An Easy Way to Make $1,400 By the End of This Year

Have you heard of the 52-week Savings Challenge? It’s so simple that it seems practically fail-proof. In a nutshell, you deposit money to a savings account once a week for an entire year (52 weeks). On week one, you deposit $1. Week two, you deposit $2. Week three you deposit $3 and so on. By week 52, after you deposit $52 to your savings account, you will have saved $1,378. That doesn’t include interest, so you’ll actually have more in your account by the end of one year. Check out this chart to see how the savings add up.

What I really like about this idea, aside from the ease of it, is that you can change it up a little to fit your own schedule without getting off track. For example, you may not have an extra $52 the week after Christmas. If you start the plan by saving $52 the first week in January and end by saving $1 the last week in December, that might work better.

You might prefer to save money with direct deposit every payday. That equates to about $53 every two weeks or $25 a week. Have that deposited into a Prize Savings Account, and you’ll have 52 more entries toward the Prize Savings Account’s $25,000 grand prize at the end of the year.  You’ll also have all those chances to win quarterly prizes throughout the year. Another option it to set up weekly transfers from your checking account to your savings account, through online banking.

The important thing is that you do something. Financial experts used to recommend that people have three months of income in savings. That was before the economy went bad. Now, they are recommending we save a minimum of six months of income. As prices rise and jobs take longer to find, we all have to save more than we used to. The 52-week Savings Challenge won’t get you all the way there, but it’s really good start.

Think of it like working out. The first time you go to the gym, you’re not going to run a mile on the treadmill or lift the heaviest weights. You’re going to start small and work your way up to a comfortable level. Savings in moderation is the best way to save without missing your money. Before you know it, you’ll forget you’re saving money at all. But boy will you be happy when you see an extra $1,400 in your account at the end of the year.

Get started now. We are in week five of January. Deposit your $5, plus your $10 from the four previous weeks. You’ll be well on your way to a year full of savings.

Making Life Easier with Online and Mobile Banking

What did we do before the Internet? Do you ever find yourself asking this question? I remember when I was a little girl and would ask my mom how to spell a word. She would tell me to look it up in the dictionary. Sadly enough, I’m not even sure I own a dictionary today. When my son asks me a question to which I don’t have an answer, I tell him to Google it.

The other day I was out and about and needed to deposit some checks in my credit union checking account. I’m that person who never remembers my account numbers. Never. But I am a wiz when it comes to remembering usernames and passwords. Before I pulled up to the drive-up lane, I grabbed my smartphone, logged in to online banking and found the account number I was looking for. Just a few minutes later, I was on my way to my next destination.

If you think about it, the internet has really revolutionized the way we manage our money. I’m not just talking about paying bills online or transferring money between accounts. I do everything online – manage my accounts, pay bills, manage my credit card, check interest rates, follow the credit union on Facebook. If I could, I would even deposit checks online.

Now that NCU has mobile apps, everything is even easier. The other day I needed to buy something and it was really close to payday. I wasn’t sure if I had enough money in my account to pay for it with my debit card. Out came my smartphone again, only this time, I didn’t have to surf the net. I pulled up my mobile app, transferred money from my other checking account and was good to go. If I needed to, I could have contacted a branch office or found a nearby ATM – all from the app on my phone.

When you were a teenager, did a parent or teacher show you how to balance a checkbook? Did you watch your mom write a million checks every month to pay bills? Did your mom or dad use an adding machine with a roll of paper on it to keep track of their calculations?

It’s hard to believe that we’ve come so far in such a short amount of time, but I encourage you to embrace it. Online banking and now mobile banking has made everything easier. If you are not using everything available in online banking, start doing it. If you haven’t yet downloaded the mobile banking app, do it. Once you do, you will never look back.

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The Benefits of Having Your Money in One Place

The history of online and mobile banking in Ireland ... so far (infographic)

The Benefits of Having Your Money in One Place

Busy people have a lot to think about, and who isn’t busy these days? I know I am, and whenever I can find a way to condense everything I have to think about, I’m much more productive. That’s one of many reasons I have most of my accounts at the same financial institution.

I’m not one of those people who moves money from account to account very often, but when I need to do it, I want it to happen immediately. I don’t want to go to online banking on financial institution A’s website and schedule a transfer to financial institution B or C, then wait up to three days for my money to get there. (And trust me. I do have one loan at a bank that takes longer to process auto payments than it does to process paper checks.) I want it done now. If my line-of-credit payment is due and I forget about it until the last second, I want to be able to transfer money from my checking account and pay the bill right then and there. If I need to buy something with my debit card and I’m out of money until pay day, I want to be able to transfer money from my secondary checking account without getting dressed, leaving my home and traveling to one or more branch offices to make sure there is money in that account.

Having your accounts in the same place could save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars over the years, not to mention countless hours of time. Think about it. Have you ever paid a late fee because you made a payment on time, but it didn’t reach the other financial institution on the same day? Or even worse, it reached the other financial institution, but they don’t post payments after a certain time of day? That is infuriating. Have you ever received a discount on services or had a fee waived because you had many accounts or services all in one place? Many insitituions and financial product offer this benefit, including Kasasa checking accounts.

What about budgeting? Have you ever had the luxury of doing your budget all from one online banking screen or program? It’s blissful and makes the budget process so much more painless.

Having your accounts in one place just makes life easier. As you finalize your financial goals for the year, think about condensing the number of credit cards you have, the number of loans you have and the number of financial institutions you have. You’ll be glad you did.

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Don't be a Prisoner to Your Budget

Don’t be a Prisoner to Your Budget

January is my “start over” month. I am one of those people who has to implement change gradually. By the end of January, I hope to have all my new plans in place.

This is the first January in many years that I have had to focus on our family budget so closely. 2012 was a difficult year for my family, financially, and my most important change this year is to try to get our family budget under control. That means coming to terms with the “B” word. Can you relate?

For years, I looked at budgets negatively. In my mind, having a budget meant limiting the amount of money I had to spend on the things I wanted, instead of the things I needed.

This year, I’m taking a different approach. My budget is not going to tell me what I can’t spend. It’s actually going to help me find the money I need to enjoy life a little more – even if it takes me a little longer to pay off the debt I incurred as a result of my husband being out of work last year.

A friend of mine has asked me to help her clean her home twice a month for $100. I don’t know yet how I will spend that money – debt, bills, or pleasure. What I do know is that I won’t be a prisoner to my budget this year. I’m not saying it will always be easy, but I’m going to do my best to make it work for me. Here’s how we can all make that work: 

1. Instead of paying your regularly scheduled bills once a month, pay half with one paycheck and half with the next paycheck. That may clear up your budget for other things. Paying credit card bills that way may actually help you pay them off faster, because reducing outstanding balance reduces the amount of interest charged to your balance.
2. Ideally, you want to pay more than the minimum payment on your credit card bills. Try doing this every other month, instead of every month.
3. Only pay for services you use. We never use our home phone, yet we continue to pay for it. Do you use all the cable channels you have? Call the company and work out a plan more compatible with the channels you watch.
4. If you have more than one credit card, pay off the smallest balance first. It’s the fastest way to add wiggle room to your budget.
5. Set aside a certain amount every paycheck for a splurge, whether you splurge immediately or save that amount for a larger purchase. Reward yourself for being responsible with your money.

Don’t be a prisoner to your budget. You still want to be responsible with your money and pay your bills on time, but make your budget work for you. For more help with budgeting, or to easily build a budget you can maintain, try FinanceWorks - a complimentary service of Neighborhood Credit Union or visit our Financial Education Center. 

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Goal Setting Made Successful

Goal Setting Made Successful

Happy New Year!  You know what’s coming next. It’s the question you may have answered 10 times already in the last two days. What is your new year’s resolution?

I prefer setting goals over resolutions, although many people consider that to be the same thing. The difference for me is that goals have specific action plans, short-term milestones and measurable outcomes. For example, if I want to lose weight, I’ll choose a specific number of pounds I want to lose, make a specific plan for how I will lose it, divide that goal into months or quarters, track my progress regularly and celebrate my victories. And that’s the abbreviated version. I don’t just “resolve” to lose weight. I make a plan that will help me be successful.

If you really want to make some changes in 2013, here are some tips for setting goals which can actually lead to success.

1. Set realistic goals you can achieve. You will not be successful if you set yourself up to fail. For example, if you have $20,000 in credit card debt and you can barely ends meet as it is, becoming debt-free by the end of the year may not be possible – even with a consolidation loan. Research consolidation options, take an honest look at your budget and decide how much you can spend each paycheck toward paying down your debt. It may be that you aim for $5,000 this year.

2. Step outside your comfort zone, but comfortably. Change requires doing something different. Doing something different is often uncomfortable. Challenge yourself to step outside your comfort zone, but do it in baby steps. If you’re afraid of heights, jumping off the high diving board may be a little extreme. You might start by climbing the ladder a few times, then actually standing on the board, then gradually inching your way to the edge before you jump.

3. Limit the number of goals you set at one time. The brain can only handle so much change at one time. To truly be successful, set your sights on two or three goals at the most. As you achieve one, you can add another, but give yourself time to truly focus on your goals and the adjustments those goals will require you to make.

4. Write your goals down, carry them with you and share them with others. The best way to keep yourself accountable is to put yourself out there. Tell the people in your life what you want to accomplish. Post your goals in prominent places in your home, office and car. Read them daily and live them.

5. Set intermediate milestones and celebrate your progress. Intermediate milestones help keep you on track. Celebrate the baby steps to the bigger picture.

Have you heard the definition of insanity? It’s doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If you want to change, you have to do something different. Good luck with whatever you set out to accomplish this year.