Articles Tagged ‘Banking Advice’
Banking Advice On How To Reduce Or Eliminate Banking Fees
Friday, January 8th, 2016
You need to have various types of financial accounts in order to make sure you’re getting the most out of your money, and positioning yourself optimally for the future. For example, you’ll want to have an IRA to provide you with the ability to take charge of your retirement saving plans. And you’ll need a checking account (and probably a savings account) in order to manage the flow of money both in and out of your various accounts.
Unfortunately, truly free bank accounts are relatively hard to come by, so it’s important to manage the applicable fees carefully....
5 Tips to Protect Your Checking Account
Tuesday, December 15th, 2015
Regardless of your income or your overall financial health, chances are you use your checking account as the backbone of your personal financial planning. Many of us have most (or perhaps all) of our paychecks deposited to our checking accounts each pay period. We then have automatic bill payments set up to pay our bills. And we can set periodic withdrawals from our checking accounts to fund our retirement accounts and investment accounts.
Because we rely on our checking accounts so much, it’s absolutely vital that we keep our checking accounts safe and secure. Here are five tips to help...
How To Get Your Bank To Waive Account Fees
Friday, August 21st, 2015
In recent years it’s become difficult to earn very much money on your savings and checking accounts. In fact, even in the highly competitive marketplace to provide banking services, it can seem like banks are willing to compete with one another on virtually every aspect besides interest rates.
But not making very much interest is only part of the story. What can make things worse is to have to pay fees on your account. Sometimes these fees may be due to a mistake you’ve made (such as allowing your account to become overdrawn). Sometimes these fees are imposed by the...
Banking and Financial Steps to Take When Caring for an Aging Parent or Spouse
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2015
As many of us are coming to realize, our time in the role of caregiver isn’t simply limited to the years in which we raise our children. We’re living longer lives, and that means that it’s more likely than ever that we’re going to be faced with the prospect of providing care to an aging parent or spouse. This care may extend beyond health-related assistance; you may also need to assist with banking and financial matters.
Providing assistance to help an aging parent or spouse manage their finances can be complicated.
Consider the following advice to help you navigate these...
Best Bank Accounts For Setting Up An Emergency Fund
Wednesday, May 20th, 2015
Regardless of your current financial situation, your income, or your overall debt burden, it’s important that you’re always working to build and maintain an appropriate emergency fund. The target amount you’ll be looking to accumulate may vary, but the principles behind building your emergency fund will be the same.
This is why emergency funds are generally best placed in savings accounts rather than investment or brokerage accounts – you don’t want to face the prospect of ever losing money. But when you begin looking at your various account options, you’re likely to quickly find that you have an abundance of...
The Best Bank Accounts For Children
Thursday, April 16th, 2015
Good financial practices don’t necessarily come quickly or automatically for many individuals. In general, the earlier a person can develop a consistent saving routine and make that a part of their normal day-to-day behavior, the more financially secure they’ll be later in life. Ideally, this means learning about personal finances during childhood.
Saving is a particularly important practice to develop. A piggy bank can be the most convenient, most straightforward and most effective way to start helping your child learn this behavior. But as soon as they’ve got the hang of putting spare change into the bank, and being able...
Understanding Tax Documents From Your Bank and Stock Broker
Tuesday, February 24th, 2015
We’re now right in the busiest part of tax season, as we begin to collect all of the materials we’ll need to be able to compute and file our tax returns. These will include not only our wage and other income statements from employers and those we’ve done business with over the course of the past year, but also various other types of forms.
You can expect to receive one or more tax documents from any banks or financial institutions that you have accounts with. Unfortunately, not every institution sends their forms out at the same time, so it’s important...
How to Make Your Mobile Banking Activities Safer
Tuesday, February 10th, 2015
Mobile banking gives us greater power and control over our personal finances. We don’t need to coordinate our schedule with our bank’s operating hours, and we can conduct various types of banking activities wherever we are, whenever we choose to do so. Having this type of mobile access also lets us choose to do our banking transactions as soon as they need to be done, provided we have our laptop were smartphone with us.
But greater opportunities for access can sometimes need greater opportunities for thieves and scammers as well. However, the good news is that the fear is far...
Tips for Choosing the Right Bank Account
Thursday, February 5th, 2015
Choosing a bank account can be challenging. There are many types of accounts, and each account comes with benefits, and potential drawbacks. Some accounts require minimum balances and incentives for high balances. Others are more suited for day to day accounts that support bill pay and transfers.
The company you bank with may impact your decision as well. For example, you may prefer a local bank or credit union over a national bank. Before you start researching accounts and banks, decide what you want to accomplish. What is the bank account for and what are your goals for the...
Banking Advice on How to Jump Start Your Savings This Year
Friday, January 9th, 2015
The start of the new year is a time when many of us look to improve our lives by making resolutions. Along with health-related resolutions, new years goals that relate to personal finances are particularly common. Two of the most important financial goals are to pay down debt and to save more.
The benefits of paying down your debt are immediately apparent, but sometimes the benefits of building up your savings sometimes aren’t clear until a number of years down the road. This means that sometimes personal savings gets neglected.
With that in mind, here are some tips for jump...