A few weeks back I was introduced to a new personal finance website called I Ask Emma. Within minutes I had fallen in love with not only the snazzy look of the site, but the user-friendly (and even fun) features.
Before I tell you more about I Ask Emma, let me say that I hate dealing with my finances. I know I’m not alone in this, but sometimes I get myself into trouble by procrastinating or putting things off just because the numbers scare me. This hasn’t been a huge deal in the past. However, now that I have started a reseller and web hosting business, having my sites go down for non-payment is not an option.
For the last several weeks I have been downloading and trying out various personal finance applications to find something that is easy to use and can help me figure out where all my money is going. I also wanted something that I could access remotely, but didn’t cost an arm and a leg.
Luckily, I found Emma. EMMA is an acronym for Education Money Management Assistant and I really like the idea that the creators of the site personified it with a smart-yet-friendly-looking avatar.
The site is organized into four basic categories: Plan, Budget, Monitor and Educate. The sections work together to help you truly organize your financial situation and other aspects of your life as well. For example, the checklist you complete when you first join includes printing and filling out an emergency contact list and placing your important documents in a safe deposit box. There is also a community dedicated to connecting you with others who are also taking steps toward bettering their financial situation.
When you first sign into the site, you are given a checklist to complete so that Emma has all the information she needs to get you on the right track. You start by entering all your basic financial information: income, bills, assets, etc. These sections are very user-friendly, offering drop-downs and an intuitive layout that just seems to naturally flow from one item to the next.
Once you have completed the basic info sections, you are taken to the financial planning checklist. As I mentioned, this includes items like creating an emergency contact list as well as basics like checking your credit report and completing debt snowball calculations.
One of my favorite parts of the site is the Educate section. Here you’ll find hundreds of video tutorials ranging from how to use the site to financial items like mortgage basics and tips on budgeting. Having had absolutely zero financial education, this section helped me put things in perspective.
I would recommend I Ask Emma to anyone and everyone. At under $20/month it’s affordable, the site is so user-friendly I think my cat could figure it out (not that she’s dumb, she’s just sort of computer illiterate) and it helped me to look at my entire financial picture rather than just dealing with money as it flowed in and out of my account.
I especially recommend I Ask Emma to freelancers and other home-based business workers. It’s an easy solution for staying on top of things. I went from feeling overwhelmed and out-of-control of my finances to realizing exactly where I needed to cut to make things work – in less than an hour.
Emma walks you through the process of getting on the right track to financial stabilitly and (present and future) security. Not only does the step-by-step data entry make it painless to get everything in one place, all the training and budgeting tools make it impossible not to see where you stand financially.
Stay tuned because sometime in the next few weeks I’ll be publishing a video tour (currently in production) of I Ask Emma and all the awesome features.
I am in no way affiliated with I Ask Emma Dot Com and I am not being paid for this post
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