How to Automate Your Finances

Have you ever made a bill payment late simply because you were busy and forgot it was due? You had the money available to pay it, but you lost track of time and by the time you sat down to pay your bills you realized one of your credit cards or loan repayments was already a couple days late? Most creditors offer automatic payments, and for those that don't – many bank checking accounts make it possible to set up bill payments automatically. It's a double-edged sword for consumers – while you don't have to remember to make the manually make the payments, you do have to keep track of the outgoing money and ensure you always have enough money available to make the payments.

For anyone who gets paid on a schedule other than weekly, you may find it difficult to set up a guaranteed day each month from which your creditors can withdraw their payment from your checking account unless you have a reasonable amount of extra money available in between pay periods. Bi-weekly and monthly pay schedules typically means your paycheck dates vary, and can make it difficult to know which day of the month will work for an automatic bill payment.

If your current bill due date seems to fall outside the ideal time of the month to set up an automated payment, call the creditor and ask if you can move the due date to a better time. Let them know you want to set up an automatic payment, and it would work out better if the due date was a week later than it currently was scheduled. Credit cards are often fine with moving due dates while you may experience troubles trying to change a car loan or mortgage payment due date.

Here are a few ways to automate your finances:

Use your bank's auto bill payment feature

Most banks make it possible to set up bill payments from your checking account. You can select which day of the month to have the money withdrawn, enter your creditor information for payment and away you go! This is a free feature of many banks, but check with your current bank to make sure they don't charge a fee for this service before signing up. Using your bank to make your payments automatically is a good option for people who have a number of accounts to set up for auto-payments. You can log into one place to make changes to pay date instantly, rather than logging into individual credit card and bill payment websites for each of your individual creditors whenever you need to make a change to payment dates.

Deposit your paychecks automatically

If there is an option to have your paychecks automatically deposited into your bank account, you should take advantage of this feature. Most employers can arrange it so you deposit a portion of every check into a savings account with the rest going into a checking account. This helps you save automatically as well as gain access to your money for bill payments faster than if you deposited a physical check.

Set up automatic investments

Similar to using your employers direct deposit feature, you can also set up investments to work automatically. There are money market accounts and mutual funds, and a variety of other investments, that allow you to designate a specific dollar amount per week or per month. This money is automatically moved into your investment. One popular option is a 401k program through your employer, since the funds are moved pre-tax to the investment and are deducted before you ever get paid (making it easier to contribute). But, do not stop there. Try setting up money market or mutual fund investments and have a few dollars deducted from your checking account regularly just as you do your other savings and expense payments.

Putting your finances on auto-pilot makes it easier to keep your payments on time, set up and keep to savings and investments. It's better than having a personal finance expert working full-time for you!