Players In The Online Personal Finance Space @ The Roundup

On one of those rare occasions when I’d actually go to San Francisco for some socializing, I attended an interesting dinner last night with a few people who attended the Finovate Startup conference in the city. Finovate is a conference and event that gathers together companies in the personal financial space, showcasing the technological innovations and newest updates on financial products from startups, companies and institutions alike. After hearing the buzz about how it went this year, I can only regret that I didn’t make it again this time!

My blogging colleagues — Lazy Man, Kevin and Cap — attended the conference, and at least one of them is already hard at work putting together great summaries and articles for us about what he encountered in this event. During the dinner, I had the chance to chat with the folks from Prosper (a leading peer to peer lending firm) and the founder of Thrive, a personal finance company dedicated to providing education, advice and tools to help you organize your financial life. It was a highly dynamic and fun-filled dinner which Thrive hosted, where conversation flowed freely with the aid of wine and good food.

Here are a few reports coming from the trenches of those who attended Finovate. I bring to you Lazy Man’s comprehensive Finovate series here (wow, he’s quick!):

• Live From Finovate Startup 2009: Introduction
• Finovate First Demo Session: some of the companies covered: Expensify, kaChing, Strands, Lending Club, Wesabe.
• Finovate Second Demo Session: covers BillShrink, Micronotes, Moneta, Know Before You Apply, etc.
• Finovate Third Demo Session: covers Mint, SecondMarket, Aradiom, LowerMyAssessment, ZimpleMoney and many more.
• Finovate Fourth Demo Session: Lots of interesting names here, including Green Sherpa, SimpliFi, SmartHippo, DebtGoal, Prosper, Credit Karma, and more.

As I read through these summaries, I am envious about how much I’ve missed! Hopefully, I’ll get a chance (and some time) to review some of the great financial tools and features that were recently launched and demonstrated in the conference.

As for other hot spots in the blogosphere, here are a few things I enjoyed reading of late:

Personal Financial Articles

• Loose Change: Read This Before You Retire
• Bargaineering: Frugal and Convenient Breakfast Recipes
• Generation X Finance: 8 Small Changes You Can Make to Save an Extra $100 This Month
• The Sun’s Financial Diary: Investing in My SEP-IRA Account
• Brip Blap: All That Is Valuable
• My Dollar Plan: Firing Our Nanny for More Family Time
• Money Smart Life: Doing A Short Sale
• Million Dollar Journey: Dividend Payout Timing For The Monthly Cashflow
• Frugal Dad: Medical Bills For Wife On My Credit Report
• American Consumer News: Be Proactive – Cut Down On Medical Expenses
• MoneyNing: A Little Post on Leverage
• Master Your Card: Who Do You Trust With Your Debit/Credit Card?
• Debt Free Scholar: 10 Little Known Ways To Survive Finals Week

Recent Carnivals

• Carnival of Debt Reduction: Thanks to Automatic Finances for an awesome carnival and for especially selecting our entry on myFICO Score Watch as an Editor’s Pick this week!
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Carnival of Financial Planning

• Stock trades: Free stock trades from Zecco, Cheap stock trades from TradeKing, Stock news and Investment info at INO TV Free, No cost Trend Analysis for stocks
• Earn top returns: FNBO Direct [1.90%], HSBC Direct [1.65%], WTDirect [1.76%], E*Trade Bank [0.95%], ING Direct [.25% to 1.65%]
• Cash bonus: Discover More [$50], American Express [$25], Lending Club [$25]

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Categorized under: Banking & Money Management, Money Articles, Technology and Cyberspace