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I think you missed the point. You don't "balance" a checkbook, you "reconcile" it against the statement that the bank reports to you. For only one purpose: to see if the bank made a mistake. The bank tellsyou every month (by paper) or every minute (on line) how much money you have, and from that, you determine how much to spend on vacation or put into savings. All you do is laboriously copy it on the balance register of your checkbook. But doing so does not increase your knowledge or understanding of your balance.
The bank has already "balanced" your account. Previous balance + deposits - withdrawals = New balance. You don't need to do it again. You just need to a) verify the authenticity of deposits and withdrawals, and b) take note of the balance for whatever purposes you need to knowl
I did not "get" from your post to anything. I offered general advice, which would be applicable UNLESS you (or any other reader) happened to have a certain kind of personal financial situation, in which case "unless" implied that you could ignore what I said and proceed according to your own needs.
YOUR thread title asked ME if I balance MY checkbook. I answered your question and explained my answer. No need to emotismack your head.
I agree with most of what you say, but I will take issue with the bolded statement (above). What the bank is telling me is how much money they think I have. It would behoove me not to make any vacation expenditures based on the bank's assessment of what I have. You see, the bank doesn't know how many checks I wrote and disbursed until they are actually cashed and clear my account. I don't need to "laboriously copy" any figures to my check register. I enter every transaction - checks written, ATM withdrawals, automatic payments and deposits - at the time they occur. Thus, the balance showing in my check register is the amount of money I have available, and in that regard, I'm a step ahead of the bank.
Having been a bank employee, you are correct that the account is reconciled. But since the general public views it as "balancing" the account, nitpicking the nomenclature isn't necessary.
Had I not balanced my checkbook..these errors would not have been caught..costing me $330. It is so important to do it. I'm amazed at how many of my friends/siblings don't do it. They just trust the banks and businesses to get it right. I know that isn't the case. I have caught other errors over the years..nothing ever in my favor of course.
Good advice. I don't use checks or a debit card, but I do post my charges to Quicken and match them with the online banking transactions as I go. I've never found a mistake that wasn't mine.
No.
I call in to my checking account a few times a month to make sure everything's kosher.
I keep an estimated running total in my head of what is coming out.
Then I get statements every month that have pictures of all cancelled checks and electronic transactions.
I make sure they look kosher.
I never use the ATM/debit, so if there was something there, I would know it was fraud.
Yes, I use Excel sheets for this. I used to reconcile every charge (I pay with credits cards for everything and pay in full each month) but that was a bit time consuming for me. I just keep every receipt and check it against the amount that posts. I do keep a running spreadsheet for my bank accounts, however.
Nope. I don't think I've balanced a checkbook in the last 10 or 12 years. Between online banking and the fact that I never write checks, I don't worry about it. I log in every other day or so to check the transactions on the checking accounts and credit cards, and I know when the bills will get pulled, its usually around the same day every month. The only things I don't have set to auto debit are the credit cards and my bike loan...everything else pulls automatically on set days.
I worked in banking and a common error was encoding. You write a check for 12.99 and it gets encoded 19.29. Happens.
^^^^
This.
Of course I reconcile my numbers against the bank's.
I audit the bank's numbers looking for any of their mistakes with my money. I don't care if it's 1¢.
More than a few years ago I paid off a HELOC. A zero balance on my receipt. Checking my accounts a week later online ... 12¢ showed as due and payable. I called and heard "Oops, someone must have hit the wrong button."
Last edited by Gandalara; 08-31-2012 at 05:07 PM..
Yep, and I'm pretty good at it. But aside from the statements I also use the 800 Bank number about once a week to make sure it stays balanced. And I'll write out checks as long as they're around.
Yep, and I'm pretty good at it. But aside from the statements I also use the 800 Bank number about once a week to make sure it stays balanced. And I'll write out checks as long as they're around.
Good morning, Sun!! It's nice to know that I'm not the only dinosaur on the planet.
i check the charges and entries daily as everything is linked to a cash management account but i havent juggled the numbers in 25 years.
Same here, mathjak. When the paper statement comes in, I just mark the date on it and file it for a year. (Nice to see you).
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