I recently had a chance to talk to the CEO and founder of Mint.com, Aaron Patzer. As always, he was upbeat. Then again, his website -- which provides free financial planning services -- has continued to grow at a rapid clip (gaining 100,000 new registered users per month). Also, Mint.com raised $14 million in venture capital.

Well, Patzer has another reason to be excited: he's selling Mint.com for a cool $170 million to rival Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU).

Microsoft Corporation's (NASDAQ: MSFT) personal finance tracking program MS Money (not to be confused with msmoney.com) has been futilely chasing Intuit's (NASDAQ: INTU) Quicken since the early days of Windows. Apparently, the company has finally taken note of all the red on its financials and is mercifully pulling the plug on the program.

According to CNet's Ina Fried, Microsoft will put the program down tomorrow. It is currently only distributed online, and the company will discontinue updating it for current users after January of 2011.

I don't expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth from those savvy enough to track their finances with a computer program. Quicken has proven a reliable program so widely adopted that it serves as a template for other, similar programs.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

As his top pick for 2009, leading value investor Charles Mizrahi looks to Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), the maker of QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax. Here's the latest from Hidden Values Alert.

"Intuit is s a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and medium sized businesses, financial institutions, consumers, and accounting professionals.

"Their flagship products and services, including QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing.

"ProSeries and Lacerte are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. Its Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services that help banks and credit unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions.

I was surprised this morning to find a promo for risky home loans in my email box this morning. You would think lenders have felt enough pain. They obviously think there are still a lot of suckers out there.

The Quicken email arrived with the title "Another Reason to Give Thanks All Year." The only thing that Quicken did in restructuring its "Lower Your Monthly Payment" loan was to offer it with a fixed rate and make the change date 10 years out instead of two or three years.

This is a bad deal. Quicken's interest-only payment mortgages may help you immediately, but ultimately could be a recipe for foreclosure. When you look at the fine print at the bottom of the web page for "Lower Your Payment" loans you'll find these terms: "Rate is fixed. The interest only payment on a 30–year, $150,000, Fixed Rate loan at 6.250% and 80% LTV is $781.25 with 1.75 points due at closing. After 10 years, the principal and interest payment is $1,286.13. The Annual Percentage Rate is 6.385%. Actual payments will vary based on individual client situation and current rates."

Target (NYSE: TGT) September implied volatility of 48 above 26-week average of 26.
TGT will report EPS on August 21st. TGT William Ackman's Pershing Square owns a 9.6% position in TGT. TGT September option implied volatility of 48 is above its 26-week average of 26 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

Intuit (NYSE: INTU) September implied volatility at 40 into 8/22 EPS.
INTU is expected to report an EPS loss 5 cents on 8/22 according to Thomson First Call. INTU will hold an analyst day on 9/27. INTU Quicken Personal Finance Software 2008 will be available for purchase at www.quicken.com on 8/27/07 and in stores on 9/9. INTU September option implied volatility of 40 is above its 26-week average of 29 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Dell (NYSE: DELL) September implied volatility at 42, November at 34 into EPS.
DELL is recently trading up $0.07 to $26.01. DELL will announce second quarter EPS on 8/30/07. Goldman Sachs says: "we expect more volatility in DELL's shares going forward driven by a larger divergence between reported earnings and consensus as DELL shifts its focus away from short-term earnings management to longer-term progress." DELL September option implied volatility of 42 is above its 26-week average of 27 according to Track Data, indicating larger price fluctuations.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

"Gas prices are just going up, up, up, just like Google stock, baby, just like the Google stock," says Om Malik in his podcast with Niall Kennedy. eBay isn't, and in fact it is considering partnering with Microsoft (or maybe that's just a rumor it is putting out there for more bargaining power with Google).

eBay isn't working hard enough to improve the user experience, says Niall, and despite the coolness of Skype and Paypal, the core business - the auction business - is really where it needs to grow if the company is going to continue to increase its earnings.

What does eBay need to do to accomplish that? Simple, Niall and Om tell us, do these five things:

1. Integrate Paypal with the same address system, and with other services like Evite;
2. Develop a shareware application;
3. Have the ability to resell digital media like iTunes (maybe this is what they're thinking about with the Skype deal?);
4. Create a separate eBay 2.0 company that helps facilitate digital assets;
5. Buy Quicken and add it on to the eBay product line.

Of all these I like the ideas about Quicken and the Paypal integration the best. What do you think?