So, you've died. Congrats, you're finally debt-free! Unfortunately, things are now a bit more complicated for your relatives. When someone dies, their debts don't simply disappear. Instead, for the most part, they become part of the deceased person's estatethe collection of all assets and liabilities left behind. Understanding how these debts are handled is crucial for both estate planning and managing inherited responsibilities. Let's take a look at what exactly happens when you die with debts to your name, and what you can do to ensure your family members are not left with an unwelcome surprise. And, of course, none of this is legal adviceit's simply an overview of what happens, generally speaking, to your debts when you die. First off, the probate processAfter death, the estate goes through probate. This is the legal process where an executor is appointed to manage the estate, assets are identified and valued, valid debts are paid, and remaining assets are distributed to heirs. During probate proceedings, any outstanding debts must be settled using property and funds from the estate. Heirs receive no inheritance until debts are settled.Most states require debts to be paid in this order:Funeral expensesEstate administration costsFederal taxesMedical bills from final illnessSecured debtsUnsecured debtsIf the estate lacks funds to pay all debts (aka an insolvent estate), debts are paid according to priority order. Lower-priority creditors may receive partial payment or nothing, while remaining debts typically die with the deceased.Some assets bypass probate and are protected from creditors. These include life insurance proceeds, retirement accounts with named beneficiaries, assets in living trusts, and property held in joint tenancy.Types of debts and what happens to themNow that we know the order of debts that need to be paid, let's take a look at how different types of debt are handled.Federal student loansAutomatically discharged upon deathDeath certificate must be submitted to loan servicerPrivate student loans may have different rules; some require payment from the estateCredit card debtPaid from estate assetsNot inherited by family members unless they are: co-signers on the account, joint account holders, or required by state law (in community property statesmore on that below)Medical billsEstate is responsible for paymentMay be negotiable with healthcare providersFamily members generally not liable unless they signed financial responsibility forms or live in states with specific filial responsibility lawsMortgages and home loansProperty can transfer to heirs, but the mortgage remainsOptions for inheriting family members are to assume the mortgage and continue payments, refinance the loan, or sell the property to pay off the debtCar loansSimilar to mortgages, lender may allow loan assumption by qualified heirsVehicle can be sold to satisfy the debtImpact on family membersThe good news is that relatives are not typically responsible for repaying the debt of someone whos died, unless:They're a co-signer on a loan with outstanding debt.They're a joint account holder on a credit card. (Note: This is different from an authorized user.)They're a surviving spouse and your state law requires spouses to pay a particular type of debt.They're the executor or administrator of the deceased persons estate and your state law requires executors or administrators to pay an outstanding bill out of property that was jointly owned by the surviving and deceased spouses.They're a surviving spouse and you live in a community property state that requires surviving spouses to use jointly-held property to pay debts of a deceased spouse. These states include Alaska (if a special agreement is signed), Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.If there was no co-signer, joint account holder, or other exception, only the estate of the deceased person owes the debt.Preventive measuresWhile you can't plan for an unexpected death, there are steps you can take now to protect heirs from debt complications. The most obvious step is to maintain adequate life insurance. Even if you're young and healthy now, you could still need a plan. Make things easier for your loved ones by keeping detailed financial records and regularly updated beneficiary designations. Finally, consider creating a living trust, and consult with estate planning professionals.If you're the family member of someone who recently left debt behind them, consider consulting a probate attorney. Don't automatically pay debts from personal funds, and always request debt verification in writing while keeping detailed records of all communications.Debt settlement is tricky enough while you're alive. Understanding what happens to your debts when you die is the best way you don't leave a mess for your estate once you're gone. For more, here's how to talk to your kids about your estate plan now.

This post is part of Find Your Fit Tech, Lifehacker's fitness wearables buying guide. I'm asking the tough questions about whether wearables can really improve your health, how to find the right one for you, and how to make the most of the data wearables can offer.Zone 2 is the term the fitness world has (mostly) agreed upon to describe the low intensity cardio most of us should be doing regularly. When youre in zone 2, youre working hard enough that you start breathing more heavily, but easy enough you could hold a conversation doing it. You stop a zone 2 session because your workout time is up, not because youre too exhausted to continue. But what heart rate should you expect to see on your fitness smartwatch when youre in zone 2? Thats where people disagree.What is zone 2 training?As Ive explained before, the name zone 2 comes from heart rate training. To train by heart rate, you use either a wristwatch with an optical heart rate sensor (that green light on the back) or a chest strap paired to your watch or just to a phone (chest straps are more accurate, and I recommend a good $25 one here). To train by heart rate, you aim to keep your heart rate in the "zone" that gives you your desired workout. In most of the popular systems, there are five zones. Zone 1 is your resting or recovery zone; zone 2 is low intensity cardio; and zones 3, 4, and 5 are for harder efforts, usually done for only a few minutes with recoveries in zone 1 or 2 in between. (I have a more detailed guide to the zone system here.) While zone 2 is the trendiest at the moment, the other zones still have uses. Personally, I think zone 3 is underrated, and probably most of us would be better off getting a mix of zones 2 and 3 for our steady cardio rather than pure zone 2. But that's a story for another time.Heart rate zones are usually defined as percentages of your maximum heart rate. So when I set my Apple Watch to keep me in zone 2 during my runs, it wants my heart rate to be between 60% and 70% of maximum. Even at an easy effort, I found I was commonly exceeding that limit. On the other hand, when I hop on a Peloton bike, my heart rate is often still in zone 1 when I could swear Im riding at a zone 2 effort. It turns out that system defines zone 2 as 65% to 75% of my max. Who is right? Well, everybody. Zone 2 isnt a term with scientifically designed boundaries. Anybody can split up heart rate zones any way they like. (Stay tuned for my patented eight-zone system, coming as soon as I can find a way to monetize it!) If you train with more than one gadget, or if you find yourself discussing heart rate training with a friend who uses a different system than you do, its worth knowing the differences. What heart rate percentage counts as zone 2?Lets take a tour of some of the more popular wearables and fitness systems that measure heart rate in a five-zone system, or something like it. First, its important to know that most (not all) of these percentages are based on your max heart rate. To know your max heart rate, you need to do a real-world test, not just calculate it from a formula. For example, one formula calculates my max heart rate as 178 beats per minute, and another says it should be 169; in reality, Ive seen as high as 207 when Im running, and 198 on a spin bike. (And yes, your max can differ for different types of cardio. My heart rate while Im swimming would probably be lower still; when your body is horizontal, your heart has an easier time moving your blood around.)There are other systems to consider too. Heart rate reserve (HRR) means that you take the difference between your max and your resting heart rate (instead of between your max and zero) and calculate from there. Some gadgets will estimate a different benchmark, like your lactate threshold, and use that as a basis for the zones. So, here are the zone 2 percentages from a variety of popular wearables, along with what they are percentages of:Apple Watch: Zone 2 is 60-70% of your heart rate reserve, with your resting heart rate set to either 72 or a number the watch has picked up automatically, and your maximum calculated with the 220-age formula. (You can choose to set the zones manually, instead.)Fitbit: instead of zone 2, Fitbit devices have a "moderate" zone (formerly called fat burn) set at 40% to 59% of your heart rate reserve. To find your heart rate reserve, your max is calculated according to the "220 minus age" formula, and your resting heart rate is measured by the device. You can set your max and your zones manually if you prefer.Garmin: Depends on your device and on how you've chosen to set up your zones. As a percentage of max heart rate, zone 2 is 73-81%. As a percentage of heart rate reserve, it's 65-75%. And as a percentage of your lactate threshold heart rate (which the watch can automatically detect for you, and which normally falls between zones 4 and 5), it's 79-88% of that heart rate. Note that these numbers won't necessarily line up with each other. A heart rate that is in zone 2 on one of these systems may be in zone 3 on another. And, of course, you can set your max and/or your zones manually.Some other fitness platforms have defined heart rate zones to be used with your training. To name a few:Orangetheory gets its name from the orange zone it wants you to be in during workouts. Its equivalent of zone 2 would be the blue zone, at 61% to 70% of max heart rate. It uses an industry standard formula to determine your max, which Self reports is 208 minus 0.7 times your age. After youve taken 20 classes, an algorithm will pick out a new max heart rate for you.Pelotondefines heart rate zone 2 (no relation to Power Zone 2) as 65% to 75% of your max heart rate. Max heart rate is 220 minus your age unless you adjust it manually in your settings.The American College of Sports Medicine defines light training, arguably its version of zone 2, as 57% to 63% of maximum heart rate. Moderate is 64% to 76%.How do you know which benchmark to use?Rather than obsessing over numbers, think about the big picture and decide what training effect you are trying to achieve with your workouts. If you want to build your endurance with low-intensity cardio, or if you want to rack up minutes in this zone to help with weight loss, it doesnt matter exactly what your heart rate works out to be. What matters is that you can do the exercise for a long time without fatiguing, but that youre also not slacking off and barely doing any work at all.In other words, you can use your gadgets heart rate numbers as a guide, but keep them honest with a reality check based on what fitness professionals call perceived exertion. If you want a number to focus on, you can rate your exertion on a scale of 1 to 10called RPE for rating of perceived exertionand aim for an RPE of about 3 to 4. Over time, youll start to notice what heart rate tends to show on your watch when youre at that level. I know that if my heart rate is in the 150s, Im doing a good job of keeping my jogging to a zone 2" sort of effort. If it pokes up into the 160s at the beginning of a run, thats probably harder than Im going forbut if it hits 160 at the end of a long run on a hot day, thats fine. (Heart rate changes with the temperature and the length of your workout, a phenomenon called cardiac drift.) Ultimately, this is probably the most accurate way of using heart rate to determine exercise intensity: figure out the intensity you want first, and use heart rate as a guide to be able to hit that same intensity on a consistent basis. After all, if there were one correct number that was easy to determine, the different gadgets and platforms would have all gotten on board with it by now. So trust your body more than your watch.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.You probably know zero exercise is not enough and that going for a walk every day is generally a good thing. And if youre training for a marathon, youll be on your feet for a couple hours of hard workouts every week. But what is the benchmark for a human being just trying to squeeze enough healthy exercise into their life? Lets break it down.The basics: 150 minutes of cardio and two days of strength training every weekFortunately, all the major public health organizations are in agreement. The World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Heart Association are all on board with the following guidelines for aerobic exercise: At least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity (cardio) exercise like walking or easy jogging, or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise like running, or a combination. (If you can easily meet that, more is better.) At least two days per week of muscle strengthening activity, like lifting weights or doing other strength training like pushups, resistance band exercises, or even heavy manual labor like shoveling.A previous edition of the guidelines said that you need to do your cardio for a minimum of 10 minutes at a time for it to count, but the current recommendation is to get it in however you can, even if that includes some shorter bursts here and there.If that's too easy, level up to 300 minutesIf youre pretty athletic, the above wont sound like much. Good news! The WHO has set a secondary goal for folks like you. Its simple: just do double the above. So you can aim for 300 minutes of moderate cardio, or 150 minutes per week of vigorous activity. Here's what that might look like:An intense, hour-long martial arts class three times a week (60 x 3 = 180, but this is vigorous cardio, so the minutes count double)Go on a 45-minute after-dinner walk every day (45 x 7 = 315 minutes of moderate cardio)Commute by bike to work, 20 minutes each way (40 minutes per day x 5 days per week = 200 minutes moderate cardio) and play recreational league soccer for two matches per week (50 minutes each game, for some combination of moderate and vigorous cardio, definitely puts us over 300).What do "moderate" and "vigorous" exercise mean?Walking at a purposeful pace counts as "moderate" cardio, and jogging counts as "vigorous." I have a detailed breakdown here of what exercises count as moderate versus vigorous. The distinction is not based on heart rate or effort level, but rather on a scientific metric called METs that relates to how much energy and oxygen the exercise takes. Moderate exercise is anything that scores between 3 and 6 METs, and vigorous exercise is 6+ METs.That said, you can estimate by effort level. When you're doing moderate exercise, you'll be a little bit sweatier or breathing a little harder than when you're at rest, but you can do it continuously without feeling tired. It may not even feel like a workout. Here are some examples of moderate cardio: A brisk walk Commuting or doing errands by bike, on relatively flat groundUsing a spin bike or other cardio machines like the elliptical, at a low intensity, steady paceHousework and light yard work, like washing windows or mowing the lawn with a power mowerBy contrast, vigorous exercise includes activities where you're working hard and breathing hard. You might still be able to keep up a conversation, but it's not likely to feel easy. Vigorous exercise also includes the really hard stuff where you might not be able to keep it up very long. This could include: Running fastBicycling uphillPushing yourself to finish a Crossfit WOD with a good timeSwimming lapsPlaying a game of soccer or basketballTougher housework and yard work, like chopping wood or using a push mowerCan I combine moderate and vigorous cardio? You can mix and match these two intensities. The math is simple if you think about 150 minutes as your target and consider every minute of vigorous cardio counting double. Here are some examples:A 20 minute brisk walk every weekday morning (20 minutes x 5 days = 100 minutes moderate cardio) plus a 30-minute spin class that has you working pretty hard (30 minutes counted double is 60; add that to the 100 and you're at 160 minutes). An hour of hiking, three days a week (60 minutes x 3 sessions = 180 minutes moderate cardio)Three 30-minute jogs (30 minutes x 3 = 90 minutes moderate cardio) plus a workout with 10 minutes easy jogging for a warmup and then 20 minutes of hard running, followed by a cooldown of another 10 minutes easy. (20 minutes vigorous x 2 is equivalent to 40 minutes moderate cardio, plus we can add the warmup and cooldown for another 20 moderate minutes). That gives you 150 total.Go for a 30-minute easy bike ride on Monday. Try a 45-minute water aerobics class on Wednesday. Take a short hike on Saturday. Mow the lawn for an hour on Saturday. (30 + 45 + 30 + 60 = 165 moderate cardio) Schwinn Fitness Elliptical Machine $967.66 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $967.66 at Amazon How much strength training do you need?So far weve been talking about aerobic exercise, which is the kind where youre continuously moving (or, perhaps, doing quick work/rest intervals) and your heart rate is up. But there are other important forms of exercise, too. The WHO and other organizations recommend two days per week of high intensity muscle strengthening activity, which includes anything where youre thinking in terms of sets and reps. (Three sets of eight to 10 reps is a good structure to start.) That activity can be anything that challenges your muscles, and where the last rep is a lot harder than the first. This could include lifting weights, or resistance band exercises, or bodyweight exercises like push-ups. So if you run three days per week and have time for more exercise, dont just fit in extra runs; try adding two days in the weight room.The strength training recommendations are for two days per week, per muscle group. If you like to work your upper body and lower body separately, that would mean two upper body days and two lower body days. If you prefer workouts that work all your muscles, you only need to do two of those full-body workouts per week (at minimum).Can you get too much exercise?What about an upper limit on how much exercise you get? There isnt one, from a public health point of view. More is better. (And even if you are doing less than the recommendations, anything is better than nothing.) That said, it is always possible for you, as an individual, to do more exercise than your body is ready for. Dont jump from a life of occasional strolling to a marathon training plan. (And if you are on that marathon training plan and youre feeling worn down, take a break already.)

Net neutrality may have hit its final roadblock. In a new decision filed today, the Sixth Circuit US Court of Appeals has ruled that the FCC does not have the "statutory authority" to implement net neutrality rules. The court first blocked the rules in August 2024 when the lawsuit at the center of today's ruling was filed.Net neutrality broadly seeks to prevent internet service provides (ISPs) from giving preferential treatment to specific users or content. That prevents things like a service provider charging a streaming service for faster speeds, or the throttling of a specific website. Every app, website, and user is supposed to be treated equally under net neutrality, making the rules integral to a free, fair and open internet.Since net neutrality rules were first put in place in 2015, the FCC's argument has been that its classification of ISPs as "telecommunication services" under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 gives it broad authority to regulate them. The decision to redefine ISPs as "information services" during the first Trump Administration led to the repeal of net neutrality in 2017.The current FCC voted to restore net neutrality on April 25 of this year, but the difference between 2015 and now is the Supreme Court's recent, radical reinterpretation of an important legal doctrine. In June 2024, the Supreme Court filed two rulings that overturned the Chevron doctrine, a framework that basically said that if Congress doesn't weigh in on an issue, courts are supposed to defer to the interpretation of government agencies. Now, interpretation falls to the individual judge, and the Sixth Court doesn't agree with the FCC's argument.Net neutrality rules will remain in California and other states, but anything at the federal level will require either an act of Congress or for this case be appealed to (and succeed in front of) the Supreme Court. Engadget has reached out to the FCC to see if it plans on appealing and will update this article if we hear back."Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair," FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement following the ruling. "With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/us-court-of-appeals-rules-against-effort-to-restore-net-neutrality-205617210.html?src=rss

Nick Clegg, the former British deputy prime minister turned Meta executive, is leaving after a seven-year stint with the social media company. Clegg announced his departure in posts on X and Threads, saying that this is the right time for me to move on from my role as President, Global Affairs at Meta.Clegg will be replaced by Joel Kaplan, a longtime policy executive and former White House aide to George W. Bush known for his deep ties to Republican circles in Washington. As Chief Global Affairs Officer, Kaplan as Semafor notes will be well-positioned to run interference for Meta as Donald Trump takes control of the White House.Clegg joined Meta in 2018, a year after the British public deemed the former leader of the Liberal Democrats unelectable. The company then known as Facebook was looking to improve its political relationships after Cambridge Analytica and other scandals. In 2022, he was promoted to President of Global Affairs, a position that reported directly to Mark Zuckerberg (his previous role was overseen by Metas then-COO Sheryl Sandberg).The former politician played a key role in some of Metas most significant and controversial decisions. He publicly defended the companys decision not to apply its fact checking policies to politicians and authored its public statements about the suspension and reinstatement of Donald Trumps Facebook account. More recently, Clegg has criticized the European Unions handling of tech regulation, arguing that the bloc is hampering advancements in AI.My time at the company coincided with a significant resetting of the relationship between big tech and the societal pressures manifested in new laws, institutions and norms affecting the sector, Clegg wrote in a post on Threads. I hope I have played some role in seeking to bridge the very different worlds of tech and politics worlds that will continue to interact in unpredictable ways across the globe.Clegg said in a Facebook post that he will spend the next few months working with Kaplan and representing the company at a number of international gatherings in Q1 of this year before he formally steps away from the company. He didnt indicate what he may do next.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/nick-clegg-is-leaving-meta-after-7-years-overseeing-its-policy-decisions-204207077.html?src=rss

It's been almost one year since Intuit shut down the popular budgeting app Mint. I was a Mint user for many years; millions of other users like me enjoyed how easily Mint allowed us to track all accounts in one place and monitor credit scores. I also used it regularly to help me track spending, set goals like pay my mortgage down faster and with general money management. Ahead of Mints demise, I gave Credit Karma, Intuits other financial app, a try but found it to be a poor Mint alternative. So I set out to find a true replacement in another budgeting app. The following guide lays out my experience testing some of the most popular Mint replacement apps available today. Our pick for best Mint alternative remains Quicken Simplifi, even months after the Mint shutting down, thanks to its easy to use app, good income and bill detection and its affordable price. But there are plenty of other solid options out there for those with different needs. If youre also on the hunt for a budgeting app to replace Mint, we hope these details can help you decide which of the best budgeting apps out there will be right for you. Best Mint alternatives in 2025 No pun intended, but what I like about Quicken Simplifi is its simplicity. Whereas other budgeting apps try to distinguish themselves with dark themes and customizable emoji, Simplifi has a clean user interface, with a landing page that you just keep scrolling through to get a detailed overview of all your stats. These include your top-line balances; net worth; recent spending; upcoming recurring payments; a snapshot of your spending plan; top spending categories; achievements; and any watchlists youve set up. You can also set up savings goals elsewhere in the app. I also appreciate how it offers neat, almost playful visualizations without ever looking cluttered. I felt at home in the mobile and web dashboards after a day or so, which is faster than I adapted to some competing services (Im looking at you, YNAB and Monarch). Getting set up with Simplifi was mostly painless. I was particularly impressed at how easily it connected to Fidelity; not all budget trackers do, for whatever reason. This is also one of the only services I tested that gives you the option of inviting a spouse or financial advisor to co-manage your account. One thing I would add to my initial assessment of the app, having used it for a few months now: I wish Simplifi offered Zillow integration for easily tracking your home value (or at least a rough estimate of it). Various competitors including Monarch Money and Copilot Money work with Zillow, so clearly there's a Zillow API available for use. As it stands, Simplifi users must add real estate manually like any other asset. Dana Wollman / Engadget In practice, Simplifi miscategorized some of my expenses, but nothing out of the ordinary compared to any of these budget trackers. As youre reviewing transactions, you can also mark if youre expecting a refund, which is a unique feature among the services I tested. Simplifi also estimated my regular income better than some other apps I tested. Most of all, I appreciated the option of being able to categorize some, but not all, purchases from a merchant as recurring. For instance, I can add my two Amazon subscribe-and-saves as recurring payments, without having to create a broad-strokes rule for every Amazon purchase. The budgeting feature is also self-explanatory and can likely accommodate your preferred budgeting method. Just check that your regular income is accurate and be sure to set up recurring payments, making note of which are bills and which are subscriptions. This is important because Simplifi shows you your total take-home income as well as an income after bills figure. That number includes, well, bills but not discretionary subscriptions. From there, you can add spending targets by category in the planned spending bucket. Planned spending can also include one-time expenditures, not just monthly budgets. When you create a budget, Simplifi will suggest a number based on a six-month average. Not dealbreakers, but two things to keep in mind as you get started: Simplifi is notable in that you cant set up an account through Apple or Google. There is also no option for a free trial, though Quicken promises a 30-day money back guarantee. Monarch Money grew on me. My first impression of the budgeting app, which was founded by a former Mint product manager, was that it's more difficult to use than others on this list, including Simplifi, NerdWallet and Copilot. And it is. Editing expense categories, adding recurring transactions and creating rules, for example, is a little more complicated than it needs to be, especially in the mobile app. (My advice: Use the web app for fine-tuning details.) Monarch also didnt get my income right; I had to edit it. Once youre set up, though, Monarch offers an impressive level of granularity. In the budgets section, you can see a bona fide balance sheet showing budgets and actuals for each category. You'll also find a forecast, for the year or by month. And recurring expenses can be set not just by merchant, but other parameters as well. For instance, while most Amazon purchases might be marked as shopping, those for the amounts of $54.18 or $34.18 are definitely baby supplies, and can be automatically marked as such each time, not to mention programmed as recurring payments. Weirdly, though, theres no way to mark certain recurring payments as bills, specifically. Dana Wollman / Engadget Not long after I first published this story in December 2023, Monarch introduced a detailed reporting section where you can create on-demand graphs based on things like accounts, categories and tags. That feature is available just on the web version of the app for now. As part of this same update, Monarch added support for an aggregator that makes it possible to automatically update the value of your car. This, combined with the existing Zillow integration for tracking your home value, makes it easy to quickly add a non-liquid asset like a vehicle or real estate, and have it show up in your net worth graph. The mobile app is mostly self-explanatory. The main dashboard shows your net worth; your four most recent transactions; a month-over-month spending comparison; income month-to-date; upcoming bills; an investments snapshot; a list of any goals youve set; and, finally, a link to your month-in-review. That month-in-review is more detailed than most, delving into cash flow; top income and expense categories; cash flow trends; changes to your net worth, assets and liabilities; plus asset and liability breakdowns. In February 2024, Monarch expanded on the net worth graph, so that if you click on the Accounts tab you can see how your net worth changed over different periods of time, including one month, three months, six months, a year or all time. On the main screen, youll also find tabs for accounts, transactions, cash flow, budget and recurring. Like many of the other apps featured here, Monarch can auto-detect recurring expenses and income, even if it gets the category wrong. (They all do to an extent.) Expense categories are marked by emoji, which you can customize if youre so inclined. Monarch Money uses a combination of networks to connect with banks, including Plaid, MX and Finicity, a competing network owned by Mastercard. (I have a quick explainer on Plaid, the industry standard in this space, toward the end of this guide.) As part of an update in late December, Monarch has also made it easier to connect through those other two networks, if for some reason Plaid fails. Similar to NerdWallet, I found myself completing two-factor authentication every time I wanted to get past the Plaid screen to add another account. Notably, Monarch is the only other app I tested that allows you to grant access to someone else in your family likely a spouse or financial advisor. Monarch also has a Chrome extension for importing from Mint, though really this is just a shortcut for downloading a CSV file, which youll have to do regardless of where you choose to take your Mint data. Additionally, Monarch just added the ability to track Apple Card, Apple Cash, and Savings accounts, thanks to new functionality brought with the iOS 17.4 update. It's not the only one either; currently, Copilot and YNAB have also added similar functionality that will be available to anyone with the latest versions of their respective apps on a device running iOS 17.4. Instead of manually uploading statements, the new functionality allows apps like Monarch's to automatically pull in transactions and balance history. That should make it easier to account for spending on Apple cards and accounts throughout the month. Monarch also recently launched investment transactions in beta. It also says bill tracking and an overhauled goals system are coming soon. Monarch hasn't provided a timeline for that last one, except to say that the improved goals feature is coming soon. Copilot Money might be the best-looking budgeting app I tested. It also has the distinction of being exclusive to iOS and Macs at least for now. Andres Ugarte, the companys CEO, has publicly promised that Android and web apps are coming soon. But until it follows through, I cant recommend Copilot for most people with so many good competitors out there. Copilot Money for Web and Android!Thanks to the support from our users, and the overwhelming positive reception we're seeing from folks migrating from Mint, we can now say that we'll be building @copilotmoney for Web and Android with a goal to launch in 2024.We'll continue to Andres Ugarte (@chuga) November 15, 2023 There are other features that Copilot is missing, which Ill get into. But it is promising, and one to keep an eye on. Its just a fast, efficient, well designed app, and Android users will be in for a treat when theyll finally be able to download it. It makes good use of colors, emoji and graphs to help you understand at a glance how youre doing on everything from your budgets to your investment performance to your credit card debt over time. In particular, Copilot does a better job than almost any other app of visualizing your recurring monthly expenses. Behind those punchy colors and cutesy emoji, though, is some sophisticated performance. Copilots AI-powered Intelligence gets smarter as you go at categorizing your expenses. (You can also add your own categories, complete with your choice of emoji.) Its not perfect. Copilot miscategorized some purchases (they all do), but it makes it easier to edit than most. On top of that, the internal search feature is very fast; it starts whittling down results in your transaction history as soon as you begin typing. Dana Wollman / Engadget Copilot is also unique in offering Amazon and Venmo integrations, allowing you to see transaction details. With Amazon, this requires just signing into your Amazon account via an in-app browser. For Venmo, you have to set up fwd@copilot.money as a forwarding address and then create a filter, wherein emails from venmo@venmo.com are automatically forwarded to fwd@copilot.money. Like Monarch Money, you can also add any property you own and track its value through Zillow, which is integrated with the app. While the app is heavily automated, I still appreciate that Copilot marks new transactions for review. Its a good way to both weed out fraudulent charges, and also be somewhat intentional about your spending habits. Like Monarch Money, Copilot updated its app to make it easier to connect to banks through networks other than Plaid. As part of the same update, Copilot said it has improved its connections to both American Express and Fidelity which, again, can be a bugbear for some budget tracking apps. In an even more recent update, Copilot added a Mint import option, which other budgeting apps have begun to offer as well. Because the app is relatively new (it launched in early 2020), the company is still catching up to the competition on some table-stakes features. Ugarte told me that his team is almost done building out a detailed cash flow section as well. On its website, Copilot also promises a raft of AI-powered features that build on its current Intelligence platform, the one that powers its smart expense categorization. These include smart financial goals, natural language search, a chat interface, forecasting and benchmarking. That benchmarking, Ugarte tells me, is meant to give people a sense of how theyre doing compared to other Copilot users, on both spending and investment performance. Most of these features should arrive in the new year. Copilot does a couple interesting things for new customers that distinguish it from the competition. Theres a demo mode that feels like a game simulator; no need to add your own accounts. The company is also offering two free months with RIPMINT a more generous introductory offer than most. When it finally does come time to pony up, the $7.92 monthly plan is cheaper than some competing apps, although the $95-a-year-option is in the same ballpark. You may know NerdWallet as a site that offers a mix of personal finance news, explainers and guides. I see it often when I google a financial term I dont know and sure enough, its one of the sites Im most likely to click on. As it happens, NerdWallet also has the distinction of offering one of the only free budgeting apps I tested. In fact, there is no paid version; nothing is locked behind a paywall. The main catch: There are ads everywhere. To be fair, the free version of Mint was like this, too. Even with the inescapable credit card offers, NerdWallet has a clean, easy-to-understand user interface, which includes both a web and a mobile app. The key metrics that it highlights most prominently are your cash flow, net worth and credit score. (Of note, although Mint itself offered credit score monitoring, most of its rivals do not.) I particularly enjoyed the weekly insights, which delve into things like where you spent the most money or how much you paid in fees and how that compares to the previous month. Because this is NerdWallet, an encyclopedia of financial info, you get some particularly specific category options when setting up your accounts (think: a Roth or non-Roth IRA). Dana Wollman / Engadget As a budgeting app, NerdWallet is more than serviceable, if a bit basic. Like other apps I tested, you can set up recurring bills. Importantly, it follows the popular 50/30/20 budgeting rule, which has you putting 50% of your budget toward things you need, 30% toward things you want, and the remaining 20% into savings or debt repayments. If this works for you, great just know that you cant customize your budget to the same degree as some competing apps. You cant currently create custom spending categories, though a note inside the dashboard section of the app says youll be able to customize them in the future. You also cant move items from the wants column to needs or vice versa but In the future, you'll be able to move specific transactions to actively manage what falls into each group. A NerdWallet spokesperson declined to provide an ETA, though. Lastly, its worth noting that NerdWallet had one of the most onerous setup processes of any app I tested. I dont think this is a dealbreaker, as youll only have to do it once and, hopefully, you arent setting up six or seven apps in tandem as I was. What made NerdWallets onboarding especially tedious is that every time I wanted to add an account, I had to go through a two-factor authentication process to even get past the Plaid splash screen, and thats not including the 2FA I had set up at each of my banks. This is a security policy on NerdWallets end, not Plaids, a Plaid spokesperson says. Precisely because NerdWallet is one of the only budget trackers to offer credit score monitoring, it also needs more of your personal info during setup, including your birthday, address, phone number and the last four digits of your social security number. Its the same with Credit Karma, which also does credit score monitoring. Related to the setup process, I found that NerdWallet was less adept than other apps at automatically detecting my regular income. In my case, it counted a large one-time wire transfer as income, at which point my only other option was to enter my income manually (which is slightly annoying because I would have needed my pay stub handy to double-check my take-home pay). YNAB is, by its own admission, different from anything youve tried before. The app, whose name is short for You Need a Budget, promotes a so-called zero-based budgeting system, which forces you to assign a purpose for every dollar you earn. A frequently used analogy is to put each dollar in an envelope; you can always move money from one envelope to another in a pinch. These envelopes can include rent and utilities, along with unforeseen expenses like holiday gifts and the inevitable car repair. The idea is that if you budget a certain amount for the unknowns each month, they wont feel like theyre sneaking up on you. Importantly, YNAB is only concerned with the money you have in your accounts now. The app does not ask you to provide your take-home income or set up recurring income payments (although there is a way to do this). The money you will make later in the month through your salaried job is not relevant, because YNAB does not engage in forecasting. The app is harder to learn than any other here, and it requires more ongoing effort from the user. And YNAB knows that. Inside both the mobile and web apps are links to videos and other tutorials. Although I never quite got comfortable with the user interface, I did come to appreciate YNABs insistence on intentionality. Forcing users to draft a new budget each month and to review each transaction is not necessarily a bad thing. As YNAB says on its website, Sure, youve got pie charts showing that you spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants but youve still spent an obscene amount of money in restaurants. I can see this approach being useful for people who dont tend to have a lot of cash in reserve at a given time, or who have spending habits they want to correct (to riff off of YNABs own example, ordering Seamless four times a week). My colleague Valentina Palladino, knowing I was working on this guide, penned a respectful rebuttal, explaining why shes been using YNAB for years. Perhaps, like her, you have major savings goals you want to achieve, whether its paying for a wedding or buying a house. I suggest you give her column a read. For me, though, YNABs approach feels like overkill. PocketGuard is one of the only reputable free budget trackers I found in my research. Just know its far more restricted at the free tier than NerdWallet or Mint. In my testing, I was prompted to pay after I attempted to link more than two bank accounts. So much for free, unless you keep things simple with one cash account and one credit card. When it comes time to upgrade to PocketGuard Plus, you have three options: pay $7.99 a month, $34.99 a year or $79.99 for a one-time lifetime license. That lifetime option is actually one of the few unique selling points for me: Im sure some people will appreciate paying once and never having to, uh, budget for it again. From the main screen, youll see tabs for accounts, insights, transactions and the Plan, which is where you see recurring payments stacked on top of what looks like a budget. The main overview screen shows you your net worth, total assets and debts; net income and total spending for the month; upcoming bills; a handy reminder of when your next paycheck lands; any debt payoff plan you have; and any goals. Dana Wollman / Engadget Like some other apps, including Quicken Simplifi, PocketGuard promotes an after bills approach, where you enter all of your recurring bills, and then PocketGuard shows you whats left, and thats what youre supposed to be budgeting: your disposable income. Obviously, other apps have a different philosophy: take into account all of your post-tax income and use it to pay the bills, purchase things you want and maybe even save a little. But in PocketGuard, its the in your pocket number thats most prominent. To PocketGuards credit, it does a good job visualizing which bills are upcoming and which ones youve already paid. PocketGuard has also publicly committed to adding some popular features. These include rollover budgeting, categorization rules and shared household access. Dana Wollman / Engadget Although PocketGuards UI is easy enough to understand, it lacks polish. The accounts tab is a little busy, and doesnt show totals for categories like cash or investments. Seemingly small details like weirdly phrased or punctuated copy occasionally make the app feel janky. More than once, it prompted me to update the app when no updates were available. The web version, meanwhile, feels like the mobile app blown up to a larger format and doesnt take advantage of the extra screen real estate. Of note, although PocketGuard does work with Plaid, its primary bank-connecting platform is actually Finicity. Setting up my accounts through Finicity was mostly a straightforward process. I did encounter one hiccup: Finicity would not connect to my SoFi account. I was able to do it through Plaid, but PocketGuard doesnt make it easy to access Plaid in the app. The only way, as far as I can tell, is to knowingly search for the name of a bank that isnt available through Finicity, at which point you get the option to try Plaid instead. Like I said: the experience can be janky. What is Plaid and how does it work? Each of the apps I tested uses the same underlying network, called Plaid, to pull in financial data, so its worth explaining in its own section what it is and how it works. Plaid was founded as a fintech startup in 2013 and is today the industry standard in connecting banks with third-party apps. Plaid works with over 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada and Europe. Additionally, more than 8,000 third-party apps and services rely on Plaid, the company claims. To be clear, you dont need a dedicated Plaid app to use it; the technology is baked into a wide array of apps, including the budget trackers I tested for this guide. Once you find the add an account option in whichever one youre using, youll see a menu of commonly used banks. Theres also a search field you can use to look yours up directly. Once you find yours, youll be prompted to enter your login credentials. If you have two-factor authentication set up, youll need to enter a one-time passcode as well. As the middleman, Plaid is a passthrough for information that may include your account balances, transaction history, account type and routing or account number. Plaid uses encryption, and says it has a policy of not selling or renting customer data to other companies. However, I would not be doing my job if I didnt note that in 2022 Plaid was forced to pay $58 million to consumers in a class action suit for collecting more financial data than was needed. As part of the settlement, Plaid was compelled to change some of its business practices. In a statement provided to Engadget, a Plaid spokesperson said the company continues to deny the allegations underpinning the lawsuit and that the crux of the non-financial terms in the settlement are focused on us accelerating workstreams already underway related to giving people more transparency into Plaids role in connecting their accounts, and ensuring that our workstreams around data minimization remain on track. My top Mint alternative picks: Quicken Simplifi and Copilot Money To conclude, you might be wondering what app I decided on for myself after all of this research. The answer is actually two apps: Quicken Simplifi, my overall top pick, and Copilot Money. For now, I am actively using both apps and still deciding, long-term, which I feel more comfortable with. I tend to prefer Copilot's fast, colorful user interface, but as I explained above, it's too lacking in table-stakes features for me to go so far as to name it the best overall option. How to import your financial data from the Mint app Mint users should consider getting their data ready to migrate to their new budgeting app of choice soon. Unfortunately, importing data from Mint is not as easy as entering your credentials from inside your new app and hitting import. In fact, any app that advertises the ability to port over your stats from Mint is just going to have you upload a CSV file of transactions and other data. To download a CSV file from Mint, do the following: Sign into Mint.com and hit Transactions in the menu on the left side of the screen. Select an account, or all accounts. Scroll down and look for export [number] transactions in smaller print. Your CSV file should begin downloading. Note: Downloading on a per-account basis might seem more annoying, but could help you get set up on the other side, if the app youre using has you importing transactions one-for-one into their corresponding accounts. How we tested Mint alternatives Before I dove into the world of budgeting apps, I had to do some research. To find a list of apps to test, I consulted trusty ol Google (and even trustier Reddit); read reviews of popular apps on the App Store; and also asked friends and colleagues what budget tracking apps they might be using. Some of the apps I found were free, just like Mint. These, of course, show loads of ads (excuse me, offers) to stay in business. But most of the available apps require paid subscriptions, with prices typically topping out around $100 a year, or $15 a month. (Spoiler: My top pick is cheaper than that.) Since this guide is meant to help Mint users find a permanent replacement, any services I chose to test needed to do several things: import all of your account data into one place; offer budgeting tools; and track your spending, net worth and credit score. Except where noted, all of these apps are available for iOS, Android and on the web. Once I had my shortlist of six apps, I got to work setting them up. For the sake of thoroughly testing these apps (and remember, I really was looking for a Mint alternative myself), I made a point of adding every account to every budgeting app, no matter how small or immaterial the balance. What ensued was a veritable Groundhog Day of two-factor authentication. Just hours of entering passwords and one-time passcodes, for the same banks half a dozen times over. Hopefully, you only have to do this once. What about Rocket Money? Rocket Money is another free financial app that tracks spending and supports things like balance alerts and account linking. If you pay for the premium tier, the service can also help you cancel unwanted subscriptions. We did not test it for this guide, but we'll consider it in future updates.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/the-best-budgeting-apps-to-replace-mint-143047346.html?src=rss

Google Gemini may be coming to Windows taskbars.

Apple's AirTag is now in compliance with US's Reese's Law, according to the government's consumer product safety watchdog.

The affected Chrome extensions are used by over 2.5 million people.

Since the pandemic normalized hybrid work and virtual communication, a number of companies have been emboldened to take a more impersonal approach to conducting layoffs. When Intuit cut 10% of its workforce last summerframed as performance-related layoffsemployees were instructed to look out for a calendar invite that would indicate whether they were impacted. In April, Tesla informed its employees about layoffs through an email; some employees reportedly only learned they had been let go when they showed up to the office and found their badges no longer worked.According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, employers may be doubling down on this approach to layoffs, despite the bad press that has followed some companies after callous job cuts. In December, when General Motors announced a year-end round of layoffswhich eliminated 1,000 jobsemployees were notified via email. One engineer who lost his job was alerted to the news with a cryptic text message that said he should check his email, the Journal reported; impacted workers were directed to call a hotline if they had questions about their employment status. Layoffs have long been a minefield for HR and people teams, who are often tasked with striking a balance between treating impacted employees with compassion and not disclosing more information than necessary, particularly when companies are making widespread cuts. Even in instances where employers offer more generous severance packages or continued access to healthcare coverage, they can botch how they communicate layoffs, offering workers little to no accountability or transparency.The pandemic ushered in a period of more frequent layoffs, as tech companies and other employers navigated an economic downturn and cut thousands of jobs (if not tens of thousands) over the past few years. The rise of remote work also spurred some companies to take more liberties with how they announced layoffs to employees: Some leaders, like Better.com CEO Vishal Garg, made headlines in 2022 for firing 900 workers over a Zoom call. Long before Elon Musk issued layoffs at Tesla via email, he drew attention for swiftly cutting half of Twitters workforce after acquiring the company.It seems employers are still struggling with how to do layoffs in a humane fashionor perhaps they have concluded that there is no good way to cut jobs en masse. But experts say that even when companies are firing hundreds or thousands of employees, there are steps they can take to lessen the blow in a difficult moment. A company-wide email or announcement might be necessary to ensure employees find out at the same time, but it can still help to hear directly from a manager or someone an employee knows. Some employers create alumni groups for laid-off workers or offer specific support for those with extenuating circumstances, like employees who are on work visas.Companies sometimes forget that its not just impacted employees who take note of how they conduct job cuts. Morale and productivity often takes a hit following layoffs, and the employees who remain are more likely to leave for another job. As HR expert and FairComp CEO Nolan Church previously told Fast Company: People will always remember how you make them feel, regardless of [whether] they are currently impacted or not.