We live today is the era of exploding technology. It seems that everyone is connected today. Everyone is looking to make everything easier or more convenient. One of those areas is in how we manage our banks accounts. The convenience of credit cards, debit cards, online access, email alerting – everything to make managing your money easier. I use all the tools just like you, but do you keep a checkbook register?
It is almost every day that I hear people say, “no, I do not keep a checkbook register because I only use my debt card.” These are often the same people who have trouble managing their cash flow and find themselves overdrawn on that same account. The reason for a check register is to simply manage the money you have in the account.
I recently read a newspaper article about a man who bought a $4 coffee that wound up costing him well over $200 when all the over-draft charges were totaled. One big piece of his problem was not managing his cash flow with his check register. What he thought he had in his account was not there.
Many people, when I use the words “check register”, immediately think of the paper document that was given to them when they opened their account. While that is definitely what I mean, today that paper product has been joined by Quicken, iBank, phone apps, etc. It is not just a paper journal any more. Your check register is a place where you are tracking, on your own and not from a bank download, the transactions you have made from your account. These transactions include deposits, checks written, bank charges (are you really paying those??), debit cards usage, ATM, etc. -EVERY transaction in that account needs to be recorded.
You need to know what is in your account BEFORE you spend from it. Many I meet have cash flow management and non-sufficient fund (NSF) issues. Both are also found because the person not using some form of a check register. My children each opened a checking account when they were fourteen years old. I remember one of them crying because they did not want to “open an account”. You would have thought I was making them go off to do most miserable thing you could imagine. What I shared with them that was as long as they lived in my house they were going to know you can not spend money from an account that is not there.
If I met you today and asked, “what is your checking account balance”, how would you answer? What does that answer consist of? Are you telling me what the bank tells you the balance is, what you think it is, what it is with the outstanding transactions you have made, or what it will be (you hope) when your next deposit goes in?
Successful financial people, while they may have to look at the paper register or their phone app, can tell you what the CORRECT balance is. That is huge. Knowing your balance(s) will allow you to stay on top of what you have and save money. Keeping accurate, timely updates in your register will position you to better manage your finances.
Did you know that managing your check balance will actually save you money? Sure will. You are much less prone to getting any NSF or over-draft fees charged to you when you know what is there.
So many of you do balance your account. In the the Reply section below, tell others what you use to keep your account balanced. Do your prefer paper ot technology? Make sure to click on Post Comment.
Like paper register and always make sure to record everything right away and check the bank balance online to confirm my account is balanced (with outstanding transactions pending and what has posted)