The benefits of having all of your banking with one bank are obvious.
Primarily, it’s easy.
* Easy to open new accounts at your existing bank
* Easy to access all your accounts from the same app or website
* Easy to stay with that bank even though others may offer better products
But here are some very good reasons why you might not want to put all your banking eggs in the one basket.
“Spend less than you earn” is common financial advice. There is some truth in this. After all, if you consistently spend more than you earn, you will definitely end up with financial problems!
3 steps to get your finances under control –
* know what you are spending
* set a spending target that you can afford (budget)
* track your spending vs budget (and don’t over spend!)
If you already have CashTracker it’s very easy.
Like many things in life, credit cards in themselves are neither good nor bad – it depends how they are used. Used wisely, they can be a real asset in managing your finances. Used unwisely, well, things can quickly go from bad to worse.
My personal preference is to always fully pay off credit cards at the end of each month. This avoids interest charges. However you will need to be well organized to do this, particularly if you are on a tight budget.
Budgeting is all about living within your means. That means spending less than you earn. Here are some tips to help you spend less.
Avoid impulse buying
Ask yourself, do I really need it?
And do I really need it right now?
Can I postpone buying it?
Why doesn’t CashTracker link to your bank accounts?
This seems like such a great idea.
As good as that sounds, there are some serious drawbacks.
Discretionary spending is money that you may like to spend on certain things, but you don’t have to. It differs from money spent on fixed expenses that must be paid no matter what.
Some examples of fixed expenses might be –
Rent or mortgage payments
Car payments
Utility bills
Basic food items
Some people, when they start thinking about managing their finances, like to start setting budgets for everything. So much for car expenses, so much for holidays, so much for utility bills.
Anticipating expenses and allocating funds towards them is always good, but many expenses are somewhat out of our control. Once you get that car repair bill, there’s not much you can do about it. Right?
They say that failure to plan is planning to fail and this is definitely true for budgeting. The first step in any financial plan is to set a budget.
How to do that? It’s simple.
Ever borrowed money from a friend or family member and just forgot about it? That’s embarrassing!
Ever lent money to a friend or family member and then just forgot about it… and they did too? That’s money you have lost.
In many foreign countries credit and debit cards are not as widely accepted as in the west. Even more reason to keep some local currency cash and use Cash Tracker to keep track of it.
CashTracker 