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Comment by semi-extrinsic | Hacker News Reader

TIL this is a thing third parties do in the US.

Round here (Norway), your bank already does this analysis part. When I log into my bank's app or webpage, I get an instant overview of how much I spent last month on the mortgage, food, gas, insurance, clothes etc. And I can define custom categories, as well as change how the system sorts transactions into different categories.

The budgets for the next 12 months my wife and I keep in a shared Google Docs spreadsheet. Planning requires thought, so I'm skeptical that you can automate a budget and then have people follow it (unless it's a very lenient budget).

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My bank (Netherlands) offers something like what you describe, and I would still prefer to be able to use services like Mint.

> Planning requires thought, so I'm skeptical that you can automate a budget and then have people follow it (unless it's a very lenient budget).

I agree with your point - your budget is specific to your situation, so you will still need to plan it yourself. But - once the budget is set up - don't you see some value in not having to update your spreadsheet and compare it to your bank statements? Or getting a notification on your phone that you are approaching the limit of your entertainment budget this month, because the system has tallied up how much you spent in the coffee shop?

It's a separation of concerns thing. Sure, you can use your bank for analysis, but there's better options out there. Banks are for storing money, not financial analysis.

i think if my bank offered advice, i'd strongly consider doing the exact opposite of whatever they suggested. i'd rank it up there w/ listening to jiffy lube's recommendation to refill the blinker fluid.

> Banks are for storing money

Actually, banks are for aggregating capital. There is no institution in the Western financial system where you can just store money. The best you can do is put physical cash in a safe deposit box.

Putting physical US cash in a safe deposit box is actually illegal in the US.

AFAICT, it actually isn't in the general case (it may be when done with certain intent or effect), but most US banks now have a blanket prohibition on foreign or US currency in the agreement they require when you rent a safe deposit box.

The flipside of this is that I want to trust as few entities as possible with my financial data. I see some are questioning advice given by the bank (and I agree with that), but objective analysis != advice.

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