7 Ways to Automate Your Finances and Supercharge Savings

And if that wasn’t enough, it will protect your credit score (since you won’t have to worry about late payments). Rent is an example of something that is harder to pay automatically, but you can still ask your landlord or building manager if you can set up automatic electronic payments. I’m sure they will be happy to know they won’t have to worry about collecting monthly rent.

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Don’t Make Automatic Payments With Credit Cards

She discovered her rent had stopped processing — a problem she had to scramble to fix. Don’t put rent on autopay if you’re not comfortable with that, but try little bills like phone bills,” she suggests. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors, LLC (“HH”) is an SEC registered investment adviser located in Long Beach, California.

“Monthly convenience fees” are charged by insurance companies for the ability to pay monthly vs annually. Automation works best if you’re also conscious to check that everything is going according to plan. Before you decide to go all-in, you have to make sure you’re the type of person who can keep track of the dates your money gets deducted from your account and make sure there’s always enough money. You can do the same with your mortgage payments by setting up a standing order or direct debit request. Set time on your calendar each month to make transfers to various investment options, such as Money Market Funds, Fixed deposits, brokerage account or any other investment. If you’re not employed, or if your employer doesn’t provide a pension fund, you can sign up individually with one of the many private pension providers then go ahead and set up a standing order.

How Does Automatic Bill Payment Work?

Adopting automated solutions allows businesses to gain a competitive advantage while increasing the speed of invoice processing. Had the business used a coordinated strategy, the accounts payable team could have chosen a tool that allows integration with the existing accounting software. While companies can put expenses like subscription fees on autopay, most expenses require approval before releasing https://www.bookstime.com/articles/bill-pay-automation payment. While not every bill can be charged to a credit card (rent and utilities are rare), plenty can be—think Netflix subscriptions, exercise classes, and phone bills. While you always need to pay attention to your money, you don’t necessarily have to touch it to make it work harder for you. But are you maximizing its potential for helping you manage the complete spectrum of your personal finances?

We may receive compensation from the providers of some products mentioned in this article. This content has not been provided by, reviewed, approved or endorsed by any advertiser, unless otherwise noted below. Because you’re self-employed, you probably don’t have access to a traditional 401(k), but you should look into a Solo 401(k) and SEP-IRA, which are great alternatives. Luckily, she has fifteen days to get it right, and by politely passing on an invitation to dine out she gets back on track. I want to help you make smart decisions with your money so that you can achieve your goals and fulfill your values. Mortgage, utilities, tuition costs, memberships, subscriptions and more – you can automate them all to eliminate worrying over whether you paid a bill or not.

The Downside of Automation

Still, automating at least some of your expenses can save you a boatload of time and trouble. And thanks to technology, automating your finances is now easier than ever. Irregular incomes, like those of freelancers, are difficult to plan for. Some months you might earn close to nothing, others you’re flush with cash. This situation calls for some changes to your spending and savings. I suggest replicating the above system on the 1st and the 15th—with half the money each time.

For vendors who do not accept cards, you can do cross-border B2B money transfers, remit services, and even set up automatic payments for recurring salaries of remotely-working employees. Remember, though, automatic payments don’t give you a pass from monitoring bills and account statements. Be sure to review all those things before the money comes out of your checking account in order to avoid overdrafts or fraudulent payments. You can make automated budgeting and saving as simple or complex as you like. For example, you can set up multiple checking and savings accounts for specific purposes, like vacation and emergency funds. If you’ve got investment accounts, you can also set up recurring payments to them.

Streamline your bill payment process

When it comes to paying bills, there are two types of people. Jackie Lam is an L.A.-based personal finance writer who is passionate about helping creatives with their finances. Her work has appeared in Forbes, Mental Floss, Business Insider, and GOOD.

Consider taking time once or twice a month to review the transactions and make sure they’re accurate. You can also use a budgeting app or your bank’s app to track your balances and make sure you aren’t overspending. As someone who thrives by systems, my money flow is far more complicated than it needs to be. I have about seven different accounts for my spending, saving, and investing needs.

Why you should use automated bill payments

I have spoken to a lot of people who don’t know whether their employer provides a pension benefit or not. This means they also don’t know if they’re contributing towards it and if they are, they don’t know exactly how much is being deducted from their paycheck. “I never had an issue so had gotten a little lazy about checking to see if it went through,” she says. Then she realized she had a much larger bank balance than she expected.

That means taking a close look at the money coming in and going out each month, including the specific dates of those deposits and withdrawals. Once you’ve decided what accounts you’ll use to pay bills, make a list of all your due dates and then see if those dates work with your cash flow. For example, if you’re paid bimonthly and rent is due on the first of the month, you may want to pay the bulk of your bills after your mid-month paycheck on the 15th. Then try to get all dates moved to just after the 15th, or at the very least, move to the second half of the month.

Setting up automatic bill payments saves you precious time that you can reinvest into your business. It also prevents troublesome late payments, which can result in overdraft fees on your checking account or debit card, damage your credit score, and increase your interest rates. It’s as simple as setting up autopay to ensure your bills get paid automatically or using AI-software to check invoices for accuracy and send them for approval. Our unlimited virtual cards are great for setting up automatic recurring payments. You also enjoy amazing cashback offers of up to 5% on all FX transactions, making spending a way to save! Our virtual cards can even get added into your Google Pay app to do payments at POS machines as well.

Don’t stop until you’ve automated as much as possible with your finances, taking the work off your shoulders and making it easy to stay on track with your finances. Set up a separate tax account at another bank and make sure you only use the funds to pay your taxes. File your estimated taxes https://www.bookstime.com/ quarterly, paying the amount you set aside from each time you got paid to stay on track with your taxes. To automate your money to go to your investments, you can easily set up automatic deposits with an online brokerage account. You choose the amount and frequency, and they handle the rest.