Over the past few weeks Iâve had a chance to experiment with a new financial service thatâs aimed to help regular people improve their finances. Itâs called MyJibe. MyJibe is a unique, easy-to-use, web-based software for helping people manage their money, make spending decisions and plan for the future so they can have more financial confidence, purpose and peace of mind.
MyJibe is for people who want a plan; who want to know what they can spend; who want to know that they are prepared for the future. Maybe they’ve not known where to start, have found the easier tools lacking or the more complex tools too clunky and bloated. MyJibe provides the power, ease, and guidance individuals need to help themselves, coupled with a real-time portal for their financial advisor when they need expert advice.
How MyJibe is Different
I know what youâre thinkingâ’there are already a bunch of online budgeting tools out there like Mint, YNAB, and Bundle, so this doesnât bring anything new to the table. That was my first assumption as well, but to my surprise thereâs actually much more to it.
MyJibe does many of the same budgeting items that other platforms use, but it also picks up where they leave off. Forward-looking & goal-focused. MyJibe doesn’t just show you your bank account balances and where you spent your money in the past. It magically answers the tough questions like “How much can I safely spend?”, “When can I afford what I want?”, and “Am I on track for my future goals?”
Not just a cool tool or slightly different spin. It’s built from a whole different budgeting approach. A variation of envelope style budgeting, it’s simpler, more flexible, and more powerful. If youâre already an envelope style budgeter, youâll feel right at home. Not only that, but you can get real-time advice from advisors if you need a little help.
Test Driving MyJibe
So for the past few weeks Iâve been giving the site a bit of a test drive and checking out the features. Itâs quite intuitive and easy to set up. The best part is how it integrates with your financial accounts and pulls in the transactions and data automatically. After the initial setup itâs almost hands-free. Here is an example of the transactions page while looking at all accounts. You’ll see it lists the date of the transaction, which account it was for, where it happened, and even what category. Of course, you can always select individual accounts from the left as well, but the key thing to note here is that MyJibe pulls this information in securely and automatically once set up.
In addition to tracking all of your individual spending data, it also helps you get a high level overview of your financial situation. Assets, liabilities, net worth, and all that.
While all of that information is great, it’s pretty standard stuff. So, here is where MyJibe really shines. At the core of all the data is the ability to create a detailed budget complete with goals. MyJibe makes it easy for you to determine what you can afford without picking up debt or blowing your goals. With the “Currently Available” as your guide, just tweak your expenses and goals to accommodate those especially irresistible or unavoidable expenses with confidence. And that’s the great part of the budgeting tool. Each item has sliders that make it easy to allocate money from one item to another. So, if an extra bill comes up or another added expense is going to take $100 out of your budget this month you can dictate how you want to allocate that money. So, you can pull a little out of the grocery or dining out budget to cover it.
It’s easy to get a visual representation of where your money is going each month, what goals are funded, what needs to be funded, and what items are coming up on the calendar. And speaking of a calendar, that’s another great tool you’ll find in MyJibe. I know it can be a nightmare trying to keep tabs on when all your bills are due, when money is coming in, and so on. So, MyJibe integrates your budget automatically with an easy to understand calendar.
Professional Advice
Finally, one of the last big features that sets MyJibe apart is the integration with financial professionals. Being able to manage your money better with a budget is great, but that often isn’t enough. Working with a professional can help provide the added guidance needed to make sure you’re really on track. So, MyJibe also has a professional back-end that allows for a financial advisor, planner, or CPA to pull up your account in real time and work with you over the phone or in person to analyze your situation, make suggestions, and give advice.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for something to take your budgeting to the next level and haven’t had much success with doing it on your own or using other software, I’d say MyJibe is worth a try. It isn’t a free product, but to be honest, haven’t we all learned that you get what you pay for? Plus unlike Mint, because you pay a few dollars a month you won’t be subjected to financial offers and nobody is making money off of you by getting you to switch or add new accounts. On top of that you get even better budgeting tools and the ability to get real actionable financial advice to help you succeed.
Best of all, it’s free to try. You can sign up now and get a 10 day free trial. This is plenty of time to get your accounts set up and begin creating budget items and see how it works over the course of a week and a half. If you like it, you can keep your account going for just $7.99 a month. If you don’t find it useful you can just cancel. If your budget needs help or you need to get out of a financial rut, I think this is a pretty good starting point.
Author: Jeremy Vohwinkle
My name is Jeremy Vohwinkle, and I’ve spent a number of years working in the finance industry providing financial advice to regular investors and those participating in employer-sponsored retirement plans.
