Are you tired of your financial clutter? A great way to organize your life is to go paperless and automate your bills.
Going digital can be a great way to protect yourself from identity theft. By having your bills come to your inbox instead of your actual mail box, you can be on top of your financial life digitally.
But two notes of caution.
Make sure you still check your statements each and every month. It’s super easy to ignore what you don’t see and that happens when going digital and automating your payments. It's easy to simply forget them and not login to review your statements.
Put a reminder in your Outlook or other calendar to check them as they come in. You’ll want to be on the lookout for wrong or fraudulent charges, fees and overages. Keep in mind that you’re 100% protected against fraud with your debit and credit card, but most financial institutions only give you 30 or 60 days to report fraud. So scour your statements regularly!
To discover more money traps and how to correct them, get your copy of Talk Money to Me: Save Well, Spend Some, and Feel Good About Your Money in stores December 17th and available at Amazon and Chapters for pre-order now.
As the Consumer Advocate for FP Canada, I know that financial literacy is paramount to your well-being. Equally important to your long-term success is working with a qualified professional. To find a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional in your area that will help guide you on all matters of money, check out this Find Your Planner tool.
FP Canada is a national professional body working in the public interest (formerly known as the Financial Planning Standards Council). FP Canada is dedicated to fostering better financial health for Canadians by certifying professional financial planners and leading the advancement of professional financial planning in Canada.
For more on financial planning and how to get started, watch What is a financial planner? and What is a financial plan?