This is not really a topic for the software forum, but in my short time here I've seen this site has a lot of members who are very knowledgeable, so I'm sure I'll get some help.

I'm a software geek who's clueless about money  :( I can spend days and weeks on tweaking programs and searching for the perfect utility, but not so when it comes to money. Even though I make a decent living, my savings do not reflect this because they don't grow like they should. I lost a lot of my savings a few years ago in the stock market and since then have been very hesitant. Currently I've put most of it in online banks such as ING which give me higher APR but thats pretty much it.

What are some good resources you recommend? There are way too many blogs out there, I don't know where to start. I also need some software to track my money and spending - I was going to get either Money or Quicken, but there are also some free web based alternatives like Wesabe, Mint etc which look very compelling (apart from having to trust a website with my account passwords). I'd also appreciate links to some good forums for personal finance.

My apt is beginning to look like my file system - disorganized, full of hard to find things, and not easy to navigate. I want to organize it all so everything is where its supposed to be and I can find what I need. I looked at a few programs I found by searching on 'home inventory' but most of these are designed to track the value of stuff for home insurane purposes I guess.

What I want could probably be done by a simple database. I think the program I'm looking for would let me -

- create multiple storage locations - e.g. one for each room/drawer
- create multiple categories/tags
- assign stuff freely between the 2 of them
- easily find duplicates/stuff I already own
- (optional) add pictures

Is there anything like this?

Like many users, I have terabytes of data across multiple computers and hard disks, and its becoming increasingly impossible to find stuff I need and manage it sensibly. I keep coming back to the idea that we need an integrated approach that combines these 3 areas -

- backup/filesync to backup my data. I much prefer synchronization software to just keep an exact copy on a separate disk, but the software needs to be able to track copies

- cataloging to know which media contains what

- indexing to help me find stuff quickly

Right now,  I have different apps for each of these which do not play well together. e.g. if I search for a file in my index app (Copernic/X1) I want it to tell me that its on my USB backup drive #2 and that its also backed up on my laptop. I do not want the index itself to contain 3 copies of the contents of the file. Similarly, the disc cataloging app should work with the index. Both should update seamlessly in realtime as and when different computers/disks come online, and the index/catalog itself should replicate itself. The backup program should let me select a folder to backup, then use the cataloger to track where its been backed up, and sync automatically. And of course, all of these programs should use UNC and USB device id's so they don't depend on disk numbers that can change, as well as do link tracking for moved files.

Now I know no such program exists (or does it?) so I'm looking for suggestions and workflow dieas on how best to do this.