You Can Gain Control of Your Money & Financial Accounts!

Managing your finances can be a daunting task. Hopefully this article will help you take control of your money and finances.

Take Control of Your Money & Financial Accounts Step #1:Free Checking Account

First, open a free checking account that gives you an ATM card. Use this account to pay bills and hold spending money that you'll need for the month. If you have a paycheck that is direct deposited, you'll probably want to have it go in your checking account. You don't want to have too much money in this account since it won't earn interest. However, you also don't want to have too little and have to worry about bouncing a check or running out of immediate cash. You should already have a good idea of how much immediate cash you need, but give yourself a little extra padding. Bounced check fees are expensive! To be safe, I try to keep around $1,000 in my checking account.

Take Control of Your Money & Financial Accounts Step #2: High Yield Savings Account

Second, open an online high yield savings account. These will pay around 5% interest, which is nice for money that's liquid (easy to get to). If you want to sound fancy, you can even call this your money market account. This account will hold your savings that you won't need immediately. You should this account to your checking account online, and then you will be able to transfer money between them as you need. With this set up, your high yield dollars should never take more than a few days to become cash in your hands. This account will hold your emergency funds. The amount you need here can depend on certain factors. If you have a stable job with the federal government and are single, you might not need much in emergency savings. If you have a less stable job or have children, you may need enough to support you for 6-months. For your high yield savings account, I suggest ING Direct or HSBC.

Take Control of Your Money & Financial Accounts Step #3: Pay Off Credit Cards