Author: Compass Community Credit Union

Being late every now and then when paying your bills doesn’t sound like a big deal. However, those late fees can really add up.

In addition to charging a late fee, creditors could increase your interest rate. Some credit card companies will even reset your rate to a default APR as high as 29.99%.

Fortunately, Compass Community Credit Union has a way you can avoid all this and simplify your life in the process. It’s our free Bill Pay.

With Bill Pay, you’ll never have to worry about missing a payment or paying late fees. Simply schedule the payment date and that’s it. No need to spend time writing a check, paying for stamps and dropping it in the mail.

Taking care of your financial future is important. Using our free Bill Pay can make it a little simpler. To get started or to learn more, click here.

Financial stress haunts many of us. We say, “If only I had more money?”

At Compass, helping members become more financially confident is a big part of who we are. One step you can take to increase your peace of mind: create an emergency fund.

For those who have limited income or little room in their budget to put money away, an emergency cash reserve may be even more essential than college funds or retirement savings. You may know how many years you are from retiring and how soon the kids will be old enough for college. But, there’s no way to tell when your car’s transmission will begin to slip, your goalie daughter will break a tooth or an arm, or your job will evaporate.

Emergencies happen when we least expect them, and our wallets usually suffer collateral damage.

Here are five steps to reduce your financial stress:

1. Figure out the cost for your monthly “must-haves.” On your most recent checking account statement, circle the amounts you paid for essentials. This means the necessities required for bare-bones living, such as your rent or mortgage payment, groceries, gas, insurance, utilities, credit card and loan payments.

2. Estimate how long you might need to stay afloat in an emergency. Most people should have enough savings to cover for three to six months without a paycheck. You may want to adjust this target up or down if your job would be harder or easier to replace. Let’s say your monthly amount is $2,500, so your emergency savings goal, if three times that, is: $7,500. Mission impossible? Maybe not, if you set up milestones on the way.

3. Make a road map toward your goal. Using $2,500 as an example, you’d get there in about 23 months by putting aside $50 every two weeks. Boost that $50 to $75, and it would take only 15½ months to get to $2,500. Within four years, you could reach your goal of $7,500.

4. Set up “driverless savings.” Once you’ve decided how much to set aside regularly, set up automatic transfers in online banking. Instead of hoping there’s money left to save at the end of each pay period, set it and forget it. That’s a crucial step for success.

5. To manage your stress, keep on saving after you reach your goal. Life is unpredictable, so there may be times you’ll need to draw cash from your emergency account. Just keep squirreling away into your savings, and you’ll replenish your reserve.

Some credit union members like to use our low-interest credit card or equity line of credit as a financial safety net. But when it comes to building confidence, nothing beats having savings in reserve. If you would like to open a separate “Emergency Savings Account”, you can open a secondary savings account online or stop by one of our branches.

If you find yourself running out of money before you run out of days until your next paycheck, you’re not alone. In fact, even people who earn tons of money find themselves in this situation every month. And the reason they do is because they have no idea where all their money went.

To figure that out, start with a money diary. Every time you buy or pay for something, write it down. This includes everything from your mortgage and car payment to something as small as a candy bar. Then at the end of the month, take a look and see where all your money is going.  Now look to see which expenses you can reduce or eliminate — like that large cup of fancy coffee every morning.

Once you find and reduce frivolous expenditures, take that money you would normally spend on them and deposit it into your savings account for a rainy day fund.

Next, establish a budget. Most financial experts recommend the 50/30/20 budget. 50% of your after-tax dollars on necessities like a mortgage, groceries, and other bills. 30% on wants like clothing and eating out. And 20% on savings and debt repayment. Tracking expenses and living on a budget may take some getting used to in the beginning, but over time it will give you a better financial future.

Any time you research ways you can save money, you usually see the same things: Stop eating out. Stop buying fancy coffee. Even we’re guilty of offering those up as great suggestions for saving money.

But let’s be honest, people like eating out at nice restaurants and drinking coffee with fancy names. So we put on our thinking caps and tried to come up with some other things you can do to save money that you might actually be willing to do.

Let’s start with the most obvious and least painful. Get a big jar. Then at the end of every day, drop any change you have in your pockets into that jar. (If you really want to go crazy, you could add the singles in your wallet.) Once the jar is filled, bring it in and deposit it into your savings account — not your checking account and definitely not back into your pockets.

Next, try living on the 50/30/20 budget. Basically, that means 50% of your income is devoted to necessities like bills, etc. 30% goes to wants. And the final 20% goes into your savings. To help make sure that 20% will actually go into your savings, just pretend it’ s a bill and pay it into your savings every time you write out your bills.

Another easy trick is to take whatever balance is remaining in your checking account on the day before payday and transfer some of that balance into your savings. For example: If your balance is $150 then transfer at least $50.

Here are a few other money-saving tips:

• Have a weekly “no spend day” and don’t buy anything (even lunch) on that day
• Stop paying others for work you can do — like yard work or cleaning the house
• Cancel any auto-renew subscriptions that you aren’t using regularly
• Only make big purchases like furniture or appliances during annual sale periods
• Ditch cable for streaming services
• Shop around for the best cell phone plans and insurance services
• Grocery shop with a list so you’ll be less likely to buy stuff impulsively
• Buy generic whenever possible. According to an NPR study, it’s something even chefs do
• Save your raise (if you’re lucky to get one)

We hope you find these tips helpful. Or at least more palatable then giving up your favorite restaurant or morning cup of coffee.