mentor” forums, where individuals of specific expertise can help you. All of these are mostly in their infancy, so their potential is just getting developed.

Mint also has a blog with some very useful tip-based posts, which is something Mvelopes is only starting to incorporate. They are also starting to leverage social networking intra-software, by providing features like comparisons to “average US spending” when budgeting. They’ve also made finances “fun” by integrating a point system for doing certain things with your money, although some of those clearly benefit Mint financially via affiliate income.

Note from Jason: I’ve become a regular follower of Mint’s blog which produces great personal finance content.  I think Mint is well ahead of Mvelopes when it comes to incorporating social networking into their product and website.  I would like to see Mvelopes make a stronger move in this area since there is real value in learning from and interacting with others.

• Follow Mint via Twitter and RSS.
• Follow Mvelopes via Twitter and RSS.

Favorite Product

Care to share which one you use today and why?

90% of our financials are currently done in Mvelopes. Prior to this year, I used desktop Quicken almost exclusively, but felt that it was inadequate in preparing us for irregular expenses and motivating us to save for various goals. Now, we have issues with neither, and we also don’t argue about money as much as we used to. It’s no longer any one person’s decision whether we “can” or “cannot” buy something – if the money’s not in that specific envelope, it’s not available. The peace of mind in knowing that everything that needs to be there will be there when I need it (or by how much we’re short) is incredible.

The other 10% of my time is spent in Mint, mostly looking at overall net worth and investment performance, as well as reading their blog.

Note from Jason:  I agree that having a set of envelopes and their associated balances helps when it comes to talking about money with your spouse.  This is the heart of our money meeting conversation each week. 

Anything else you’d like to share?

Many people shy away from pay-based tools like Mvelopes because we expect almost everything to be free these days. I can tell you that there’s no free lunch – even Mint uses affiliate-based “suggestions” that drive me nuts. The money we pay for Mvelopes has paid itself off ten-fold.

Final Thoughts

Whether or not you use Mint or Mvelopes, I hope you’ll find some of this information helpful in your use of either product, or perhaps in your decision to use one of them.  As I mentioned, I signed up to test drive Mint a little bit.  I’ll continue to explore this product and perhaps provide a review of my findings and what I’ve learned in a future post.   But for now I’m planning to continue using Mvelopes as my primary personal finance software tool.

I recommend signing up for the free trial to create test envelopes and transactions to better understand how the software works and to make sure it’s a fit for you.

What about you?  Have you had experience with either Mint or Mvelopes?  If so, feel free to share answers to any of the same questions I asked Wojciech with readers in the comments.

Special thanks to Wojciech!

Wojciech Kulicki is the blogger behind Fiscal Fizzle, a personal finance blog that emphasizes sound principles, simplicity, critical thinking, and money paradigms. Wojciech likes to show you money in new and unique ways.  Follow him via RSS or Twitter!

For those who don’t an envelopes budget is a simple for of spending management in which cash envelopes are created for typical spending categories.  For example, after receiving your paycheck, cash would be deposited into the food envelope.  As you purchase food or grocery store items, you use cash from the envelope.  If the cash is used up before the end of the month or before the next paycheck, you withdrawal cash from other envelopes and avoid the use of credit cards.

The Mvelopes software essentially does the same thing by allowing you to create online envelopes and automatically or manually fund them with your paycheck after it’s deposited.  Each electronic transaction deducts from the envelope based on how the transaction is categorized by the user.

Overall, the software provides some nice features and advantages that enable you to keep a close eye on spending while at the same time, taking advantage of under spent areas by reallocating the cash.

Mvelopes Pros:

Envelope Budgeting:

I think the concept of online envelope budgeting is an excellent idea.  A set of online envelopes can easily divide your checking account into different spending categories.

With envelopes, you only need one checking account.  Some people use 2 or 3 checking accounts to separate expenses areas.  Well, this is no longer needed with the use of the virtual envelopes.

Browser-based software:

I like that Mvelopes has taken advantage of web-based technology.  There is no need to download or upgrade the software.  Traditional software requires purchasing yearly upgrades and this is becoming more and more a thing of the past.

Support:  While there is a learning curve, the support forums seem to be regularly visited and updated by users.  This is always important when starting off on a new software package and needing assistance.  There is also live chat, user guides and online tutorials that help.

Mvelopes Features

Here are the core features I’ve found to be available with Mvelopes.

Budgeting:

• Create a budget or spending plan using different spending categories.
• Track personal expenses against categories to see how much money is remaining for categories.
• Split transactions to multiple categories.  Some transactions, i.e., Wal-Mart receipts, may require splitting amounts between multiple categories.

Banking:

• Automatic download of account, balances and transactions from financial institutions.
• Reconcile manually entered transactions with transactions automatically downloaded from financial institutions.

Bill Pay:

• Pay bills from any of your accounts with online bill pay feature.  The feature automatically deducts balances from envelopes.

Debt Management:

• Set up a debt plan or pay off schedule to get out of debt.

Report Highlights:

• Cash flow report shows monthly spending in and out of the account by spending category.
• View and print a monthly budget.

Net Worth Monitoring:

• Track your net work by measuring assets against liabilities.  This is a nice online feature to see where you are today in order to better determine where you need to go.

Mobility:

• Use software on a mobile device such as a Blackberry or iPhone to use features such as viewing envelope balances and creating transactions.

Mvelopes Cons

• The online envelope concept can take some getting used to.  There is a learning curve; however, it can be quickly overcome with the support tools and tutorials. 
• There is a cost to using Mvelopes where some products are now free on the web.  The cheapest option is $7.90 per month and you are charged a lump sum payment of $189.60 every other year.  A monthly subscription costs $13.20.

Future Enhancement Opportunities for Mvelopes:

Note:  I didn’t come across these features, but if you know they are available, please share in the comments.

• Leverage across users, such as showing comparisons between prices when items were purchased at the same location.
• Expense savings opportunities.  Mvelopes doesn’t provide expense savings advice or information related to spending habits. 
• It would be nice to program alerts based on rules, i.e., alert me when an envelope reaches a certain balance

Should You Use Mvelopes Personal?

I think the return on investment is there with Mvelopes.  Personal finance software should help drive better money management processes or support the processes you have in place today.

I think there is a lot of flexibility available in how you use the software, i.e., set up your spending plan.  It’s a tool that can remove a lot of the time associated with handling bank transactions and measuring expenditures against your budget.  It drives good money management practices.

The reporting allows you to get the information out of the system in such a way that you can make better strategic money management decisions.  As long as the data you enter is good, the reporting capabilities exist.

Mvelopes has a 14 day free trial.  I recommend signing up for the free trial to create test envelopes and transactions to better understand how the software works and to make sure it’s a fit for you.

Useful Links

• Learn about Mvelopes security
• I recently wrote a guest post at Christian PF about 4 notable features of Mvelopes Personal.  This is a good source for more in-depth information about some of the functionality.

You may be visiting for the first time today.  If so, welcome to One Money Design!  As you might read on the about page, I believe there is financial hope for people. I have a passion to see people prosper, become debt free, and experience financial freedom.  As a Crown Money Map Coach and a blogger, I created this website to further my reach in helping people manage money wisely for everyday living.

While you’re here consider singing up for the newsletter or RSS feed (in the sidebar menu). 

Here is a list of upcoming posts (in no specific order)

• Money Map and Baby Step Comparison – see the new series here.
• DebtGoal Helps Eliminate Debt
• Mvelopes vs. Mint series
• Taking Care to Avoid Bankruptcy
• Living from Heaven Backwards – Update – This will be a guest post on Bible Money Matters August 7th.