We have covered expense tracking startups earlier (OnYeM, 11Rupees) and ofcourse,Intuit’s grand plans to launch ‘Intuit Money Manager’ in India. There is a new kid in the block – TrackSpends that does track your expense using the most handy device, i.e. mobile.
Once you register your mobile number with TrackSpends, you can send the expense detail via sms to 9916364091 [in a format like ‘100 rs in petrol’, ‘Rs 250 lunch’ etc – the data is stored on the site.
The product is in early stages (they don’t even have a logo!) and is yet to implement analytics etc – but what they have got right is the basic implementation using the right device.
SMS as a medium is far more stronger than Internet, when it comes to ‘punch it while you are onto it’, i.e. on-the-go data upload as compared to Internet where you actually need to be disciplined in order to use an expense tracker.
And frankly, if you are disciplined in managing/tracking expense, you won’t need a personal finance tracker product – these products are meant for people who are not disciplined and feel the pain at the end of month (where the eff is money?).
Another startup, trackeverycoin is building a device (as well as Java app) that will let you enter the expense.
[The article is sponsored by Sun Startups Essentials.]
![sse[1]](http://www.pluggd.in/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/sse1.jpg "sse[1]")
I use and like buxfer.. will check this as well.
Very nice concept. When the SMS prices drops (Reliance is already advertising 1 p/sms), this could be a handy way to update information in real time.
Sounds like a cool idea, I will definitely give it a shot
The comment “And frankly, if you are disciplined in managing/tracking expense, you won’t need a personal finance tracker product – these products are meant for people who are not disciplined and feel the pain at the end of month” is silly and absurd.
Those who have used Intuit’s Quicken or TurboTax would immediately appreciate that the whole idea of tracking expenses, bank deposits, withdrawals, etc is to be able to understand where the income went, what are the unnecessary expenses, what needs greater control and, perhaps most importantly, to organize the family finances at tax time.
As lives get more complicated – with two income families, more and more monthly subscriptions, ad hoc purchases, etc etc – even a highly disciplined person needs tools to manage personal finances, just as companies invest in SAP or Oracle to manage their complex world.
pay money (via sms) to manage expense. Neat idea.
“”pay money (via sms) to manage expense. Neat idea.”"
- Classic example how people goof-up and misunderstand even the simplest of ideas.
I don’t think using sms to track your expenses is goofing up the idea. You cannot track all your expenses on your computer (forget internet), hence it becomes critical that you track it on your mobile phone. Running an application requires a lot of dependency which sms conveniently ignores. That leaves us with only the price of each sms.
Now with Reliance dropping its sms rates to 1p/sms, it virtually becomes free to update your expenses using mobile phone. With this rate, an average of 5 updates a day will offset you by only 1.50/- a month. And that is a change.
So I guess they are on the right track. The only thing I am not sure of is how they are receiving incoming smses. If it is a physical phone connected over a modem then it will have serious scalability issues.
Folks, thanks for your valuable feedback, we have updated the logo
and working on UI. Please keep using and keep providing your comments to us.
I recently blogged on TrackEveryCoin @ http://blog.thoughtsinprogress.co.in/2009/11/09/track-every-coin-expense-management/
I personally did not find trackeverycoin exciting. I really like xpenser (xpenser.com) which supports almost any input channel you can think of – including sms, twitter, IM to send your expenses. They even provide API to extend and customize. From what I read here, looks like trackspends is in the absolutely right direction – the sms channel is very important in Indian context.
Rajs
I have a boring question….Where is the money?
This is an excellent tool! Especially if you have a free sms plan its quick, easy and cost effective
Track your mobile by using mobile phone tracking software.
Its locate your mobile location with GPS and without GPS. http://www.mobitrack.in
Mobile tracking is through SMS. One can track mobile With simply Sending ??? through SMS
Its tracks mobile for Employee, Family members, Drivers, Vehicles etc.
It works with GPRS tracking and provides you google map links also.
There is also this opensource product for India.Installs offline and you can export ICICI files to it.New product though, but its free and you are not putting your transactions data online.
link of the opensource product http://www.letthebucksgrow.com
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How will you compare Intuit and ArthaMoney ? where do they stand in terms of other service providers in the field of expense management?
PaisaGate offers very simple solution for all your expense management hassles. People who have experienced Intuit and Arthamoney can have peep into it and give your opinion. For those who are not so internet savvy, they can access it as it is user-friendly. There is no big internet jargons here.