Author Topic: Mint Net Worth?!?  (Read 10392 times)

SenoritaStache

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Mint Net Worth?!?
« on: March 27, 2015, 01:53:40 PM »
I apologize if this has been asked already.  I decided to give Mint another try (tried it once and it was not what I was expecting so I closed the Mint account).  I recently signed up with Mint (had been using Mint Bills for 5+ years) and input everything on there, all of the accounts I could think of, real estate and everything!  Then I notice it calculates Net Worth.  I was shocked!! Way WAY!!!! higher number than I had thought!  This number does not seem right to me.  How accurate is Mints Net Worth for some of you? 

Btw, according to Mint I'm well over my FIRE goal amount.  I don't think so.. 😳

NumberCruncher

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Re: Mint Net Worth?!?
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2015, 01:59:08 PM »
Mint was double-counting my largest account recently and I had a shock - check to make sure you don't have duplicates in the overview screen.

zinethstache

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Re: Mint Net Worth?!?
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2015, 02:05:35 PM »
I had to add some manual items to Mint to make the balance be realistic. My mortgages for instance are with local banks that don't work with Mint. I also use Zillow for the value of our properties. Zillow is far from perfect, in our region it errs on the low side, and that is fine with me. At least it is an updated bit of data, less for me to manually keep up. I run a couple of small businesses as well and sales through paypal dont show (I've never tried to hook in Paypal...I will go try it today). I'm ok with that. It took many months to get Mint to reflect a somewhat realistic NW. I do love its account tracking and can surf it with my phone app and update un-categorized transactions anywhere. I like it overall. I also have a new app like it that launched this year through my bank. It uses a more visual approach to expenses, using various sized circles on the screen. For me the HOUSE expense section is...well... HUGE. I will stick with Mint for now, but do like to look at the new tool. I am sure in a couple of years there will be many options out there for tracking money.

SenoritaStache

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Re: Mint Net Worth?!?
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2015, 02:14:28 PM »
No no duplicates. And I agree the Zillow estimate seems on the lower end, which I agree I rather count with that number, than a really high estimate.  I don't trust it, lol it seems wrong 😐

slugline

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Re: Mint Net Worth?!?
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2015, 02:21:06 PM »
I'm not a Mint user, but calculating net worth on your own isn't very difficult:

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/01/26/calculating-net-worth/

Maybe it will be like balancing a checkbook -- if you study your net worth number "manually" you will probably figure out where Mint got things wrong?

rpr

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Re: Mint Net Worth?!?
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2015, 02:23:28 PM »
For me, mint works great. I am not sure of the willow estimate but I would guess that it is within +/-5% of what my house would sell for. That is good enough for me. Otherwise all accounts are in order. I'm a compulsive mint.com checker. I check at least once a day for transactions  on my phone mint.com app. I don't particularly care for the NW numbers but I probably look at that once every so often.

Lis

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Re: Mint Net Worth?!?
« Reply #6 on: March 27, 2015, 03:29:20 PM »
Not a house owner here, so I can't speak on that. Two things that I've noticed about the net worth calculator on Mint...

Car value - I have a new-ish car who's value, according to Mint, hasn't changed in two years. I haven't looked up the Kelly Blue Book value myself lately, but I have to assume it's dropped since I first added it.

401k value - On the home screen, my 401k amount is correct, but as soon as I click on it (I only have one account linked), it magically doubles. Now, I would love it if Mint could actually double my money, alas, that's not the case. The amount is correctly added to my net worth.

Senorita, can you pin point what on Mint is making your numbers funky?

SenoritaStache

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Re: Mint Net Worth?!?
« Reply #7 on: March 27, 2015, 04:22:42 PM »
Well that's what I'm trying to figure out,  my calculations for all of the stache is around $400K, but Mint is telling me it's $722K, and that just sounds wrong. All the numbers are right, I included my really old car worth 2K.  I just don't think this number is correct.  My FIRE goal is 500K with paid off house (100k home) so total of $600K. Own some stock, but most of the stache is in real estate.  I know I have about 2 more years left before FIRE. 

MoneyCat

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Re: Mint Net Worth?!?
« Reply #8 on: March 27, 2015, 04:30:51 PM »
I don't use Mint anymore since I found Personal Capital.  Personal Capital is so much more detailed, especially when it comes to investments.  It was like switching from ping pong to tennis.

Indexer

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Re: Mint Net Worth?!?
« Reply #9 on: March 27, 2015, 05:23:07 PM »
Well that's what I'm trying to figure out,  my calculations for all of the stache is around $400K, but Mint is telling me it's $722K, and that just sounds wrong. All the numbers are right, I included my really old car worth 2K.  I just don't think this number is correct.  My FIRE goal is 500K with paid off house (100k home) so total of $600K. Own some stock, but most of the stache is in real estate.  I know I have about 2 more years left before FIRE.

I had something similar happen.  It wasn't 'obviously' double counting, but when I really dug through the numbers it was.

Example.
Roth 401k 100k
401k  300k

The 300k includes the 100k.  These numbers might not appear in the same location.  I've also had it keep track of a closed account assuming the last balance.  Basically the account was 0, but Mint kept showing it as $14,000 updated 46 days(and counting) ago.   Lets say you rolled the 401k over to Vanguard 6 months ago.

Vanguard
IRA:  500k(includes the 300k)

YZX company  updated 189 days ago
Roth 401k: 100k
401k: 300k

Your Net Worth in this situation is actually 500k, but Mint is showing it as 900k.

Those are my only guesses other than not counting some debt accounts.

I don't use Mint anymore since I found Personal Capital.  Personal Capital is so much more detailed, especially when it comes to investments.  It was like switching from ping pong to tennis.

I like PC for investments, but for budgeting I found it to be a joke.  It kept double counting purchases and it never actually tagged purchases correct like Mint does.  That might just be my experience though.  For me it was easier(and faster) to just maintain Mint for tracking cash flow and have PC for tracking investments than it was to go into PC and correct all the transactions.

EDIT:  To be more specific about Personal Capital's error.  It reported I had spent $19,113 over the course of a 'month.'  When I went through the transactions I noticed it had double counted several items, it counted my credit card purchases as spending and then it also counted paying those cards off as more spending, and it counted all IRA/401k/HSA contributions as spending, and once the money was in those accounts it counted buying an ETF as even more spending.  Mint reported I spent 2104 for the month. 
« Last Edit: March 27, 2015, 05:35:52 PM by Indexer »