Real Minter Story: Marcus

At Mint, we understand the importance of creating goals to work toward financial freedom. By setting goals, you can improve your financial habits, keep track of your progress, and make sure to celebrate wins along the way. 

To celebrate and recognize those milestones and accomplishments, we asked real Minters like you to share your stories. From pushing past major obstacles to achieving everyday accomplishments, we’re in awe of the dedication and motivation you’ve shown us in working toward your goals and dreams. 

One of those Minters is Marcus, who shared with us how he uses Mint to ensure he’s always making progress along his financial journey. Check out his inspiring #EmpowerMint story:

As crazy as it may seem, I’ve been an auditor for 15 years, working as a data and financial analyst. Despite this, I made the mistake early on of not defining my financial goals. I’d compare it to hopping into a car and accelerating from 0 to 60 mph without any idea where you’re going. By failing to establish goals, I had no idea what I wanted to achieve in my financial journey. 

I quickly realized that I needed to sit down, and take the time to firmly establish goals that I could track. After establishing my financial goal of building a strong emergency fund of $2,000, I knew I needed to find a way to budget my finances that was simple, yet held me accountable. 

This is when I stumbled upon the Mint app. To start, I used the budgeting tool to track my expenses. This included all of my spending on my home, food and dining, and even some of my business services for a small company. I frequently used, and continue to use, the budget feature to specifically track items like my auto insurance, gas and fuel, and phone bills, among other expenses. Using a combination of the Mint app and the 50/30/20 budgeting rule, I made sure to check Mint frequently to ensure that I was on track with my budgets. It also helped that the budget categories are easy to read and ensure that I don’t overspend. 

This past year, like many others, I gained a greater understanding of the importance of saving for unexpected events. Despite the challenges the year brought, I’m proud to say that I achieved my emergency fund goal of $2,000. I now have a cushion I can fall back on in case of an emergency. On top of this, I’ve gained a firm understanding of where my money is coming in from, and where it’s going. I use the Net Worth feature to make sure I’m tracking toward my next goal: financial independence (25x my annual expenses) within the next 5 years. 

Today, Mint not only helps keep me on pace to reach my goals but helps me catch unexpected expenses. For example, it recently notified me of an unexpected rise in my bills, which ended up being my car insurance that month, which I wouldn’t have realized if Mint hadn’t alerted me. 

Mint is easy to use and the only budgeting app I’ve ever needed. I love the feeling of checking off my goals, one by one.