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Health & Fitness

Budget Mondays

Monday – 10/28/2013

It’s Monday – a painful day for most people, yours truly included. Sometimes it is made even more painful as we remember just how much money we ended up spending over the weekend.

Budget

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It’s one word that can make people cringe, angry and sad all at the same time, a rare occurrence indeed. There are plenty of reasons for this – people are told at work that their budgets are being cut, their ideas cannot be funded because they are not in the budget, and in our personal life, our budgets don’t usually quite match up to our desires.

Banks have gotten a bad reputation – that much is without question. This is on a macroeconomic scale, with J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo routinely making the news headlines for all the wrong reasons. Additionally, there is a large amount of resentment, distrust, and hostility towards banks of all sizes and types – increased fees, more paperwork, and lower rates being paid to depositors are all completely justifiably reasons to be unsatisfied with your bank’s performance.

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Most people, however, need to use a bank. Personal checking, direct deposit, mortgages, and many other financial products are all intricately woven into modern society and everyday life. ATMs and debit cards have only made this connection, the one between banking, modern society, and people, all the more powerful. Why should banking be exempt from the usual “shopping around” that most people subject other purchases/investments to?

Banking is no different – you are entering into transactions with an unrelated third party and should be receiving fair market value in return. Below are some excellent articles on some “do’s and don’ts” when looking for a bank, and some ways that might be able to help you make your banking experience less costly and more efficient.

Food for thought indeed.

Happy Reading!

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