Hot
Tips for managing your personal finance with ease!
Personal Finance
Software: Quicken & Microsoft Money
Chances are you have heard of personal finance software such as Quicken
or Microsoft Money. They often show up in the best selling software titles
list. I use Microsoft Money myself, and I highly recommend it. With Microsoft
Money, you can do everything from figuring out your spending habits, tracking
your investments, to planning for a large purchase such as a new car or
a new house. It also allows you to manage bills as well as keep an on-going
budget. It makes managing your finances both easy and fun!
Set Up Direct Statements
In order to fully utilize all the features offered, you need to have all
your credit card transactions, bank and brokerage transactions and other
financial related transactions entered into Microsoft Money. Microsoft
Money would then be able to use those data to generate reports and charts
that are helpful for understanding your own finances. The transaction
data need not be entered manually. Most credit card companies allow you
to download credit card statements from their website into software such
as Microsoft Money. Only few, however, let you download statements directly
within Microsoft Money software. With a single click, you get all your
credit card, bank, brokerage transactions accurately downloaded into Microsoft
Money. Following is a list of financial institutions with free support
for direct statement download within Microsoft Money.
Credit Card Companies:
American Express
Bank:
NetBank
Brokerage:
E*Trade
Bill Pay
Paying your bills online has become more and more popular. They save you
a lot of time, and you never have to worry about mailing those bill payments
and late fees again. However, this service often cost around $8 a month.
Recently, I discovered and signed up NetBank. You get full fledged bill
payment service with their interest checking account. You can pay anyone.
Not only do they give you free online bill pay service, they also charge
no monthly fee if you choose their free NetValue interest checking. Their
interest checking is completely fee-free with no minimum required. There
is a inactivity charge of $5 if there is no activity for three consecutive
months. NetBank also MS Money/Quicken direct statement download. For deposits,
you can mail them in with free postage-paid envelopes. To reduce the hassle,
I set up direct deposit to deposit my paychecks into my NetBank account
automatically. I can then use those money from paychecks to pay my bills
through bill pay. I find it very convenient.
Manage all your
online accounts
Do you have a long list of online accounts? If you are like me and have
everything from credit card accounts, bank accounts to frequent flyer
mileage accounts, wireless phone accounts, then you would benefit from
this free service offered by Citibank, which let you combine all your
accounts into one. Now you can view all your credit card balances, bank
account transaction, wireless phone usages as well as frequent flyer mile
balances in one place with one login! You can find out more about it on
their website.
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