Checking your bank statement is a perfect starting point when planning a financially stable future.
We unpack four benefits of knowing how your bank statement looks like:
You keep on top of your budget
If you have no idea what is coming in or going out of your bank account, there is no way you are able to budget effectively. In fact, your bank statement is the perfect place to start budgeting, if you don’t have one in place, or aren’t at the best place of keeping on top of it.
You can highlight unnecessary spending
By going through your bank statements line by line you will soon see the small charges that may be completely unnecessary. This can be in the form of an old policy you have no use for or a subscription. “The quicker you get on top of this, the sooner you will be able to start saving and you will be surprised how these small items add up quickly. Unnecessary spending doesn’t have to be only on small items. Sometimes it is a few hundred rands or even more. When checking your bank statement, you have to be honest with yourself about which of the larger purchases, such as electronics or clothes you really make use of. Cutting down on big spending can put you in a far stronger position financially to build up your savings or put the money to real work.
You get to understand bank fees
This is a good opportunity to also get to grips with any banking fees that you may not understand. You will soon note avoidable high fee transactions such as drawing cash or making transactions in a branch. Once you are aware of these line items you can substitute them for low or no costs transactions, such as swiping your debit card instead of withdrawing or using electronic transactions.
Words: Ryan Prozesky, CEO of FNB Value Banking Solutions
