5 Essential Budgeting Tips
Now is a great time to check in on your goals for the year. Are you working to grow your savings, plan for the future, or tackle your debt? Whatever your current financial situation is, ECCU is here to help! No matter where you are in your financial journey, here are some practical ways to help you build your wealth.
Before reviewing your budget, take a moment to reflect on why you set your financial goals. What's your motivation for sticking to a budget even when it becomes challenging? Evaluate the progress you've made on the goals you set at the beginning of the year, or set new, specific, and realistic goals. Reconnecting with your motivation can make a huge difference in helping you stay focused and follow through on these budgeting tips!
5 Steps Toward Financial Freedom
Start Building an Emergency Fund
Emergencies aren't fun to think about, but it's arguably the most important thing to start with when it comes to savings. Being prepared is crucial when unexpected expenses arise.
In order to prevent going into high interest debt due to an emergency, we offer an Emergency Savings Calculator and figure out how much you need to start putting away.
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Target the Highest Interest Debt First
If you're carrying credit card debt, particularly from another financial institution with high interest rates, prioritize paying it off. With average credit card interest rates, overdue payments can be a significant financial burden. Consider switching to an ECCU Mastercard® with lower interest rates to help reduce costs.
Paying off debt can feel like an overwhelming goal, but ECCU can help you make your debt more manageable with debt consolidation. It's easier to spend borrowed money on a credit card, because you don't immediately feel the effects. A study from Dun & Bradstreet found that people spend 12% - 18% more when using credit cards instead of cash. Be aware of your spending, and how it will affect your goals.
Track Your Spending
Even small purchases add up, so be sure to monitor all your spending habits closely. Analyze your bank statements from the previous months and decide where you plan to reallocate or reduce your expenses. Explore budgeting apps that you can download on your mobile phone and always have at the tip of your finger. Budgeting apps can make tracking and categorizing your expenses easy and automatic.
Each month, look for patterns of overspending and evaluate your subscriptions. Where are you losing significant amounts of money over time? Consider reducing streaming services to one main platform for a while. Cancel or pause subscriptions that no longer provide value. Identifying and cutting out unnecessary expenses can free up money for savings.
Automate Saving as Much as Possible
Set up direct deposit or automatic transfers to your savings account. Direct deposit makes saving effortless because when money is automatically moved out of your checking account, it's easier to forget about spending it. Automate your bill payments to boost your credit score and remove the opportunity for a late payment fee. Consider coordinating your bill payments to happen soon after your paydays when your balances are the highest.
High-Yield Checking Accounts
One simple way to earn more money effortlessly is by opening up a high-yield checking account. With rates of up to 5.25% APY*, ECCU's High-Yield Checking Account helps you grow your savings without sacrificing flexibility. This checking account comes with no monthly fee, and offers all the conveniences of a traditional checking accounts, such as online banking and a debit card. Building wealth doesn't always require big steps, sometimes it's about integrating smart tools that work for you in the background.
Evaluate Your Purchase Decisions
When you're faced with a difficult decision, question yourself: "Is this purchase worth a delay in reaching my goal?" If not, try to restrain.
However, setbacks are part of the process. If you encounter challenges or miss a target, don't abandon your goals entirely. Seek guidance from our financial counselors, and together we can help you reach your financial goals this year.
Set up an appointment with a Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor today!
Checking Accounts: *APY=Annual Percentage Yield. Credit union rules and regulation apply. Other fees such as non-sufficient funds, overdraft, continuous overdraft fees, etc. may apply. See the Fee Schedule for more details. Free gift may be reported on a 1099-INT or 1099-MISC. Free gift is provided at time of account opening. We reserve the right to substitute a gift of similar value.
Rate Information: For dividend bearing accounts, the dividend rate and APY may change every dividend period based on the determination of the Credit Union Board of Directors. Hi-Yield Money Market Accounts are subject to a tiered rate. Your account will earn dividends according to the average daily balance in your account related to the table above.
Minimum Balance Requirements: The minimum balance requirements applicable to each account are stated above. For savings accounts, the minimum balance is included in all reports listing balance information, but is not included in the "available balance." If the minimum daily balance is not met each day of the dividend period, you will not earn the stated Annual Percentage Yield.
Minimum Balance to Avoid Fees: If the minimum daily balance shown above is not met during each day of the dividend period, you will be charged a service fee as stated in the Fee Schedule.
Nature of Dividends: Dividends are paid from current income and available earnings, after required transfers to reserves at the end of a dividend period.
Compounding and Crediting: The dividend period is monthly from the 1st day of each month to the last day of each month and dividends will be calculated on your Average Daily Balance for each day on which your balance equals or exceeds the required minimum balance.
Balance Computation Method: For dividend bearing accounts, dividends are calculated by the Average Daily Balance method which applies a daily periodic rate to the principal in your account each month.
Accrual on Dividends: Dividends will begin to accrue on cash deposits on the business day you make the deposit to your account. For dividend bearing accounts, dividends will begin to accrue on the business day that you deposit non-cash items (e.g. checks) into your account. If you close your account before accrued dividends are credited, you will not receive the accrued dividends.
Fees for Overdrawing Accounts: Fees may be imposed on each check, draft, item, ATM Card withdrawal, debit card point of sale, pre-authorized automatic debit, telephone initiated withdrawal or any other electronic withdrawal or transfer transaction that is drawn on an insufficient available account balance.
The entire balance in your account may not be available for withdrawal, transfer or paying a check, draft or item. You may consult the Funds Availability Policy for information regarding the availability of funds in your account. A fee of $30 for overdrawing your account may be imposed for each overdraft, regardless of whether we pay or return the draft, item or transaction. If we have approved an overdraft protection limit for your account, such fees may reduce your approved limit. If a member account goes negative, they have 60 days to repay to return the account to a positive balance.
Please refer to the Fee Schedule for current fee information.
Fee and Charges: Fees could reduce the earnings on an account.
Free Mobile Banking: Data rates may apply.
High-Yield Checking: The highest dividend rate only applies to balances up to $20,000. In order to receive the highest dividend rate each month the following actions must be met on a monthly basis: 12 debit card transactions per month, and have an active direct deposit. If the actions are not met the dividend rate for the month will be 0.25%, regardless of the balance.
