Financial Times

With the recession bringing money and wealth to the front of everyone's minds, myself included, I thought it was time to discover what the web has to offer for money management. As I combed through the many resources out there, I knew it was important to find information that was:

A) Reliable
B) Easy to Understand
C) Free or at least very cheap.

What I found is an assortment of websites that offer easy to resources, tools, articles and calculators. Two of these websites are web-based money management solutions to those looking for budget management. And for kids: a interactive way to learn about money and savings.

1. CNN Money: http://www.cnnmoney.com/: Information about finances plus helpful tools such as retirement calculators and tutorials.

2. Annual Credit Report: http://www.annualcreditreport.com/: The only FTC-authorized site to obtain a free credit report from the 3 major credit reporting agencies.

3. My Fico: http://www.myfico.com/: Where you can buy a credit report and credit score from Experian or Trans Union credit agencies. Credit card education and FICO score education. Includes forums for credit-related talk.

4. Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/: Find information on finances and consumer related products. File consumer complaints and register for the Do Not Call list.

5. Financial Life: http://www.filife.com/: Partnered with the Wall Street Journal, information for all things related to personal finance. Includes bank reviews and banking information and banking guides to compare various bank products. Also, forums on several subjects from banks to jobs. Integrated with Facebook.

6. Smart Money Magazine: http://www.smartmoney.com/: Web-version of a popular Money magazine that offers videos, personal finance tools/worksheets and portfolio support. It is partnered with the Wall Street Journal digital network, which includes Market Watch, All Things Digital, Barron’s and WSJ.com.

7. Bank Rate: http://www.bankrate.com/: Free comparison of bank rates including mortgages, savings accounts and auto loans. Also includes calculators and advice articles.

8. Mint.com: http://www.mint.com/: Free web-based money-management and budgeting program that complies your accounts and responsibilities into an easy to use and easy to understand format.

9. Planet Orange: http://www.orangekids.com/: Sponsored by ING Direct, this is an interactive website geared toward kids, grades 1-6, to learn about financial literacy and money matters. Links for teachers and parents.

10. Young Money: http://www.youngmoney.com/: Web-version of a popular magazine Young Money. Focuses on money management for 18-24 year olds.

11. moneyStrands: http://money.strands.com/: Free web-based money management and budgeting software. Similar to mint.com, it automatically gathers information from a person’s account holdings.