Money •money • money • where did it go so fast?
Alright you got moved into the new place, got your documents all together, now you need to head to the bank.
- Checking account, with direct deposit, all set up!
- Savings account, done!
- Safety deposit box … wait why do I need a safety deposit box?
You should have a safety deposit box for such things as jewelry, coin collections, and stamp collections, etc. A few things you should not put in your safe deposit box, your will, medical directives, durable power of attorney, and passports. Why not put them in there it is after all a safe deposit box, it is protected by the bank right. Not really, the FDIC protects the money you have in the bank but not your valuables in a safe deposit box. You need to buy your own insurance for that.
Another reason not to put wills and medical papers in the box is because, if you are the only signer on your account, if you become ill or heaven forbid you were to die, no one else could get into your safe deposit box. If you die, the bank can seal the box and even if you have an executor for your estate and it could take weeks or months before it can be opened. Even your attorney can’t gain access to manage your estate. If your will is in that box the executor would have to petition the court for an Ex Parte Order to have the bank inventory the contents, just to see if the will is in there. How quickly this is done depends on the state you live in and the bank.
Did you have any idea things could get so complicated just because you wanted to save your stamp collection in a safe deposit box?
Bank Account is set up • Now what??
Finally now that you have your bank account all set up did you realize how much money it was going to take to get moved into your new house? Money for moving expenses, money for utility deposits, money to stock the cupboards and on and on……
Write it down and save a backup!
How do you keep track of all those expenses? Did you forget to write down a check or maybe forgot about that quick trip to the gas station with the debit card? In this day and age of technology we sometimes forget that occasionally we have to write things down instead of just depending on the computer all the time. Don’t get me wrong I love my computer for its efficiency but I have had enough of them crash to not have a paper backup, so I know how much I have in the bank before I get my computer up and running again?
A check register is a good place to start! Some of you might ask what the heck a check register is. Probably a few of you a giggling at this point saying, is she serious, thinking we don’t know what a check register is! Surprisingly there are quite a few folks out there that use a debit card and have never even written a check. They just go to the ATM get a receipt and if it says I have XX amount of dollars then that’s what I have. Maybe they forgot that they have an automatic payment coming out of their account or one transaction that got put in as credit instead of debit. • Oh no did overdraft charges just hit the account. It is a good idea to write down all of your money transactions in a register, not just the checks you write but debit transactions too. At the end of the month you can reconcile the register against the bank statement and your computer accounting program.
Here’s just a quick example of what the numbers are on a check and a basic check register to show you how to get started.
Now get out you pencils and get started taking charge of your spending habits. We will chat later about getting those budgets started. Talk to you again soon, be sure to check in on my social media pages.
