Incentives for Buying Clean Vehicles

California and federal incentives for buying certain clean vehicles are still available. California currently offers a rebate of up to $5,000 per light duty vehicle to individuals and businesses who purchase or lease a new eligible zero emissions or hybrid electric vehicle. Certain zero emissions commercial vehicles are eligible for a rebate of up to $20,000. The rebates are available on a first come first serve basis and apply to qualified vehicles purchased or leased after March 15, 2010. For more information on eligible vehicles, rebate amounts and to apply for rebates visit www.energycenter.org. Read more

Useful Apps – Mint.com

This posting is the first in a line of posts dedicated to useful applications available through iTunes or other online application stores for use on your mobile devices or on the computer. Look for future posts flagged under the “Apps” category at LMGW.com!

This week’s App:

Mint.com

Mint.com is an online website that will aggregate various account information you have in order to put together a complete financial picture for you. After registering for a free account with mint.com, you will need to follow a simple setup process to register all of your financial accounts with mint.com. The vast majority of these require your online login and password that your normally use to access your accounts. You can supply mint.com with your checking and savings accounts, credit card accounts, auto loans, investment accounts, and other items. After you have registered, you can donwload and install the mint.com app on your mobile device. Now with the touch of a button you can easily access your account balances, receive notifications of expenses and withdrawals over your pre-defined limits, low balance alerts, and multiple other items all in one place! For those of you with accounts at several different institutions and who are looking for real-time data on their account balances, mint.com is a great (and free!) solution.

Of course mint.com does not take the place of normal financial housekeeping duties like budgeting, account reconciliations, and so forth. We always recommend you continue these best practices in order to stay on top of your spending and investment habits, but mint.com can be an added tool to keep you more aware of where you stand at any one moment.