Ask Me Help Desk - SIGH why should I even have a bank?

Here's two tricks that have helped us.

Our bank (com fed) doesn't hit us with fees for having multiple accounts. So, we have one account that is for discretionary spending and another for fairly fixed bills. Money is direct deposited into each account. The acct for bills is estimated (energy bill can fluctuate, but you can estimate your average, for ex), but not too tough to figure your absolute fixed expenses within reason. For us these are energy, mortgage, water, school loans, insurance, phone, gym fee, garbage. The bills that are due absolutely every month.

So the one account is used for the sole purpose of paying bills. The other account is for everything else... gas, food, play... yeah we all need to eat but you should treat that as discretionary money. This will help you always pay your bills... and com fed has easy online access and automated bill pay if you want... very handy. Now this doesn't help you save money, but it helps organize what is fixed and what is discretionary. You can do this without two accounts, but with a spouse, it worked out better for us to clearly separate bill money from "fun" money.

The second thing we did was we set up a savings account at a different bank. I know this sounds extreme, but we would always save some money and then dump it over to a checking account for vacation, big buys, etc... you could do this at your own bank I'm sure... we just kept "dipping" into savings too often. An account at a different bank has been a good move.

By automatically withdrawing money from our paychecks, and having it at a bank that wasn't as accessible... we've saved a lot money one check at a time. We can always get to it if really needed... but out of sight isn't a bad thing. USE DIRECT DEPOSIT FOR SAVINGS CONTRIBUTIONS. My parents made me do this in high school with my job... before I knew it I had money for a car. Twenty years later, I find it is still the best way to force myself to save money.

You are young. Your biggest asset right now is time. Usually at your age people's paychecks are smaller and it seems unrealistic to save money when you can barely get the bills paid. don't start big. Try to save maybe $25-50 a month to begin and have it automatically deposited if you can... it will compound and you will be happy you did it... 50 becomes 100 becomes 1000 becomes 10000... and it IS that simple... and if you ever really do NEED money for a real emergency, there you go. As your paycheck increases, increase your savings contributions... again, small increments can add up quickly. Also, I think this reflects positively on your credit... a lender can look to see that you consistently save money... even if its not a lot... it is a habit that reflect positively on you.

If your employer has a 401K plan, contribute at all costs. The real power of this plan is that your money gets matched by the employer to a certain level. If you are not using it you are giving away "free money"... again, I know its hard to do when you're young... but it adds up fast. And it is possible for many to get loans against their 401K's is needed... so building up this account, especially with the employer match, can be powerful. The downside of 401K's is the money is not accessible as a bank. Still, at my first job I put away like 14000 dollars with the smallest contribution over a short time with the employer match. Again, was not a lot of money for retirement, but put small amount away early and it compounds over time.

Last thing... treat your credit like it is gold. Don't get bogged down by credit debt. If you have it, make a plan to eliminate it. It might take some time, but again, its worth it. If you've messed up your credit, now is the time to begin fixing it. You'll be surprised at how fast time flies... and if you do nothing you'll be in the same place.