How to Monitor Your Finances from Home

Monitoring your money on the internet allows you to make changes or decisions quickly, but learning how to navigate the online personal finance world can be tricky when you are getting started. The keys to monitoring your finances from home are to get to know your online banking system, learn how to pay bills online, and utilize internet-based personal finance software.

 

 

Even the smallest banks now have online banking options for customers. At local banks, these online banking systems are basic. Think of them as an on-going bank statement. They provide information about what financial transactions have cleared your account. The biggest pitfall to online banking is that the information is not available in real-time. You can make a purchase today without it showing up for four business days.

 

These pending transactions are common at places like restaurants or gas station because a debit transaction is approved for an unknown amount (leaving open the possibility of a tip at a restaurant or filling up the tank at the gas station). The merchant then has to turn in those receipts to the bank, but the transaction doesn’t appear until it does. On some newer systems, pending transactions will show up, but if they don’t on your bank, be aware that more transactions may be out there.

 

Larger banks often have systems that allow for advanced online banking. You can plan out paychecks in advance and make payments on many of your bills all in one place. These banks also may link to investment opportunities to allow you to save and invest from your checking account login.

 

 

The benefit of paying a bill online is that you can wait until the last possible day to pay your bill. Most bill-pay systems will credit your account at the time that you submit your payment. Bill pay through your bank may take two to three days to process, though, so be sure you understand how the bill paying works before you submit your payment. Often going to the site of the company will result in faster processing. Using the credit card company’s site or the utility company’s site may mean the difference between an on-time and a late payment.

 

Another benefit of using online bill pay is scheduling of payments. You can schedule payments for the future from your computer. Many companies allow for recurring payments, so all you have to do is sign in and request that the same amount get charged to your account on a specific day of the month. Changing this payment only requires you to log back in and click a few buttons. You also can set up one-time payments for up to 30 days in advance. This system allows you to sit down at home once and make decisions about paying bills, reducing the time you spend on personal finance.

 

 

Mint.com is the most popular online personal finance software, but others exist as well. These programs attach to your bank account through secure connections and then import data from your bank account to their system. The software application then uses “best guess” algorithms to put your information into categories, so anything marked “Sal’s Italian” would go under your “dining out” heading. The systems all allow for customization to help you make changes if Sal’s Italian really is a clothier, for example. The software then will calculate how much you spend in each category and guide you to tracking changes over the next pay period. If you want to reduce your food budget, you can set up alerts to let you know when you are close to reach your budget. In this way, online personal finance software will give you an edge on how you are spending your money without you pulling out a register and logging every purchase.

 

Overall, the internet makes monitor your finances from home a simple process. There are tools for pretty much every situation and level of intervention and monitoring needed. Once you commit to banking and budgeting online, plan to spend an afternoon looking at your options to choose the one that will work best with your needs and personality. Then spend some time getting to know the systems you choose. Setting up online banking and bill pay should take only a few minutes for each system, but personal finance software often takes a few weeks of use to grow accustomed to the system. As you begin, plan out a time every few days to check in with your finances but enjoy that the process takes so little time using modern tools.