Financial Planning Wiz
A financial advisor can ensure you’re saving enough to meet all your immediate and retirement needs. Find out what’s best for you and your retirement goals!
Important Links
Checking Account: A checking account offers a secure place to put your money and write checks to pay debtors.
Savings Account: A savings account offers a secure place to put your money usually with building interest.
Checking accounts are offered by most banks with little to no monthly fees. A checking account offers a secure place to put your money. Banks offer normal checking accounts, checking account with interest, and a savings account (usually with interest). Bank accounts also offer a great way to pay bills, by writing checks against the funds you deposited. This is a safer and more convenient way to send payments via mail. Cash can be lost or stolen, checks on the other hand, if they’re lost or stolen, can be canceled (stopped).
Banks offer a free to small fee on-line banking service. These services are available via the World Wide Web and your home computer. This offers a great way to check balances, see which checks have cleared, transfer funds between accounts, and manage all of your banking and savings accounts.
A checking account can help you manage your expenses, pay bills cheaply and quickly, obtain credit and manage your budget. Some banks offer direct money management with their on-line banking service. This allows you to create a budget online, pay bills, manage your money in many other different ways all on-line. These accounts can also send reminder notices when bills are coming due, or when funds are down set a specified amount, so you’ll know when your account is running low on funds and can stop you from having overdrafts and overdraft charges. For those of you that don’t want to do your banking on-line, you can use a register(s) to keep your banking account(s) in order. You can also call your bank for more account information; most banks offer free automated service and personal for-fee service to manage your accounts.
Usually most people look at banks and credit unions close to their home or work. Banks and credit unions are the safest places to open checking and savings accounts. It’s best to shop around, look for no-fee banking and savings, no-fee ATM use, and low prices for other services such as check purchases, bounced check fees, fees for using your ATM card at another banking institution (some banks charge heavily for this), and fees for not having minimum balances in account(s). All of these fees should be minimal. Make sure that the banking institution you choose is convenient and easy to get to. It’s hard enough to schedule time to tend with your budgeting and banking needs, but if your bank is hard to get to or is ALWAYS busy, or isn’t open on Saturdays, this may make it virtually impossible for you to manage your money effectively. Although on-line banking is a great way around this, there will inevitably be times you’ll need to go in, so make your investment in a bank count, not only in funds, low fees, but time as well.
Other items to think about when your deciding on a banking institution are:
A creditor, such as a department store or major credit card company like Visa, Master Card will extend a credit of funds for you use in participating stores. With a credit card you can pay back a percentage of what you owe each month. With some credit cards they require you bring your balance to zero each month, so read the small print and know what’s expected of you before you sign up. You’ll also want to look out for:
Credit can be an asset or a liability, so use it wisely. A credit card or two can help you build a positive credit report. However, if you start getting other credit cards to pay for the first credit cards, then you have a problem that’s going to get you strapped for funds not to mention bad marks on your credit report. Credit reports will also note any late payments or accounts sent to a collection agency. The more cards you have and the high credit limits will be detrimental to you and your credit, especially if your “bad” or “high” credit outweighs the “good” or “paid” credit. This will most definitely affect your credit score.
An ATM card allows you to use a plastic (credit card like) card to withdrawal funds from your checking and savings accounts. You can use this card at ATM machines which are located at most branches of your bank, in grocery stores, gas stations, convenience store, and many other areas, depending on your city area. Funds can be withdrawn 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At some stores such as grocery stores and convenience stores, you can not only pay for your purchase but you can get cash back as well. I you use the ATM card at your bank there will usually be no charge, however, if you use your card at another bank’s ATM machine you could be subject to a fee.
A debit card is an ATM card and a credit card in one. However there are some differences. With a debit card you can do normal ATM transactions where funds come out of your checking account immediately. OR you can use it as a credit card for business that don’t take ATM cards, HOWEVER, funds will still come straight out of your checking account! This more of a convenience card rather than a credit card.
Some popular services include:
Your Bank also offers a variety of Retirement Accounts to meet your needs:
FINDING A FINANCIAL ADVISOR
A financial advisor can ensure you’re banking and savings accounts meet all your immediate and retirement needs. Find out what’s best for you and your retirement goals! Learn more about the different asset allocation types, explore the areas above and fill out our online form to find a certified financial advisor in your area.
A financial advisor can ensure you’re saving enough to meet all your immediate and retirement needs. Find out what’s best for you and your retirement goals!