It’s no secret that Intuit has struggled to break into the online finance market with their software offerings even though they have moved to an Internet based model. Why is that? It appears that the answer lies in the foundational basis for the Quicken software. It is an all encompassing, feature rich financial program. It looks like your father’s financial software.

In a world where perception drives social activities, this is a key point. So, rather than try to break into that market other ways, Intuit did the next best thing: purchase www.mint.com for 170 million dollars.

Here’s how this might be good for you as a consumer:

More choice in an increasingly crowded market. In the world of online financial software, the room is getting crowded. Lines between competitors are becoming blurred. Most online offerings have the same basic features. Some are better than others at certain things, but the main feature set is the same.

This means that it might be more difficult to choose the best financial offering for you. Do some research and ask around to see which service your friends and family are using. Weight the options and make your choice.

If you find you need to make a switch, be sure to not completely cut off access to your old site until you are sure you will no longer need it. Find out if you can get a print-out of all of your financial activities before you do pull the plug on it. That way, at least you will have a hard copy of all of your transactions unless you need to refer to them at a later time (like during an IRS audit – don’t laugh, it could happen).

Added functionality to mint.com to help users. Those who are already paying members of the mint.com site might find that this buy-out is a good thing because Intuit is sure to add things to the mint.com site to expand its capabilities. How about an add-on for tax preparation? It would be incredibly helpful to be able to export from your mint.com account right into TurboTax online.

Cross promotional opportunities for Intuit. The software company now qualifies as a giant in the personal finance field. This gives them opportunities to offer more to more potential customers and more to their varied customer base to keep them happy.

While mergers and buy-outs happen all of the time, this one seems to make sense and could help the end users in big ways.

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