{"id":32429,"date":"2023-11-06T13:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T13:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/personal-finance\/banking\/the-demise-of-intuit-mint-and-personal-financial-management\/"},"modified":"2023-11-06T13:57:01","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T13:57:01","slug":"the-demise-of-intuit-mint-and-personal-financial-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isafespend.com\/?p=32429","title":{"rendered":"The Demise Of Intuit Mint And Personal Financial Management"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OBSERVATIONS FROM THE FINTECH SNARK TANK<\/h2>\n

Intuit announced that it is \u201creimagining Mint as part of Intuit Credit Karma,\u201d explaining that the company will \u201censure a smooth transition for Minters who decide to onboard to Credit Karma.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s press release\u2014titled \u201dIntuit Credit Karma welcomes all Minters!\u201d went on to say that, in 2022, \u201cthe Intuit Mint team joined Intuit Credit Karma\u201d and that the announcement \u201cmarks the next evolution of Credit Karma.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the terminology regarding Intuit, Credit Karma, and Intuit Credit Karma, is confusing to you, join the club.<\/p>\n

Most Minters\u2014or what the rest of the world would call \u201cMint users\u201d\u2014probably don\u2019t know or care about the organizational differences (or connections) between Intuit and Credit Karma.<\/p>\n

How Many Minters Are There?<\/h2>\n

The recent announcement made me wonder: How many “Minters” are there?<\/p>\n

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My initial estimate was 7 trillion. I arrived at that number by making a straight line projection, taking Mint\u2019s reported growth between 2006 and 2008, and forecasting forward 15 years.<\/p>\n

It was almost a joke back in 2006. Mint would announce some number of users, then two weeks later update that figure by some huge\u2014and seemingly implausible\u2014 number. The reported growth was never corroborated by my own consumer research which found far fewer users than what Mint claimed.<\/p>\n

Whatever the actual number was\u2014or is\u2014it\u2019s on the decline.<\/p>\n

In April 2016, Mint claimed to have more than 20 million users. Five years later that number had dropped to 3.6 million, an 80+% loss in users (depending, of course, on how you define “users”).<\/p>\n

What Happened to Mint?<\/h2>\n

While the drop in Mint\u2019s user base is precipitous, Intuit should be congratulated for maintaining any level of user engagement.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because many providers of PFM tools have disappeared (e.g., Wesabe) or pivoted to other strategies (MX, Geezeo).<\/p>\n

The problem was two-fold:<\/p>\n

1) Historically (i.e., from 2001 to about 2015), PFM tools were predominantly budgeting and expense categorization tools. <\/strong>As much as financial experts tell us we need to budget and categorize our expenses, many (if not most) of us don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

2) Consumers didn\u2019t\u2014and still don\u2019t\u2014want to pay for budgeting and expense categorization.<\/strong> Consumers already spend a lot of money to manage their financial lives. Spending even more for budgeting and expense categorization isn\u2019t…well…in the budget.<\/p>\n

In effect, between 2006 and 2020 is the personal financial management space\u2014where PFM=budgeting and expense categorization\u2014died.<\/p>\n

The Emergence of a New Space<\/h2>\n

There are some fintech entrepreneurs who\u2014if they haven\u2019t left this web page yet\u2014can\u2019t wait to tell me how wrong I am about the death of PFM.<\/p>\n

Please keep reading and let me explain.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s emerged since 2015 are a number of thriving fintechs who say they\u2019re in the personal financial management space.<\/p>\n

But they don\u2019t do budgeting and expense categorization. And\u2014for better or worse\u2014this is how many in the banking and financial services industry define PFM.<\/p>\n

What these thriving fintechs do is financial performance<\/em> management<\/strong> (I harbor no delusions that the acronym FPM will gain any currency).<\/p>\n

These fintechs are doing things like: 1) canceling unwanted\/unused subscriptions; 2) finding opportunities to reduce monthly bills; 3) automating how much consumers save on a regular basis. And many other things (beyond budgeting and expense tracking).<\/p>\n

Mint, however, does none of these things. The PFM market morphed and passed Mint by\u2014as have millions of former users.<\/p>\n

The Lessons Banks Should Learn<\/h2>\n

A recent Yahoo! Finance article claims that \u201cMint’s shutdown is an opportunity for banks.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not an \u201copportunity\u201d\u2014it\u2019s a lesson and a threat. In fact, there are a couple of lessons banks\u2014and Credit Karma, for that matter\u2014should take away from the demise of Mint and PFM:<\/p>\n

1) Impact trumps insight.<\/strong> Budgeting and expense categorization provide insights into how much and where someone spends money, but having bottom line impact on consumers\u2019 financial lives is what consumers really<\/em> want\u2014and are willing to pay for.<\/p>\n

2) Performance trumps health and wellness. <\/strong>In these tough economic times, many financial institutions and fintechs are focused on helping consumers improve their financial health and wellness. But that\u2019s not what consumers want\u2014or are willing to pay for.<\/p>\n

The Financial Performance Imperative<\/h2>\n

Performance versus health? This is just mincing words, no? No. There\u2019s a difference between high performance and financial health when it comes to:<\/p>\n