Excellent insight. At mint we are of course after ways to expand the share of the entire personal finance space beyond the controller types and into the mainstream. With the savings rate in the USA being negative and people everywhere looking for ways to rein in spending and understand where it all goes, we think this is the right time to give people these answers in an easy way.

The philosophy at mint is to have people put the smallest amount of effort in, and get the largest reward out.

Our newest feature, launching this week, that allows you to compare your spending categorically against averages around the country, is the tip of the iceberg in how we are planning to offer more interesting ways to understand your money as compared to Microsoft and Intuit solutions.

And of course any suggestions/comments from you and all of our users are always appreciated.

Thanks again,

Jason M. Putorti
Lead Designer, mint.com

As the economy turns negative you guys have an opportunity to take advantage of that — best of luck!

Thanks for your comments.

Cheers,

-ariel

Yes, you’re right (speaking as one of the founders of Wesabe). Nothing in this market is decided. I do think that the companies that have come into the market have mostly taken a new approach of one kind or another to the idea of personal finance software, and that the traditional market metrics likely do not apply as a result. But, all three of the issues you raise are real — for anyone, large or small, hoping to build a business in this area.

Thanks for the comments! Of course, if you have specific requests that would make your own use of our site more satisfying, I’d love to hear about them.

Marc Hedlund, Wesabe

I especially like the Harlem idea (or something like that) where you engage different segments of the population

Take also a look to this other search engine - http://ww.w.trabber.com