How much time do you spend monitoring your finances?

[Deleted User]

Smile banking home page is my internet home page. I check my current, saving and visa accounts first thing every day.

I check lloyds when a cheque has gone in so that I know to move the cash as soon as it has cleared

I check our three savings accounts elsewhere at least once a week

I have no debts and never need an overdraft because everything is put on MS money and I move cash as needed. I love watching the money pot grow and just cannot understand the head-in-the-sand people who never look at their accounts

$17mma

choccyface2006 wrote:

I spend about 5 minutes a day on Microsoft Money and internet banking just to keep on top of things but I can spend ages analysing my spending, its facinating!

Sarah

I find it fascinating too! I am viewing accounts, adding up, multiplying etc... for so long that I usually time out! :rotfl:


What is mircosoft money? am I missing something :think:

LittleWoman_3

I work for a company looking after thier money. I decided to save £1,200 a year by switching to online banking. Once a week I set up all the bill payments for the following weeks to pay suppliers. The bank told me that as long as there is money in the account at 3.30pm the previous day they would automatically go through. But as I discovered this is not always true! If any cheques subsequently arrive, and there is not enough money for both - the bill payments get moved to the following day, even if additional money arrives or is transferred to cover the cheques! (Not helpful if a salary payment!) Because this is a company which has substancial amounts of cash, it is kept in a special deposit account (negotiated with the bank, when I threatened to take it elsewhere to get a better rate of interest, and they mentioned this account existed!) I check the account about 5 times a day, to move money arround. Large sums of money are received from overseas, but it can be days before they show up (back dated) on the account.

What really annoys me about all this, is that the company also has an account (with a UK Bank) in Hong Kong. I can get all the information I need immediately using internet banking including details of funds arriving, the moment they arrive. (Payments within Hong Kong Banks are free and immediate). I can make a payment from Hong Kong to our account (different bank) in the UK and the money arrives in 2 hours. We always pay ALL bank charges from Hong Kong as they are £3-£12, rather than the £7-£45 in the UK. Oh and best of all, we don't pay any additional transaction charges, monthly charges - and although we only have 1 account, money is held seperately in as many currency we want (usually the one it arrive in, so no exchange rate charges for conversion). We went to thier UK bank (high st) and they admitted they could not offer the same service. By the way, it is true the more money you have, the less problems you have with the banks!

sly_dog_jonah

Checking my numerous accounts takes a couple of minutes each working day with Egg Money Manager. No point checking at weekends as nothing happens (except cash withdrawals appear).

Tracking everything in an Excel spreadsheet takes a little longer, especially as Cahoot don't allow you to download transaction details in a easy to use format.

choccyface2006

$17mma wrote:

I find it fascinating too! I am viewing accounts, adding up, multiplying etc... for so long that I usually time out! :rotfl:


What is mircosoft money? am I missing something :think:

Microsoft Money is Microsoft's personal finance software for computers using the Microsoft Windows operating system. A verison is also available for Windows Mobile. The latest version is called Microsoft Money 2005.

I couldn't be without it now, I absoluly love it and am always raving on about it to my friends and family who are not MSEs! I struggle more with Excel so its perfect for me, without it I wouldn't be able to budget for my holiday or other major purchases so effectivly. I can analyse my spending habits for hours. The more you put into it the more you get out of it though, so I break down all my transactions including cash withdrawals so I can see exactly what I have been spending on!

Sarah