Well, Mint the personal finance app is shutting down.

Have you tried Mint? I have a Mint account laying around here somewhere, not sure where I placed it. I remember logging in sometime during C19. But honestly, I never really liked it. I know there was a paid version, but I just tried out the free version. (The Ads ruined the experience) It was nice that you could sync your bank accounts and some other financial information.

I’ve never really been a fan of these apps that pull information, don’t get me wrong they work great, and sometimes the transaction data can be helpful if you have some unexpected charge happen out of the blue. My main problem with these apps (Other than the Ads) is that they are just telling you information that you should already know, they are showing you the past. I’m much more interested in the future.

I enjoy the planning that comes along with telling my money where to go and what to do when it gets there. Like sending money to my investments on a regular schedule. I don’t need to be reminded that I did this, I always plan for it ahead of time. I just need a calendar to do this. No other software is needed. Keep money simple.

Sure, I can easily complicate things by adding a bunch of apps that remind me that I spent $7 on an Iced Starbucks Vanilla Latte with Caramel Drizzle while I wandered around the mall waiting for my daughter to finish her “Shopping” with her friends. Do I really need to know this after the fact? My credit card company will remind me after every charge via text message just in case it wasn’t me. (You do have notifications on, right?)

I’m more of a spend-what-is-in-the-envelope kind of guy. But I use credit cards instead of envelopes and just pay them weekly. I get the security of not having my checking accounts/debit cards floating around out there “on the Dark Web” or any web for that matter. (So Scary…)

So anyway, Mint is going away. They are owned by Intuit, the same people that own Credit Karma and QuickBooks. Don’t get confused, The Mobile App “Quicken SimpliFi” was once a part of Intuit but has been spun off to be its own thing. (As far as I can tell)

If I had to choose an app to use, I would lean towards Empower. They used to be Personal Capital. I do like the Net Worth tracking of it and it can be used for free.

If I was going to pay for budgeting software, I would lean towards YNAB. The software is great for envelope budgeting and the community seems great. They also make YouTube videos that are helpful to their community, unlike other apps/software companies that I’ve seen online.

What are you using? Anything? Spreadsheets? I love a good Spreadsheet.

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Bitcoin is taking the world by storm. In 2020 and 2021 Bitcoin was in most financial headlines. Odds are very good that in 2022 it will dominate the headlines again. Let’s face it, it is not going away. It’s been 13 years since Satoshi put Bitcoin out into the universe and changed the world of currency and thought.

There is no denying that as more people get involved with Bitcoin, the price of every single Bitcoin will go up.

As I write this post $BTC is floating between $47,000 and $50,000. Just a few months earlier it hit an all-time high of $68,780. So as you can see the price fluctuates dramatically from month to month.

So the question is should you place your hard-earned cash into an investment that jumps around so unpredictable? Well, if you are worried about losing your money you should be. There is a very real chance that any money you put into Bitcoin will evaporate overnight as the price crashes lower and lower. Bitcoin is often manipulated by the Uber Wealthy that are tanking the price to push out the “scared” money and then they buy back in, taking those coins off the market. Million-dollar transactions happen every day and the market responds to it by going up or down.

Are you someone that can handle the roller coaster ride of the Crypto Market? It is way more volatile than the normal Stock Market. You will need to decide for yourself if you are up to the task.

I will tell you what I will be doing in 2022. I think that the state of Bitcoin warrants some attention. So I will DCA into $BTC. Will it make all my dreams come true? Probably not. But as far as a “Solid Speculative Play” goes, Bitcoin seems to be the best option. Could I lose everything I put into it? Yes. However, now that mass adoption seems to be kicking in, I’m hopeful that the price will go up.

My goal is to grab at least 1 full Bitcoin while still adding to my core investments. I use a Dividend Stock Portfolio and Real Estate as the core foundation of my investments so adding $BTC to it will be simple and painless.

Let me know how Bitcoin fits into your investment strategy.

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