Tips For Tracking Your Money
There are many reasons to keep a close eye on your transactions and current balances. You avoid unwanted overdraft fees, you make better purchase decisions, and you can stay on track with your budget. It also gives you a sense of control, which is a great feeling when managing your money.
Tracking what you spend regularly can give you a clear idea of where your money goes every pay period — and point to areas where your money should go. By following your expenses and using a reasonable budget, you can accurately plan for the bills you need to pay today and in the future.
Know What You’re Spending
Understanding your cash flow starts by following your transactions. Consider these flexible tools:
- Online Banking – Our Digital Banking platform lets you bank on your terms. You can check balances, pay bills, or transfer funds when it’s best for you. Click here to enroll.
- Mobile App – To transact business on the go, we recommend you download our Mobile App for Android or Apple, which allows you to quickly check your account balance, transfer money, pay bills, and deposit checks securely from wherever you are.
- Alerts – You can elect to receive text or email alerts when specific account activity occurs, such as funds being deposited, account balances getting to a certain amount, or when a loan payment becomes due.
- Text Banking – If texting is your thing, you can track your balances, review your latest transaction, and make loan payments by texting us at 616.532.9067. It’s perfect for alerts or receiving up-to-the-minute balance information sent by text. You can text commands to IM247 (46247), and your account information is sent back via text.
- CU*Talk Telephone Banking – When Internet access isn’t convenient, our Telephone Banking options are another way to check balances, transfer funds, pay bills, and more — by phone.
- Overdraft Protection – If you overdraw your account, you have options to help prevent the disappointment of late and returned check fees. With Overdraft Protection, we can provide payment authorization for checks, bill payments, and your ATM and Debit Card transactions.
Cool Budgeting Tools
Take it up a notch with other expense-tracking options.
NerdWallet suggests using budgeting apps like You Need a Budget (YNAB) and Mint. Both are perfect for on-the-go money management, allowing you to assign a certain amount of spendable income each month depending on what you’re taking in and paying out. These apps will work well if you can commit to logging your purchases and following a budget.
Compare these tracking apps identified by NerdWallet based on user ratings and popularity. There’s also Quicken, offering desktop software with budgeting and tracking features, and a mobile tool: the Simplifi budgeting app.
A spreadsheet is another valuable money-tracking tool. There are many free budget templates online, and NerdWallet also offers an online budget worksheet.
Need some extra motivation?
Call us at 616.532.9067 or stop by our office. We can share other tips to help you track your money and have an accurate financial picture at all times.