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Staying on top of your personal finances has never been easy. Tracking every dime and dollar that goes through your account each month means that you need to keep a close eye on all your expenses and stick to a determined budget.
The thing is, keeping track of your finances and knowing how your money is being managed shouldn’t feel like work. A colorful array of automation tools can now be used to help manage your finances more efficiently, making sure you never miss a payment or spend more than you have.
Finance automation is a big part of learning how to overcome the uncertainty of how to manage your money and allow yourself room to become more confident with how you spend, transact and save your money each month.
Related: How Setting Clear Financial Goals Can Transform Your Business and Personal Success
Take stock of your expenses
Before you can automate your finances, start by listing all of your monthly expenses and the date on which they need to be paid. Be sure to include all recurring bills and expenses such as rent, utilities, insurance, loans and other important payments.
There’s likely a chance that some of these payments have already been set up to be debited from your account each month. Should that be the case, make sure that you are aware of when each payment is due and deduct it from your account.
Remember to account for when you are paid and how certain payments will be deducted should the due date fall on a weekend or holiday.
Know your accounts
Now that you have an idea of your expenses it’s time to learn how to use your bank accounts more effectively. Should you be someone who has multiple bank accounts and credit cards, be sure to organize your most important bills to deduct from the account where you will receive your salary.
Next, familiarize yourself with how you may be using each account. For instance, your primary checking account should be dedicated to paying important bills such as rent, utilities, and insurance. Your secondary checking account should be dedicated to ordinary expenses and less important bills.
By taking more control of each account, you can begin assigning automated payments for each of your bills. This way you will know when to have enough money in each account, and it will help you keep better track of your monthly expenses.
Automate savings
Saving shouldn’t fall to second place when automating all of your expenses. Instead, look at ways in which you can set up an automated savings account linked to your check account. This would allow you to set up a date and desired amount to be deducted from your salary, and deposited straight into your savings account. Without having to do it yourself, you can give yourself more peace of mind knowing that your emergency funds are being taken care of, as reported by Bankrate’s 2024 emergency savings report.
Related: How to Save Money: 10 Tips to Build Your Savings
Use a banking app
By using a banking app you can quickly set up automated deposits without having to visit a bank branch. Some banking apps have a plethora of person