If you’ve been searching for a checking account that offers rewards similar to a credit card, search no further. PerkStreet^SM has what you’ve been looking for with rewards that pave previously been unheard of!

While many people choose a checking account based on interest rate, the truth is, without a ridiculously high balance it’s nearly impossible to earn anything meaningful. Not any longer, not with a PerkStreet Financial℠ Visa® Debit Card. Why? With the checking accounts that pay you interest on your balance, it’s a totally different game.  Your checking account balance goes up and down as you spend, so the interest you‟re earning on your account is on a smaller balance than you might think. Wouldn’t it be better to earn rewards on what you spend?

Customers of PerkStreet Financial^SM can now take advantage of the following offer:

• Earn 2% cash back on every non-PIN purchase when your balance is $5,000 or more, or earn 1% cash back for balances below $5,000. Either way, you won’t find another bank in America that gives you more rewards on debit.

• Plus, earn 5% cash back for the rest of June and July when you purchase ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s, Culver’s, Dairy Queen and Cold Stone Creamery; make home improvement purchases at Lowe’s, Home Depot and Menard’s; or buy gas by paying at the pump.

As a customer, you’ll be eligible to hear about and participate in other special opportunities to earn up to 5% throughout the year.

No bank gives you more free ATMs than PerkStreet^SM

• PerkStreet^SM gives you access to the largest free ATM network in the country (STARsf®)
• Located in the places you already go – CVS®, Walgreens®, Target® and 7-Eleven® and more
• These ATMs aren’t branded PerkStreet^SM but they are completely free to PerkStreet^SM customers.

PerkStreet^SM Checking Account Features:

• A free online checking account with the most debit card rewards in America
• No cap on the amount of rewards you can earn – with no annual fee
• 37,000 free ATMs nationwide – no bank gives you more free ATMs
• Fast live phone service, 24/7
• No minimum balance requirement
• No monthly fees when you use your account
• Easy and fast online account sign up, with just a $25 opening deposit
• Free online banking and bill pay
• FDIC-insured deposits, up to $250,000
• Funds are protected from fraud by the Visa Zero Liability policy

Take a few minutes and investigate the PerkStreet Financial℠ difference. I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised and excited about changing where you have your checking account!

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Checking account statements, retirement account statements, credit card statements, savings account statements, W-2’s, tax returns, paycheck stubs, cancelled checks, insurance policies. The list of financial paperwork and files can grow to immense proportions and if you don’t purge every now and then, the paperwork you should keep might become harder and harder to find.

Here are some tips to decide which financial papers to keep and how long to keep them:

Trash these the day you get them (preferably shred them):

• Marketing materials sent with any statement.
• Credit card solicitations.

Trash these after one month:

• ATM Slips (until you reconcile your banking account statements).
• Receipts (until you reconcile your banking account statements).
  Make sure you don’t plan to return the item and that you don’t need the receipt for future warranty claims.

Trash after one year or after you’ve filed your taxes (ALL these should be shredded):

• Bank statements.
• Brokerage statements.
• Credit card bills.
• Utility bill statements.
• Social Security statements.
• Courtesy of Andy at Saving to Invest (from the comments): I would recommend keeping paychecks. Keep 12 months from your current employer, and then maybe your first and final one from past employers. These could be very useful if asked for employment references etc. Also a good way to see how your pay changes over your career.

Trash only after seven years (and shred these as well):

• IRA contribution records.
• Retirement statements (401-k, ESOP, SEP).
• Records of charitable donations.
• Flexible spending account records.
• Tax returns and supporting documentation.
• Records from previously sold real estate.
• Child care records.
• Records on investment purchases.

Keep as long as you own it:

• Insurance policies.
• Receipts for important purchases (jewelry, art, technological devices, antiques).
• Titles and warranties.
• Receipts for renovations, upgrades, or improvements to your personal home.

Never throw away:

• Military records.
• Real estate, jewelry, or art appraisals.
• Birth certificates.
• Financial aid documents.
• Estate planning paperwork (wills, trusts, etc.).
• Power of attorney (special, medical, durable).
• Stock certificates (those are becoming rare!).
• Adoption papers.
• List of contacts (banker, stock broker, lawyer, physician, next-of-kin).
• Deeds.
• Divorce papers.
• Citizenship papers.
• List of credit card numbers, banking account numbers, brokerage account numbers, and insurance policies with contact information for each).

Where to keep all these papers?

We generate far too much paper (in my opinion) but much of it is necessary in our society. If possible, consider moving much of your paperwork to a digital format by scanning each of these documents and allowing a service such as Mozy or Carbonite to back up your hard-drive.

Another option is to use a safe deposit box at your bank, but beware: the contents of your safe deposit box are not specifically insured by the bank in many cases. However, you can usually get a rider on your homeowners insurance policy that will cover safe deposit box contents. Some banks DO offer an insurance policy on your belongings should they become damaged or destroyed.

What other important financial papers do you own and what have you been told about how long to keep them?

Photo by Marcin Wichary

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I haven’t talked much about my peer to peer lending activities, mostly because I’m still in the evaluation stage and I’m only one year into it. But peer to peer lending through organizations like Lending Club have gained a lot of popularity in recent years. I have made some paper profits from person to person loans, though I haven’t invested all that much yet (a little less than $1,000).

The main thing to consider is that you literally ARE becoming a bank. You are lending your own money to people you know only from an application. You could lose money. You should diversify. You have to think like a banker.

When I do invest, I consider several factors and you might consider adopting these if you decide to become a lender yourself:

First, I never invest (or lend) money I can’t afford to lose.

These person to person loans are not like a CD at a bank – they aren’t guaranteed and are not secured loans – so I don’t invest the kid’s college money or my emergency fund in them. Those investments are reserved for traditional (or online) banks such as ING Direct, Ally Bank, or another online bank.

Second, I never invest (or lend) money I’ll need anytime soon.

Peer to peer lending sites typically allow loans to be repaid to investors over the course of three years, sometimes longer. Your money isn’t readily available from the lending site, but you can possibly sell your loan on the open market. Chances are pretty good you’ll take a hit, so to avoid that loss, I make peer to peer lending investments with “play money.”

Third, I factor in the fees when calculating my returns.

Prosper lenders pay a 0.5% to 1% annual servicing fee, based on the balance of the loan outstanding. Lending Club charges 1% of all payments received each month. If one of my loans goes to collections, I know I’m responsible for the collection agency’s fees. Those fees can take a bite out of your potential returns.

Fourth, I think like a bank.

Having been a banker for 5 years, I’m aware of the dangers of lending to people with varying degrees of credit worthiness. I also make certain I understand the logistics of each peer to peer lending site, whether Prosper or Lending Club. Lower credit grades DO command higher interest rates, but the risk of losing is also higher. So, when picking borrowers, it helps to think like a bank. I make sure I diversify among different borrowers and different credit grades. For example, if I had another $1,000 to lend, I would split that among 10 or 20 borrowers. Of course, $50 per loan may sound like small potatoes, but that’s exactly how most peer to peer loans get funded – a little at a time from a wide variety of investors. I would also diversify among credit grades by putting 20 percent of my money into a higher risk category, 30 percent into medium risk, and 50 percent into lower risk borrowers who are paying the lowest rates.

Peer to peer lending is a great option

For investors, it allows us to capture a little better return than those offered through traditional banking channels, albeit at a higher risk. For borrowers, person to person lending allows them to acquire cash at a lower rate than through a traditional banking channel. In short, we’re cutting out the middle man.

What factors in peer to peer lending do you think are important?

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According to the Wall Street Journal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) now lists 775 banks considered to be in trouble. What if your bank is amongst them? What if your bank fails? What will happen to your money? If the account is insured, how long does it take to get your money?

For the vast majority of people with deposits in one of these banks, there will be very little to worry about. Few banks ever truly fail, that is, close up shop and completely go away. What the FDIC generally does is arrange a sale of the troubled bank and it’s deposits to a more stable, healthy bank. But even if your bank does close, if it was operating under the FDIC, you still have very little to worry about.

There are two types of transactions handled by the FDIC when a bank becomes insolvent:

1. Purchase and Assumption Transaction.

This is the preferred and most common method, where a healthy bank assumes the insured deposits of the failed bank. Insured depositors of the failed bank immediately become depositors of the assuming bank and have access to their insured funds.

2. Deposit Payoff.

When there is no open bank willing to acquire the deposits, the FDIC will pay the depositor directly by check up to the insured balance in each account. These payments usually begin within a few days after the bank closing.

How long before the FDIC reimburses depositors in a Deposit Payoff?

If the FDIC cannot arrange a sale to a healthy bank, Federal law requires the FDIC to make payments of insured deposits “as soon as possible” upon the failure of an insured institution. Though every bank failure is unique, there are standard policies and procedures that the FDIC follows in making deposit insurance payments. It is the FDIC’s goal to make deposit insurance payments within two business day of the failure of the insured institution.

Some deposits may require supplemental documentation from the depositors. The sooner that documentation is provided to the FDIC, the sooner it can make payments!

What about accrued interest on my deposits?

The FDIC’s insurance coverage includes principal and interest through the date of the bank failure up to the applicable insurance limit for each deposit (currently $250,000 for each insurable account). But once the bank is closed, the interest will stop accruing. If the healthy bank acquires your deposits from the failed bank, you will have to establish new interest rates with it. The acquiring bank may change the interest rate on your deposits, but you can withdraw your insured funds without penalty if you so choose. If no acquiring bank is found for the deposits and the FDIC pays the depositors directly for their insured amounts, interest does not accrue past the date of failure.

What happens to my direct deposits if my bank closes?

If the failed bank is acquired, all direct deposits, including any Social Security payments, will automatically be re-directed to the deposit accounts at the acquiring bank.

If there is no acquiring bank, the FDIC typically attempts to find a nearby bank to take over the direct deposit function temporarily, to make Social Security and other government annuity payments available to the customers. Specific information about any changes in the payment of direct deposits will be made available at the office locations of the failed bank.

What happens to checks and automatic payments that have not cleared an account before my bank is closed?

When the failed bank’s deposits are assumed by an open bank, some or all of the offices typically reopen the next business day and there is usually no interruption in the processing of checks drawn on the failed bank. An exception to this procedure may include checks that were drawn against a deposit account that has been determined to be uninsured or an account that the deposit insurance determination is pending.

In a payoff, however, any outstanding transactions or checks presented after the bank has closed cannot be paid or charged against the account. The FDIC needs to freeze all deposit accounts at the time the bank is closed to quickly pay the depositors for the insured deposit balances in their accounts. Any outstanding checks or payment requests presented after the bank failure will be returned unpaid and will be marked to indicate that the bank is closed. This does not reflect on your credit standing. However, it is your responsibility to make other funds available to creditors who receive checks that were returned and did not clear your deposit account because of the bank closing.

Can I continue to use my checks and deposit slips at the new bank?

If there is an acquiring bank, it will accept the checks and deposit slips of the failed bank for a short time. You will receive information about new checks and deposit slips from the acquiring bank. Otherwise, no, you should not continue to use those old checks.

If I have more than $250,000 in a closed bank and I am paid $250,000 by the FDIC, what happens to the amount in excess of $250,000?

If for example, a depositor has only a single account with a balance of $255,000, he or she would be paid $250,000 through FDIC insurance and would receive a claim against the estate of the closed bank for the remaining $5,000 which is not insured. The depositor would be given a Receiver’s Certificate as proof of this claim and would receive payments as the assets of the bank are liquidated.
It is possible to have deposits of more than $250,000 at one insured bank and still be fully insured if the deposits are maintained in different categories of legal ownership.

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Cashier’s checks have historically been regarded as a trusted form of payment but recently, they have been used to scam consumers and sellers of goods, particularly over the Internet. Most banks give you access to the funds represented by a cashier’s check the next day, but it can take several days to several weeks before your account is debited in a cashier’s check scam. In the meantime, you may have irrevocably wired the funds to a scam artist or otherwise spent the cash, only to find out later, when the fraud is detected, that you now owe the bank the full amount of the fraudulent cashier’s check that had been deposited into your account.

Example of cashier’s check scams

You advertise a vehicle (or laptop, or furniture, or digital SLR camera, etc)  for sale in the paper, on Craigslist, eBay, or on a flyer at the grocery store and get one person who seems to be particularly interested. Though your asking price is a little high, this buyer doesn’t bat an eye and asks if you’ll accept a cashier’s check for the full price. You can’t believe your luck that this guy doesn’t even want to negotiate the price down. “Of course,” you reply.

Two hours later, your buyer shows up with a very official looking cashier’s check (it even has an embossed seal) made out to you for the full amount. You sign the Bill of Sale, assign the title to him and he drives off in your old car. The next day you deposit the cashier’s check but two weeks later, your bank calls to tell you that the check was fraudulent … no good … fake … worthless.

Excess purchase price scam using a cashier’s check

Same scenario. You sell your car to Mr. Buyer for $8,900 but his cashier’s check is made out to you for $9,800. “Oops, my mistake! I should’ve noticed that, those tellers must have heard me wrong. Can you just write me a personal check for the $900 difference?” he asks. “Why not?” you reason, “after all this is a certified cashier’s check.” And he cashes your check that day AND makes off with your vehicle. You’re out the $900 as well as your car.

Other cashier’s check scams

Anytime someone sends you a cashier’s check and asks you to deposit it to your own account, then wire money to a third party – IT IS A SCAM. Just count on it, no questions asked.

Scams can come in the form of a “mystery shopper” company that sends you a check to purchase goods at local stores but to then transfer a portion of the money to a third party. They can come from an attorney saying you inherited a large portion of money but need to pay the processing fee.

They’re all scams!

The result of these scams is that the fraudulent check will be returned unpaid. The bank will then deduct the amount of the check from your account or otherwise seek repayment from you, and you will lose either the goods that you sold, the money that you sent to the third party, or both.

How can you tell if a cashier’s check is fraudulent?

Short answer: you probably can’t. It can be very difficult for either you or your bank to tell. Scammers try to make the item look genuine to delay discovery of the fraud. And they DO look like the real thing – the check may even be drawn on YOUR bank.

Laws meant to help consumers may actually hurt them in these fraud cases. When you deposit a check into your account, your bank generally is required by law to make the funds available within a specific period of time (usually, one business day for a cashier’s check or other official instrument). This is true even if the check has not yet cleared through the banking system. Therefore, even if the funds have been made available in your account, you cannot be certain that the check has cleared or is “good.”

Your bank also may not be able to determine that the check is fraudulent even if you deposit it in person. Rather, your bank may learn of the problem only when the check is returned unpaid by the other bank – which may take a couple weeks or more. Once the item has been returned unpaid, your bank, generally, will reverse the deposit to your account and collect the amount of the deposit from you.

What steps should you take to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraudulent cashier’s check scams?

• Know who you’re dealing with … or find out. Verify as much information as possible, even if it means having to wait a day or so to make the sale. Scammers often deal on weekends when banks are closed, so be prepared to lose this sale. It’s better than losing your money.
• Never accept a check for more than the purchase price. Why would this buyer be so willing to trust you anyway?
• Never call the bank’s phone number that’s listed on the check – look it up online instead. That number probably goes to one of the scam artist’s associates.
• If possible, call the bank listed on the check and verify its legitimacy.
• Consider using a reputable escrow agent or an online payment system for Internet sales.
• Be very suspicious if someone wants you to wire money.
• Reject any “prizes” you have to pay for.
• Demand cash as payment.

If you’ve become a victim of cashier’s check fraud

What are your rights?

If you find yourself in this situation, you ordinarily would have a remedy against the person who wrote the check. However, you will have great difficulty pursuing any remedy against these scammers, especially if they reside in a foreign country or have disguised their identities.

In addition to contacting the appropriate banks, there are others whom you also should notify if you receive a counterfeit item. They include:

• Scams, generally–Federal Trade Commission (FTC): by telephone at 1-877-FTC-HELP or file an electronic complaint via their Internet site at www.ftc.gov.
• Internet-based scams–Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Internet Fraud Complaint Center: www.ic3.gov.
• Mail-based scams–U.S. Postal Inspector Service: by telephone at 1-888-877-7644, by mail at U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Office of Inspector General, Operations Support Group, 222 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 1250, Chicago, IL 60606-6100 or via e-mail at http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/MailFraudComplaint.htm.

Scams also may involve other types of checks. For example, the fraudulent check may appear to be written on the account of a real person or company or be written on an account that contains insufficient funds to cover the check. Other scams involve fraudulent postal service money orders or fraudulent money orders that appear to have been issued by a bank.

Photo by paf23

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Complaints against banks have been on the rise for a few years now, most of them relating to customer service and specific individual bank policies that don’t necessarily violate any laws or regulations. But, if you have a legal complaint against your bank and they have failed to address it, where do you turn? What do you do? Who should you complain to? Answer: The Federal Reserve.

The process

After you file a complaint, an appropriate Federal Reserve representative will determine the nature of your complaint and forward it to the appropriate regulator. You should receive your first response within 15 days, telling you whether the Federal Reserve will be handling your complaint, or another (more appropriate) agency. The complaint will be processed according to each agency’s established investigation procedures. You should receive a determination within 60 days.

Is your complaint legitimate?

You can file a complaint if you believe your bank has been unfair or misleading, discriminated against you in lending or on a mortgage, or violated a law or regulation. The Federal Reserve investigates complaints related to federal consumer protection laws, such as the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Truth in Lending Act.

How do you file a complaint?

First, try to settle the problem directly with your bank or financial institution. If you cannot resolve the problem, contact The Federal Reserve for help. To file a complaint, you can:

• File your complaint online.
• To file your complaint via fax or mail, download and print the consumer complaint form.
• Send a fax to 877-888-2520.
• Send a letter to:

Federal Reserve Consumer Help
PO Box 1200
Minneapolis, MN 55480

Note: All complaints to the Federal Reserve must be in writing!

In your complaint, be sure to include:

• Your name, address, and telephone number(s).
• The complete name and address of the bank involved in your complaint, if known.
• The names of those you dealt with at the bank, along with the dates.
• A description of your complaint. Explain what happened in your own words. The more information you give about the problem, the faster the investigation (and the response) will be.

Do not include your original documentation but it’s a good idea to have some copies on hand. The agency investigating your complaint will contact you if any additional documentation is needed. If you need assistance with filing a complaint, you can call toll free at 888-851-1920 (TTY: 877-766-8533) 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST.

What will the Federal Reserve do?

They will connect you with or forward your complaint to the appropriate federal regulator for the bank or institution involved in your complaint.

If your complaint is against a financial institution that the Federal Reserve supervises, it will be investigated by one of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks. As the Reserve Bank investigates each issue raised in your complaint, it will:

• Ask the bank involved for information and records regarding your complaint.
• Determine if the bank’s response adequately addresses your concerns.
• Send you a letter with its findings.

The Reserve Bank may also contact you to request additional information necessary to complete its investigation.

The Reserve Bank will let you know if it finds an error or a violation of a federal law or regulation. Investigations typically take 30 to 60 days to complete. If more than 60 days have passed, the Reserve Bank will contact you to let you know the status of its investigation. Please note that it may take several months to investigate more complex complaints like those alleging illegal credit discrimination.

What won’t the Federal Reserve do?

Although the Federal Reserve looks into every complaint that involves the banks it regulate, it doesn’t have the authority to resolve every type of problem. For example:

• They are unable to resolve contract disputes or undocumented factual disputes between a customer and a bank. In these cases, you should contact an attorney.
• They cannot investigate matters that are the subject of a pending lawsuit.
• They are unable to resolve complaints about customer service or disagreements over specific bank policies and procedures not addressed by federal law or regulation.

The financial industry is one of the most heavily regulated in the world and those regulations are designed to protect you, the consumer, from unfair and/or misleading practices. If you feel that you’ve been a victim, make certain you fight back.

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The biggest threat to your savings account isn’t Wall Street. It isn’t your bank. It isn’t your utility bills. It isn’t debt, credit cards, gasoline prices, your stockbroker, your employer, your spouse, your kids, your bombed out car, your credit report, buying Christmas presents, cable television, health care, your car insurance, or even a lack of a budget.

The biggest threat to your savings account isn’t your student loans, your fat mortgage, your friends, jury duty, your tax rate, your IRA contributions, going to the movies at the theater, failing to buy in bulk, overlooking a hot ETF, too many books, not enough books,or going out for a few drinks this past weekend. It isn’t buying a new car, drinking sodas, a lack of an inheritance, stopping off at convenience stores, season tickets, late payment charges, your shoe collection, gambling, your cell phone plan, bottled water, a lack of insulation, a home equity loan, or your affinity credit card.

It isn’t your credit score, your asset allocation, old medical bills, vacation expenses, declaring bankruptcy, or a lack of coupon clipping. The biggest threat to your savings account isn’t your past due dental bills, a daily latte, interest charges, your large home, too many clothes, chasing returns, or the size of your paycheck.

It isn’t buying lottery tickets, beer, cigarettes, pesky debt collectors, shopping at the mall, birthday gifts, a lack of a Christmas Club, your marriage, food prices, summer camp, your property tax, your mother-in-law, or your pet costs.

The biggest threat to your savings account is YOU

Sorry, but it really is you. You are the biggest threat to your own attempt at stockpiling cash for your future. Offensive? Perhaps. But many times, it’s the offensive stuff that changes your life, so go ahead an be offended. It might actually help.

All the items I listed above CAN be threats to your savings account, but excluding judgments or garnishments, you are the only one who can withdraw that cash and spend it.

We tend to seek every opportunity to lay blame at the feet of someone or something other than ourselves. Even when we do “accept responsibility,” we do so begrudgingly, with justifications galore – expressed and not expressed.

We make choices every day and those choices have consequences. Too many times we blame the choice rather than the chooser. And so, we live in bondage to the choice, allowing it to control our lives, thoughts, actions, and future.

What should we do?

Protect your savings

Make your savings account somewhat difficult to access. Consider using an online bank such as ING Direct where withdrawals are not instantaneous (as opposed to the bank where you have your checking account).

Automate your savings. Make regular deposits. Once your emergency fund is in place, move specific amounts ($1,000 to $2,000) into a brokerage account for investing.

Sometimes you have to protect your savings from their greatest threat by putting those funds into accounts you can’t easily access.

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I already know why I switched my checking account to PerkStreet, but they recently reminded me with a graphic depiction of why you should too!

Now, don’t get me wrong. Ally and ING are great banks (I have my savings account with ING). But when you see it graphically presented like this, it makes it abundantly clear why PerkStreet is the clear winner in the rewards checking account game.

Where do these numbers come from?

If you spend $12,000 a year, you will earn $180* with PerkStreet.

That’s only $1,000 per month or $231 per week. If you think about it, you probably spend more than that each week. And with the 2% bonus, you earn even more than the standard product, $51 more to be exact.

But with the checking accounts that pay you interest on your balance, it’s a totally different game. Your checking account balance goes up and down as you spend, so the interest you’re earning on your account is on a smaller balance than you might think. To compare, you’d have to have an average daily balance of $12,000 to earn $60** with Ally & $30*** with ING.

On top of that, $12,000 is a large average balance to have in your checking account. This pretty much amounts to having a $12,000 minimum balance requirement. Compare that with PerkStreet, where there are no minimum balance requirements. More importantly, you get a lot more with PerkStreet all for doing what you normally do, buying things with your debit card.

*PerkStreet: $12,000*1.5% = $180
The spend earn rate is calculated using 2% cash back for 6 months and 1% thereafter in the first year.

**Ally: Balances up to $15,000 earn only 0.50%

***ING: Balances up to $50,000 earn only 0.25%

It’s a no brainer!

Join me and switch YOUR checking account over to PerkStreet today. You only need $25 to open an account!

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Perspective.

The more I learn about myself and my finances, the more I understand that I’ve lived far too close to the edge of uncertainty. Quite frankly, there were times in my past that I actually went over the cliff but was able to hang on just enough to pull back up. I’ve gained a lot of perspective from this risky living, and I’m focused on moving back from the edge. The view might be pretty, but I can still see everything quite nicely from where I am now.

How does someone know if they’re living on the edge?

1. Are you living paycheck to paycheck?

That’s the first sign and it’s the most glaring reason you need to develop a budget. Paycheck to paycheck living ain’t fun. It’s gut wrenching and frustrating. You can’t do anything until that next payday and if you need milk, or shoes for the kids, or a new tire, you have to wait. I hated living paycheck to paycheck.

What to do?

Get your finances on a budget. You don’t have to do anything fancy like YNAB (though it is the BEST budgeting software out there in my opinion). You can draw up a spending plan with a pencil and a notepad. The point is to know how much is coming in and where it’s going for the first month, then decide where you want it to go the next. YNAB will easily help you do that but don’t neglect budgeting if you don’t have their software yet.

2. Is the straw about to fall?

You’ve heard of the camel that carried more and more and more until he was at his limit. Then a straw fell on his load and that little bit of added weight broke the camel’s back. Does that describe your checking account? Would one more monthly bill crush you?

What to do?

Either you’re going to have to sell something to pay off a bill or learn how to make extra money. There are only two inputs into your financial equation – income and expenses. The name of the game is increasing your income while decreasing your expenses.

3. Would anyone’s untimely death throw you into a financial tailspin?

Every person in your family, yes even the infants, needs life insurance. Anyone who says otherwise is either ignorant or has never experienced the loss of a child. Losing anyone you love is devastating, but when you add to it the necessary grieving process, that usually means time off from work. Would you want to go back to work the day after your child passed away? If not, get a cheap insurance policy on them.

The need for life insurance is doubly important for parents, even the non-income producing ones (for the same reasons you need insurance on a child). But if you’re the breadwinner, you need at least 15 times your salary to sufficiently care for your family should you die.

What to do?

Get a life insurance checkup. You can protect a family of four for less than $40 a month with New York Life Insurance. If you don’t want to go with them, check out other options like NetQuote or insureme.com and find another company, but don’t put it off. Widows and widowers will back me up on this one.

4. What does your savings account look like?

Face it, your savings account needs a comma (two would be nice). There are all sorts of ways to squirrel away some cash if you can get a little creative. Try reading my 17 Sneaky Savings Strategies for some ideas. No matter how you do it, you have to start saving money.

What to do?

Check into ING Direct or any of the other banks in my list of online banking options and get an account started. Then fund it regularly with consistent amounts automatically deposited from your checking account.

5. What does your credit look like?

Your credit score and report are becoming increasingly important for anything from renting an apartment to getting a job to financing a vehicle. Protect your credit reputation (that’s what it really is) by making on time payments, keeping your creditors informed about your financial situation, and not getting in over your head.

What to do?

Go to annualcreditreport.com and get your free copy. You’re entitled by law for one free credit report from each of the three bureaus per year. If you see anything that’s wrong, contest it. Don’t let your credit be damaged because of any inaccurate information. Remember, you can insist that inaccurate information be removed, but you can’t remove information that’s correct. If there seems to be some bad, yet accurate, information, try to add something positive to your credit report.

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll examine things that push you to the edge.

Photo by old not bold

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy in the footer of the site or on my About page.

I’m sick of my bank and their fees.

After getting researching the incredible differences between PerkStreet Financial^SM and traditional banks, I’m sold and I’m signing up. Why? The “PERKS” of course! Banks USE OUR MONEY and give us almost nothing in return – have you seen the rates in most savings accounts these days? Pitiful.

Visit PerkStreet.com to sign up for your free online checking account and the PerkStreet Financial^SM Visa® Debit Card. Read on and find out why.

More Rewards

• Finally, people (like me) who would rather spend using debit cards can earn the great rewards credit card users have been getting for years
• Spend $200 to earn a coffee ($2 value); Spend $100 to earn a song ($1 value) or spend $100 to earn $1 cash back, never a cap on what you earn
• Unlike other cards, they give me the same great rate no matter where I shop
• Never a fee, as long as I use my account at least 1x/month
• Other banks make their debit card rewards sound great, but they give me just a fraction of the rewards that PerkStreet gives me

More ATMs

• PerkStreet gives me access to the largest surcharge-free ATM network in the country (STARsf®)
• Located in the places I already go – like CVS®, Walgreen’s®, Target® and 7-Eleven®
• These ATMs aren’t branded PerkStreet Financial^SM but they are completely free to PerkStreet Financial^SM customers.  Some banks reimburse you for ATMs but you’ll owe taxes on that ‘income’.
• Never make a special trip to a branch again
• More free ATMs than the big banks

Join me in signing up today.

Links to products or services may be affiliate links. See my disclosure policy in the footer of the site or on my About page.