If you’re a student, money is probably tight. If it’s not, your parents spoil you. Regardless of how many digits are in your bank account, Mint.com will probably help teach us a thing or two about the ever-increasingly complex finance system.

Fresh Off the Press

From the get-go, Mint.com leaves a fresh tingly feeling on your fingertips. It’s got the slick interface down to a T.

First up, you add one of your bank accounts or credit cards to your Mint.com account. Then watch the magic happen. If you’re bank logs your check card transactions and you’re always throwing down the plastic when it comes time to pay (like me), Mint will parse out each transaction and can instantly identify some of your spending habits.

I’d love to show you some screenshots of me using it, but it might get a little too personal. I can tell you right now that half of what I make in a month goes towards rent and about a quarter goes towards food. Mint figured that out right after I got my accounts in sync.

Do I Know What’s Best for Me?

While we’ve written in the past about the magic of high-yield savings accounts, there’s a lot more specialized accounts and credit cards that could be saving you money. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a service that already knew if you were getting competitive rates?

Because Mint.com knows each of your accounts, it lets you know if you don’t have the best account available. Awesome.

You can also see how your spending habits in certain areas measure up to the averages in your city. For the most part, I’m assuming most students will be well below the average.

Security? Oh Yeah.

Now, one service that plugs in to all of your bank accounts seems shady. What if one person got a hold of your Mint.com account. Wouldn’t they have access to all of your bank account information?

Mint is as safe as can be. It’s a read-only banking service that does not save your login credentials. After you establish a link to an account, Mint forgets your passwords.

If someone manages to log in to your Mint account, they are only privy to how poor you actually are.

Special thanks to Garrett Shannon for recommending Mint.com to us!