Do you check your financials often? Do you keep track of your spending? Do you check your bank account everyday and balance your checkbook? Wait…how many people still use checkbooks? However you balance your financials, the important part is that you do and that you do it often. Checking up on your financials doesn’t make you a person who focuses on money or makes you look like a person centered around money. There are very important reasons for checking on your financials often.

Keep Track Of Spending

Have you looked at a bank statement or credit card statement and said what is this charge? Some businesses look different on the outside than the name they are registered with the bank. Know what you are spending, keep receipts if you need to, and ensure that every transaction is legitimate.

Don’t Miss A Payment

Keeping track of your financials will help you don’t miss a payment. I’ve accidentally missed credit card due dates and had the unfortunate pleasure of incurring interest because of this error. If you’ve done this, give your credit card company a call and ask if they can waive the interest because of this minor error especially if you have a good history with them. Before automatic payments weren’t an option but they are now. Even if you have automatic payments set, it’s still good to make sure that your payment goes out and goes out on schedule.

Are You Positive Or Negative?

Monitoring your financials can help you keep a historical trend. Are you barely getting by or are you saving money? Can you move extra money to other investment accounts ?

Know Your Financial Timing

Knowing when you get paid, when bills are due, and when payments go out are important. This helps prevent from bouncing any payments you have, ensuring you know what your balance is at all times, and making sure you have enough.

Adjust Your Investments

Check your financial investments often. Are they performing ok, bad, or well? Is your money invested in the right stocks or funds? With COVID-19, I had a hunch that tech stocks would do well with the increase in people forced to work from home. Technology was going to be a huge necessity. I wrote in another post that I sold some stocks I had and bought Apple stock. Luckily, the timing was great because they announced a 4-to-1 split! Take a look where you money is allocated and adjust accordingly.

Helps Adjust For Future Plans

Having a good understanding of your financials will help you forecast your future endeavors. If you have any future plans such as buying a house, buying a car, refinancing a mortgage, paying off school loans, home repairs, or other large financial transaction, this will help you budget and plan accordingly.

Look Out For Fraudulent Transactions

Checking your financials often can help identify fraudulent transactions. Scams and hackers using social engineering tactics are always targeting the vulnerable. Check your transactions especially now that transferring money can be done so quickly and so easily online. I just went through an incident with my family where they fell victim to this and it was a very long process to get this resolved. Be vigilant in this area.

Check Your Credit Score

To check your credit score, get your free annual credit report. You are allowed one free annual report from this site. Take the time to look through the report. Identify any accounts you do not recognize and dispute any inaccuracies. This gives you an opportunity to see what accounts you really need to keep opened.

Checking your financial accounts often is not a bad thing. Keeping up-to-date on what affects your future should be a priority so checking up on your financials is important. I used to not check my accounts every day, more like a few times a month. Now, I check my financials everyday. I’ve been a victim of Identity theft before so monitoring my financials is very important to me because of this experience. If you are interested in following my journey, email subscribe to get alerts of latest posts or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

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