By Anne Kates Smith
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Sunday, February 24, 2008

It's easier than ever to track your spending.

In January, Intuit unveiled its $2.99-a-month Quicken Online, a service geared toward 20- and 30-somethings whose main financial goals are knowing where their money goes, avoiding late and overdraft fees, and living within their means.

Not to be confused with the more comprehensive Quicken software, the online version doesn't manage investments or organize your taxes. It aggregates balance information from bank and credit card accounts so you know how much money you've got available, taking pending transactions into account. It will also remind you of coming bills (via text message or e-mail) and track spending by category. You can even get money tips from other users.

Apple iPhone users can do it all on the fly, tapping in purchase info at the cash register the way their parents might have updated a checkbook. A 30-day trial is free at http://Quicken.Intuit.com.

Quicken will no doubt give one of Kiplinger's favorite sites a run for its money. But Wesabe (as mentioned on Kiplinger's list of the 25 best Web sites) is free, does similar balance-aggregating and money-tracking, and is also mobile-phone-friendly.