Wanna Talk Money?

Sites such as Geezeo and Wesabe.com, which launched in November 2006 and has about 100,000 users, act as online versions of Quicken or Microsoft Money, allowing people to upload their bank and credit card information to track their spending. On Geezeo, users can also set goals such as "Reduce spending by ¿" and "Save $2,000 in an Emergency Fund" and encourage each other to accomplish them.

Similarly, on Wesabe, members can join groups to share strategies. Want to find a way to eat good food without going broke? Join "Frugal Foodies." Worried that you're spending too much on your pet? Maybe "Can you Afford Your Pets?" is the group for you. There is also a "Wealthy Wesabe" group for people trying to decide what to do with their money and a "Poor Wesabe" group for people trying to decide what to do without much money. A "tips" section has lively discussions on such topics as "How I reduced my phone bill from $100 to $17 a month."

Although being able to open up about finances is not a bad thing, financial planners say users should be leery about taking advice from people they don't know. Most participants on these personal finance sites do not reveal their names.

"What I always tell people before you take someone else's advice: Make sure you know what qualifies them to give you the advice . . .," said Karen Schaeffer, president of Schaeffer Financial in Rockville. "There' s value in conversation because it makes you think about the issue, but nobody really knows you. Or you don't know that person. If you really knew them, you'd realize: 'Whoa. That person is worse off than I am. Why am I listening to them?' "

The founders of the sites acknowledge that their users are generally not getting expert advice but say users can learn from each other's mistakes or successes.

"People don't like to talk about money, especially when they have money problems. They don't like admitting it to their family and friends," said Shawn Ward, a co-founder of Geezeo. "With a social site based on personal finance, which is your most personal thing . . . it's a way to not feel alone. Not a whole lot of it is advice. It's more about experiences."

Yet experts say people should think hard before putting personal information on the Web. "What's public? What's private?" asked Jim Bruene, editor of the Online Banking Report, an industry newsletter.

The type of information that users give varies. Geezeo, for one, asks for usernames and passwords to bank, credit card, mortgage and investment accounts, then pulls the information into its systems daily. The user provides his or her ID and password only once, and neither is stored, said Glyman.

Jason Knight, co-founder of Wesabe, said his company has a Data Bill of Rights that spells out how data are used. Users are not asked to enter their bank or credit card passwords. Instead, they download a program onto their computers that keeps their passwords and uploads data from their accounts. Wesabe does not store any passwords, and all accounts are stripped of personal identifiers, such as names and e-mail addresses. For those who want compete control of their data, they can extract the information themselves and manually upload transactions.

Despite the security concerns, Bruene said the Web sites will probably continue to grow. They already have 400,000 to 500,000 users and will probably pass 1 million by the end of the year, he said. He expects more than 10 million users within the next decade.

Kirst, a consultant for IBM, began using Geezeo about six months ago after stumbling upon its Facebook group. He has paid off his car loan, does not usually carry a credit card balance, has no mortgage and has set aside a big chunk of money for retirement. When he was a student at Johns Hopkins University, he was a victim of identity theft. Someone in a mailroom filled out a credit card offer in his name and bought a used Jaguar, he said. That has made him obsessed with keeping his finances in order.

"I think it kind of just gives people the opportunity to say, 'There are some other people I can reach out to,' " he said. "I think it's great that people can say, 'Hey, I'm in debt.' "