With the tax season closing out, now is the perfect time for you to take a new look at your banking habits and see what you can do to reach your financial goals. A goal that you may want to set this year is to maximize your savings. While spending less money is certainly one alternative for saving, optimizing how you bank is another. If you would like to make the most of your banking relationship in 2022 and save money, these useful banking tips can help.
Here are three personal banking tips to help you boost your finances this year:
Your emergency fund should still be a high priority for you
With the tumultuous COVID-19 pandemic losing its prevalence, you may think to yourself that your emergency fund is not important anymore, as the imminent threat has died down.
You would be wrong.
Your emergency fund is just as important now as it was during the pandemic. You definitely want to have emergency savings in case of unplanned hospital visits, auto repairs, house restorations, etc.
Ideally, you would want to have enough cash stowed away in your savings account to cover, at least, three months’ worth of expenditures. However, the more money you can store away in your savings account, the merrier!
Start by making a tremendous effort to set up an automated savings transfer from checking to savings to build your bank balance. Make sure that your money is working hard for you, earning as much interest as possible.
Feeling the burden of inflation? Adjust your budget
In recent years, for a multitude of causes, inflation boosted up. Although inflation cannot be controlled by us, paying close attention to it and adjusting your budget in 2022 will help you alleviate the hindrance of increased prices and help you avoid savings shortfalls.
Take the first step by reviewing your expenses and prioritizing your essentials, including mortgage payments, car payments, taxes, bills, rent, groceries, etc. Then, decide if any inessential expenses are necessary to continue purchasing. If not, cut them out of your budget and save that money.
Engage local banks
In this day and age, many believe that banking in-person has become obsolete. With online banking becoming more accessible and convenient, some people choose not to go to banks anymore. However, switching back from an exclusively online banking app to your local bank can benefit you in a multitude of ways.
When you use a local bank, you have a greater advantage of building real, in-person connections that you would not be able to make if you chose to bank from behind a screen. Building a robust relationship with your local bank can help you out in the long run when you need to take out loans, mortgages, student loans, start a business, etc. If you have that strong foundation, the local bank will factor what they know about your character and personal qualifications into loan decisions rather than just punching a credit score into an automated application engine.
In addition, your regional bank and business banker are a beneficial source of networking prospects for small, local businesses. Connecting with local suppliers, service providers and potential clients can fuel the local economy and allow businesses to flourish.
Lastly, remaining local allows for your money to stay local and benefit your entire community, a more socially responsible way to banking. Large banks send your money out to branches in other states and across the country in the form of loans and investments. When you bank locally, your community bank is funneling your money back into your neighborhood, growing your local economy and providing loans to your neighbors.
Community banks and credit unions are fully invested in the local communities that they serve and know that their success is tied to the health of the local economy. By banking locally, you are helping your neighbors and local businesses prosper.
Here is a directory listing of local banks that are members of the Meadowlands Chamber: https://local.meadowlands.org/BanksCredit-Unions
Looking forward to your future with banking
By using these simple yet effective steps, you will be changing the way you bank for the better! Implementing these steps into your personal and business-related banking habits will maximize savings and aid you to reach your financial goals for 2022.