Teaching the importance of personal finance with sustainable living


Image by Center for Neighborhood Technology

Personal Finances – K.i.s.s.ing your Checking and Credit Card Accounts

My Dad and father-in-law were at both ends of the spectrum when it came to managing their checking accounts. Dad would spend hours, sometimes days, tracking down a two cent error in his checkbook register. It drove him bonkers when his checkbook didn’t balance to the penny with the account statement.

My father-in-law, on the other hand, didn’t even keep a checkbook register. He couldn’t be bothered with balancing his account. His philosophy was, “If I run out of money the bank will let me know.” That is a hands off approach that few of us can get away with, but, it worked for a person that was born and lived in a town of less than 800 people. The bank did, indeed, let my father-in-law know when he was overdrawn. They never, to my knowledge, charged him overdraft fees.

That approach can work in a small town in Northern Idaho. Most of us, however, do not have that kind of a relationship with our bank. In order for our personal finances to run smoothly, it is our responsibility to make the lifestyle choices, and do the work associated with managing our day-to-day finances. How we handle our checking account and credit card transactions is fundamental to keeping things running well.

My Approach Is Somewhere In The Middle

My approach to managing our family checkbook register is somewhere between the two parental extremes cited above. My wife, Lois, and I record all transactions in our register and, like clockwork, I balance our account every month. What I don’t do is spend an unnecessary amount of time trying to find errors when our account doesn’t balance with the statement. If the error is within comfortable limits, I adjust the account balance and then get on with my life. What’s a “comfortable limit?” That depends on the account balance. My error tolerance is directly proportional to how much money we have on hand when the error occurs. Balancing errors don’t happen very often. More often than not our checkbook balances to the penny. The accuracy can be attributed in some measure to the fact that I use personal finance management software.

The point is that personal finances do require some work, but, perfection may not be desirable. There are a lot of people involved in the processing of the various transactions each of us generates as part of our monetary lives. Those millions upon millions of transactions, large and small, are all subject to our own human error as well as the human errors that can be committed by all of those people behind the scenes who we rarely think about. It behooves us, therefore, to keep tabs on the pulse of our personal finances as recorded in our checkbook and credit card accounts. This ongoing monitoring can be psychotic or a normal, healthy part of our lives. It’s up to each one of us to decide where we stand on this issue. Will we adopt a fringe behavior like one of my parents? Or will we keep it sane and simple (K.I.S.S.)?

Using Tools Imposes Lifestyle Choices

Using a cash flow management tool forces you to make choices by imposing lifestyle traits that are required if the tool is going to work as intended. That may sound intimidating, but, for a well written, user friendly program, the required lifestyle traits are not an undue burden. For those of us who are sincerely interested in having “more money than month” instead of “more month than money,” developing a few, possibly new habits need not be a harsh adjustment. The payback in financial peace of mind is very well worth it.

Choices We Make Regardless

First, let’s take a look at those habits that will make your financial life easier regardless of whether or not you use personal finance software.

* Keep your checkbook register accurate. Your checking account is probably your primary money management tool. It just makes common sense, in my opinion, to keep your checkbook register up-to-date and accurate. If you are not used to writing every transaction (e.g. checks, ATM transactions, deposits) in your checkbook register, or balancing your checkbook every month, these are habits you may want to look at developing immediately. Should you decide to use a money management program, an accurate checkbook is imperative.

* Keep an accurate record of charge transactions. If you use charge cards, keeping an accurate record of your charges and returns is also vital to the success of your cash flow management efforts. In my opinion, not keeping track of charges is a main contributor to why many people get into trouble with charge card debt. I think it is vitally important that, starting today, you keep the receipts from all of your charge transactions for no other reason than for reconciling your monthly credit card statement. If you are using appropriate personal finance software, charge transactions are entered into the program as soon as convenient. The program will, with accurate charging information, keep you informed of where you stand on your charge card debt.

Choices Imposed By Software

The following issues are specific to the successful use of many personal finance programs.

* One checking account. How people manage their personal funds is very, well, personal. For a single person, the choices are simplified. Once a person takes on a partner, however, personal finances can become complicated depending on how much financial autonomy each partner requires. Regardless of how many savings and checking accounts each single or partnered person may have, at least one checking account is normally required for use with the software. This one checking account, coupled with the program, is used to plan for and pay bills; plan and pay for planned purchases; and to smooth out weekly living expenses. The intent is for the program and it’s associated checking account to encapsulate a person’s entire month-to-month financial records.

* Pay bills on a schedule. Instead of paying bills when you receive them or when you get paid, pay your bills on the same days each month. An appropriate schedule for most people would be on the 1st and 15th of each month. The mechanics of bill payment (e.g. check, cash, online, automatic withdrawal) are entirely up to you, but, sitting down twice a month and arranging for your bills to be paid on or before the date they are due will simplify and smooth the paying of your bills.

* Pay yourself on a schedule. “Paying” yourself a fixed amount of spending money the same day each week regardless of when you receive your income will smooth out your day-to-day expenses. How much weekly spending money you give yourself is entirely up to you as is the weekday on which you “pay” yourself. The trick is to find that amount of weekly spending money that is enough for day-to-day expenses, but not so much that you don’t leave yourself enough to pay bills. An appropriately written personal finance program will automatically include your personal “payday” in your month-to-month financial projection so you can easily see whether you have correctly set your weekly spending money amount.

* Keep accurate records. An appropriately written personal finance program gives you a “forward looking” projection of your month-to-month cash flow. When using such a tool, keeping your cash flow projection current is the key to giving you a continual picture of where you are and where you’re headed. You will, therefore, have to be consistent with keeping your month-to-month financial records current. With the right personal finance software, this does not have to be a big chore like keeping track of every penny you spend, or entering and categorizing every check you write. In an appropriately written personal finance program, most of your record keeping will consist of entering bills when you receive them, entering charges as you incur them, paying yourself once a week, reconciling bank and charge account statements, and paying bills. Typically, all of this financial activity will take two to four hours per month.

Paperwork Flow

There are a couple of habits that Lois and I have developed that simplify tasks like the keeping of accurate records. When any piece of paper is received on which is recorded a financial transaction, that piece of paper is placed in our “In” basket. While most of our financial transactions are handled electronically, there are still items like charge slips, magazine subscriptions and account statements that are printed. By placing all such printed items in one place, they get recorded in our computer records accurately and in a timely manner. It is unusual for one of our paper transactions to be forgotten.

Those pieces of paper that are needed for account reconciliation, like credit card receipts, are put into a “Hold” folder after having been recorded in our personal finance software. Those pieces of paper that are not needed after being recorded are shredded or burned. After reconciling credit card statements, all of the pieces of paper for transactions that have cleared are removed from the “Hold” folder and also destroyed.

It’s a simple system, but, it works for us. As long as everyone in a household knows the “paperwork flow,” and habitually uses that flow, the chances that transactions will be lost, resulting in potential financial errors, are greatly reduced.

Being Big Brother To Your Checking Account

Another habit that I have adopted is the close, online supervision of our checking account. I’m a big fan of online banking which gives me almost up to the minute information about the status of our checking account. As part of my computer startup procedure, I take a look at the activity in our checking account. This may sound a bit paranoid, but, I’ve been able to spot unexpected activity on several occasions. There has been nothing traumatic like identity theft, but, by keeping a close eye on checking account activity I’ve caught unexpected withdrawals shortly after they happened instead of being surprised on the next account statement. The most recent example involved automatic credit card payments that I thought I had cancelled. It took two months working with the credit card company’s customer service staff to straighten that one out. Had I not spotted the first unexpected payment when it happened, our checking account could have been short by .00 each of those two months. That may not be a large amount, but, it could have been enough to cause a potential, inconvenient problem if left undetected.

Financial Peace Of Mind

All of the discussed lifestyle habits are so firmly embedded in Lois and my everyday lives that we no longer even think about them. Consequently, our month-to-month finances are smooth with few interruptions. When we do have to discuss financial issues, it’s a discussion over known choices instead of fights over who is doing, or not doing what. Money is not a source of discord in our lives like it can be for couples. Lois and I have been enjoying financial peace of mind for most of the 40+ years of our marriage. This financial bliss can be attributed directly to the unique cash flow techniques upon which our personal finance management software is based.

Children are considered adults and able to make their own banking decisions at the age of 18. Begin saving at the early age of 18 by opening a bank account using tips from an experienced businessman in this free video. Expert: Patrick Munro Contact: www.northstarnavigator.com Bio: Patrick Munro is a registered financial consultant (RFC) with outstanding sales volume of progressive financial products and solutions to the senior and boomer marketplace. Filmmaker: Reel Media LLC
Video Rating: 5 / 5

Choosing Checking Accounts With the Lowest Bank Fees

Banks make most of their money through convenience fees charged to customers. When you are in the market for a new checking account or want to move to a new bank, there are a number of things you should take into consideration before selecting the bank to open your checking account with.

Insurance

It used to be very rare for a bank to fail. The current economy has increased bank failures though, and when looking to open any bank account, it’s important to take the possibility of a bank failure into consideration. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp insures deposits from eligible banks and financial institutions in the US up to 0,000 per depositor. Make sure your bank is covered by the FDIC before you open an account with them.

Choosing a Checking Account

Most everyone relies on a checking account in order to pay their bills and hang on to their money before it’s needed for a purchase or expense. You have a number of checking accounts from which to choose, from free accounts (no maintenance fees) that don’t require a minimum balance; to accounts that offer interest if you maintain a certain minimum balance; to money market deposit accounts with higher interest paid but higher minimums required and a limit to the number of transactions you can make in any given month. There are specialty accounts for groups of people, too – like student checking, or senior citizen accounts.

Compare your local bank checking account options with online checking account options to find an account that will charge you the least amount of fees and provide the most interest for how you are likely to use the account.

Avoiding Overdraft Fees

People who live paycheck to paycheck often end up paying hundreds of dollars each year in the form of bank overdraft fees. At an average of per occurrence, overdrafts are costly fees that you should do everything in your power to avoid! What happens when your account falls short is the bank will honor the largest debit or check that’s outstanding first, which means each of your smaller checks will result in individual, overdraft fees. Instead of bouncing a single check, you end up paying an NSF (non sufficient fund) on each of the individual transactions.

While many banks will cover the non sufficient funds for you under “overdraft protection” all that means is your money is paid out to the person or business you wrote the check for or used your debit card for; but that the bank will charge you for that privilege. See if you can get standard overdraft protection, and link your checking account to a savings account. If your account is overdrawn they can tap into your savings account for the funds instead of charging you for the NSF.

Some banks hold your deposits for 10 business days for larger or nonlocal checks. Standard wait time for a regular check deposit can be 2-4 business days. This can make it difficult – if you are cutting things close, always find out when a deposit will come available so you know when you can use the money from the deposit.

Understand Your Debit Card

Almost all checking accounts include a debit card, but this is another way for banks to make money off their account holders. Sometimes if you use the debit card as debit at the retailer, you pay a fee – but if you chose credit instead at the same retailer, it wouldn’t cost you anything more than the cost of whatever you’re buying.

Using your debit card in an ATM machine owned by another bank will result in paying fees to the other bank, and your own bank as well. Paying or to take out in cash is never a good idea, but you may not even realize it since the ATM only announces the fees of their OWN bank (not what your bank will add at the end of the month).

Using a debit card to reserve travel accommodations or purchase gas sometimes puts a hold on your account that’s more than what you actually spend. It can take a week or two for the hold to be lifted, and meanwhile you don’t have access to any of those funds which can result in overdrafts if you’re not aware.

Checking Account Vs HELOC


Image by mortgagepaymentplan

The Painless Guide to Switching Checking Accounts

The thought of trying to move your money and automatically scheduled bill payments from one checking account to another is often enough to prevent people from changing checking accounts. It may be easier to just stick with what you’ve got, but if you want to maximize your earnings or benefit from features offered through another banking institution, you’ll have to be willing to do a little legwork to switch your money and any automatically scheduled payments from one checking account to another. While it may seem overwhelming at first, you can just follow this guide for virtually painless switching of checking accounts – and you’ll be set up in no time!

Step 1: Review The Previous Month’s Statement for Automatic Payments

If you have online banking with your current checking account, log in and view last months transactions. If you don’t have online banking set up, get out your paper statement for the last month. Make a list of any payments that are automatically deducted from your checking account (meaning you do not physically write and send a check or initiate the online payment yourself).

Make another list of any items that you regularly initiate an online payment for – these are transactions that don’t occur automatically, but you don’t write checks for them either. You’ll need to update your payment information in the online accounts of these creditors in order to continue making your payments through this method.

Step 2: Direct Deposits and Automatic Savings Transfers

Make another list of all income sources that are directly deposited into your checking account. Typically this would be your payroll direct deposit from your employer; but may also include child support or other direct deposit transactions.

If you have set up an automatic savings plan through your checking account, you will want to write down the details as well, so you remember to cancel the automatic transfer from checking to savings and to set it up again with your new checking account.

Step 3: Open the New Checking Account

Open your new checking account with a small deposit to get it set up if your funds are limited; if you have access to a sizable amount of money you can make a larger deposit and immediately start setting up your automatic bill payments again through this new account.

Order your checks if you use physical checks, and take note of the routing and account numbers for your new account. You will need this information to start transferring your automatic payments, direct deposits and automatic savings transfers.

Step 4: Cancel Automatic Payments and Savings Transfers

From the lists you’ve created, contact each of the creditors who receive their payment automatically through your old checking account. If you don’t have a lot of money in the newly opened account, simply cancel the automatic payment and inform them you will be mailing your next payment manually. If you were able to open your checking account with a good amount of money, you can just switch the payment details from your old checking account to your new checking account without interrupting the automatic payment plan service, and avoid having to mail a check manually.

If you have an automatic savings transfer, you can choose to temporarily stop it while you are setting up the new checking account or again, if you have enough money in the new account already simply switch the details to the new account and resume making your automatic savings transfers through the new account immediately.

Step 5: Change Payroll Direct Deposit

Once you are sure there are no more automatic payments and savings transfers coming out of your old checking account, you can switch the payroll direct deposit (and any other sources of income that gets directly deposited) into your new checking account. Sometimes this takes one to two weeks to make the change, depending on the employer and the payroll department.

Step 6: Set Up Automatic Bill Payments and Savings Transfers

As soon as you see your first payroll direct deposit going into the new checking account, you can refer back to your list and re-set up the automatic bill payments again if you weren’t able to do that at the same time as opening the checking account.

You will also be able to automatically transfer your money into your savings account once you set it up to withdraw from the new checking account.

If you had creditors and expenses that you would log into the website and initiate a payment, now is a good time to log into each of your accounts and update the payment method section of your profile. This will tell the account where to pull the money from – and you’ll be able to specify your new checking account details for making payments here on out.

Step 7: Close the Old Checking Account, Enjoy the New One

After you’ve changed any automatically made transactions through the old checking account, verify that any outstanding checks or payments you’ve initiated have all cleared. As long as all transactions have posted to the account, at this time you should be able to safely close your old checking account and begin using your new checking account exclusively.

Ken Boyd, owner of St. Louis Test Preparation (www.stltest.net) presents part one of his course on Understanding Cost Accounting. Boyd points out that students can have success with Cost Accounting concepts by making connections to actual examples from business. As a former CPA, College Accounting professor and auditor, Ken has a wealth of experience to bring to the subject.
Video Rating: 5 / 5