Rudder steers personal finance to your in-box

One product that slipped under the radar in the past week is Rudder, an e-mail-based personal finance manager that launched at DemoFall and is a replacement for the now-defunct Spendview (coverage). Unlike a destination site like Mint.com, the idea of Rudder is not to have you continually visit a site to track financial activity. Instead, the idea is to have it delivered to your e-mail in-box.

I met with its creators last week to talk about what would make someone want to get all of this piped into a place where they might already be getting information overload. Rudder founder and CEO Nikhil Roy told me it's more of a utility for trying to cut through all the numbers and get to what's most important--like how much money you can actually use once bills have been paid.

Rudder's name for this magic number is "what's left" and it figures out what you've got for discretionary spending based on when you're getting your next paycheck and what's in your various savings and checking accounts, compared to credit card payments and other bills that need paying off. The entire process is shown to users, something Roy hopes will educate as much as it does take the work out of doing the math yourself.

Rudder delivers personal account balances to your e-mail and figures out what you've actually got left to spend in between now and your next paycheck.

(Credit: Rudder/CNET Networks)

In addition to this core overview of your finances, you can also set-up reminders when it's time to pay bills. The system will automatically figure out what bills you're paying after keeping an eye on your bank account and credit cards for a few months. You can also add them in manually.

Rudder is also building out its own widget platform starting with a "spendmeter" that looks like one of those classic gauges at a nuclear power plant. The more you spend the closer it gets to the red zone, meaning you've got to slow down to avoid financial meltdown. Rudder is opening this up with an application programming interface to let developers create their own widgets that go on the system, later including premium widgets that offer advanced functionality for a small fee. Additional revenue will come with targeted coupons based on places where customers are frequently visiting. Roy told me they're "only going to send you offers if we know it will save you money."

I've embedded Rudder's six-minute pitch from Demo below.

[stayaz]

I have been using rudder for the last 2 months and think they have nailed it. This proactive communication stream about your finances is awesome. As someone that spent nearly 20 years working in the financial services industry, this kind of data for the average consumer can be life altering. http://insidebankcards.com

[mmichaels]

I tried Rudder based on this article and found them severely lacking. I sent their support department an email asking what to do if my bank wasn't included on their institutions list. I received no confirmation of receipt. I received no response whatsoever. I sent them a second request, and a third. I tried to contact them at an alternative email address. But I got nothing but absolute silence.

The addition of credit card accounts was extraordinarily slow. I'm talking "get up and get a cup of coffee while it is updating" slow. I was willing to overlook that, since the addition of these accounts was a one-time thing. But now, if I couple that experience with their inability to provide rudimentary support, I'm forced to conclude that they just aren't ready for prime time yet.

It's a shame. I was really hoping their service would work for me.

[Rekaya08]

I agree with stayaz. My experience with Rudder has been a very positive one and definitly life altering. I have been using Rudder for over a year now and it has been a very helpful tool in making me more concious of my spending and unhealthy financial habits. Normally, or should I say, in the past, I would just spend cash without ever realizing I was overspending until I received an overdraft notice for my bank in the mail, then I would go into panic and check my bank balance right away, only to find out that I already owed not only what I overspent, but also owed the overdraft fees my bank charged, for every overdraft, which at times summed up to over $100. Each instance being from $30- $35. Then I decided to just log into my accounts daily and check my balances to make sure, I wouldn't overspend anymore and have to pay bank overdraft fees. So, I would check my BOA account daily and while I was at it, would check my AMEX and Chase balances too, just to try to stay on top of things, but of course, logging into each one of these accounts daily took some time, but I figured it was worth it. This was all before Rudder came along, I signed up and started getting a summary of all of my accounts BOA, Chase and AMEX directly into my inbox daily. Not only does Rudder provide me with a daily summary and status on all of my accounts, but also, calculates what will be spent on bills, payments, etc. and gives me a clear picture on how much money I will have available to spend. Because I am just an average consumer, that is not hi-tech at all or financially savvy, Rudder gives me a simple and totally uncomplicated picture of my financial standing daily. I cannot think of an easier and more user friendly way to manage your money. The greatest gain I have received from Rudder is that it made me concious of my spending, just by getting my daily email in my inbox, it allows me to be in control of my cash on a daily basis. I am also one of those people that never ever buys anything online, because I just don't trust giving out my credit card numbers over the web, but because I was in such a bad financial situation that I decided to give Rudder a try and have been using this tool ever since then. I have never had anyone type of issue with the free service, it just arrives daily to my mailbox. Rudder is definitely for anyone that wants to be in control of their money and improve their financial situation. I have even started to put some money into my savings account, which is something I could never have achieved, if I had not started to use Rudder to gain control of my spending. I definitely recommend the tool based on my experience. Rudder is a highly effective financial management tool made simple, which is just what I needed. No more overdraft charges for me, which my bank probably misses, but it has left a lot of extra cash for me to spend on more productive things in my life.