MSE Forum Poll: How often do you check your bank balance?

Eco_Miser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82004996#Comment_82004996

What about when they don't do well?

Dizzycap

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82005393#Comment_82005393

I thought the poll was about, 'How often you checked your bank balance?', not investments 🤔.

Personally, if I was checking my balanced portfolio of investments daily or even weekly, I would consider that more of an obsession of wealth rather than checking my bank account daily for anything that could potentially be draining my basic living finances / budget / standards, and/or my financial stability which ultimately spills into my overall wealth; which in imhho, is completely different.

Eco_Miser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82006779#Comment_82006779

. Quite!

Exodi

Pretty rarely, on payday my wife and I transfer money to the joint account for bills and normal spending, money to savings and investments, and leave £450 in our personal account for personal discretionary spending during the month.

I don't usually spend it all, so on payday I'll typically put what's left in savings and reset our £450.

Since I know I always have the money for an impulse coffee while out, there's not really any reason to check it ad hoc. I know many years ago I would check it all the time, but that was because I had much less discretionary income and an impulse coffee could very well put me in the red!

It's not that I don't have my eye on the ball, at payday I dump the bank statements into an excel sheet with a few clever formulas that spits out spend by categories, then do a brief analysis against our household budget.

Rob5342

I check mine about 4 times a day as a minimum, and whenever I have spent anything so it can be 15 times a day if I'm on holiday. It takes about 2 seconds in my banking app so it has become as routine as checking the time.

It appears you are my polar opposite! Obviously there is no right or wrong answer, but I am curious about why you check it so much? Is it just a habit?

Why do you check it after you have bought something, as you would already know how much it cost? Is it to update the mental balance in your head or some other reason?

Rob5342

It's just because it's so easy really, I have my phone out anyway to pay for things, so two seconds to check the balance before I put my phone away is virtually no extra effort. I could probably check the balance 10 times in the time it took me to type this.

I check it just to make sure I've been charged the right amount, and so I have an up to date balance in my head. I like to keep on top of everything in the same way I keep an eye on the time, check how much milk we have left etc.

LightFlare

monthly for me.

In the fortunate position that I don’t need to constantly check and my banking app shows any activity

I always have a rough idea how much is there anyway for affordability and have a reasonable head for numbers

I know how much is needed and can then judge any extras