Author Topic: Survey: how do you move money around? Direct deposit, manually, etc...  (Read 3864 times)

Sonos

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Hi,

I'm trying to simplify how we move our money around from each paycheck. In thinking about this, I was curious how others move their money around, as there might be some good tips from my fellow mustachians!

I'll start. Currently, this is how we do it, but I want to simplify it and make it more automatic:

1) After deductions, our paychecks are direct deposited into our individual accounts.
2) We each deposit a big chunk of money into our shared account.
3) Our shared account is used to pay most of our bills (most are on autopay) and to deposit into Betterment (currently done manually). The money left in our individual accounts is our pocket money.

We are thinking of simplifying by getting rid of the individual accounts and just having one shared, plus automating Betterment contributions.

What do you all do? What's a good name for this, money irrigation system?

Astatine

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Re: Survey: how do you move money around? Direct deposit, manually, etc...
« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2015, 12:59:11 PM »
We consider all money is shared money but we still have individual bank accounts. Mostly out of laziness. We have a lot of automatic deductions plus our salaries are paid in fortnightly so that's a lot of stuff to shuffle into a new joint account (specially since the automatic deductions are scattered through the fortnightly pay schedule). I'd only switch to a joint account if I could be sure of everything switching over at the right time and leaving the individual accounts open for a while to make sure everything had switched off correctly.

deborah

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Re: Survey: how do you move money around? Direct deposit, manually, etc...
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2015, 01:20:56 PM »
We are very lucky with our bank, as its online facility has a lot of features, and the staff are really helpful when we ring them up. Our bank has very few branches, so most of the customers rely upon the online facilities, so they have to be good for them to stay in business. Our nearest branch would be about 700km away.

We move our money around by logging online and using the interface. You can create as many accounts as you like, and can set up automatic movement at any period (for instance 1st day of the month, weekly...) from one account to another, or externally. So when money comes in, it can automatically be diverted to the appropriate accounts. In Australia, most companies can be paid with BPay or direct deposit (or direct debit, where they pull the money from your account), which can be set up automatically with our bank accounts. All of our periodic payments, including paying the credit card in full each month, are done using this. Whenever we get a bill, we just log on, say what day we will send the money to them, and it is done.

If we get a cheque (once a year), we can take it to the local post office to deposit it, but cheques in Australia are quite rare now, and the banks were talking about phasing them out. That hasn't happened because there are places with no credit card facilities (no internet or phone connection) where cheques are used.

It is really simple to use, and we can even name our individual accounts, so they can be used like the envelope system - but automated!

pbkmaine

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Survey: how do you move money around? Direct deposit, manually, etc...
« Reply #3 on: December 25, 2015, 01:23:03 PM »
Electronic only.


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« Last Edit: December 25, 2015, 01:30:45 PM by pbkmaine »

KMMK

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Re: Survey: how do you move money around? Direct deposit, manually, etc...
« Reply #4 on: December 25, 2015, 02:08:10 PM »
As electronic as possible, though certain things with cheques at the moment. And recently I've started to use mobile cheque depositing with my cell phone, in order to transfer money between my accounts, which is awesome, especially as I've moved far away from my main bank and can't go to a branch anymore, and this bank doesn't allow me to add another bank account as a payee, and I don't want to pay the $1.50 for an e-transfer.

I'm eventually going to have to figure out the best way to transfer money monthly to a joint account, or my partner's account (we haven't decided yet). I'm thinking the mobile cheque deposit option will be the easiest, though I'll have to do it manually. Right now I'm giving him a cheque for my portion of the rent and we just take turns paying for things so it's reasonably even. Then he can either physically deposit the cheque (when convenient) or use mobile deposit as well.

I don't see a reasonable way to ever only have a joint account, (even if we did we'd be moving money into our various separate savings/retirement accounts every month as well) so there will always be some transferring around. It doesn't take much time/effort. As much automation as possible as then as electronic as possible after that.

mustachianteacher

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Re: Survey: how do you move money around? Direct deposit, manually, etc...
« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2015, 12:06:03 PM »
Money irrigation system: that's a good name for it!

I spent a lot of time refining our system, and am quite pleased with it as it works well for us.

We have two checking accounts, both joint, and one joint short-term savings accounts. We also have individual IRAs and 403b accounts.

Our paychecks are both deposited into what I call the "future" checking. That account is like a train station (with a waiting room!) for our money. From there, I deposit "the monthly spend" into our basic everyday/household checking. That account is the one we use for everyday expenses like groceries, gas, etc. The "future" checking is for bill-paying and accumulating money for future bills and expenses. I like keeping the money for bills separate from the everyday checking because it just makes it easier for me to keep track of money being accumulated for the irregular bills and expenses, and it feels a little safer that way, so all our dollars aren't in one basket, so to speak. I have a notebook where I divvy that account into even more categories (car, childcare, Christmas, etc.) and keeping track of the sub-balances in that notebook helps me keep track of how much money we actually have available for expenditures. I realize that several online budgeting tools will do this for me, but I like my notebook system and don't really see the point in switching.

Anyway, as far as transfers go, I make all transfers from that future account. Deposits to our 403b's are done automatically through payroll deduction, but I manually transfer money into our short-term savings every month because the amount varies.

Zikoris

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Re: Survey: how do you move money around? Direct deposit, manually, etc...
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2015, 09:11:45 PM »
We have separate bank accounts and joint credit cards. All expenses except rent go on the credit cards. Twice a month we pay off our own expenses and our portions of joint expenses. He electronically transfers me half the rent each month. Simple and easy.

alsoknownasDean

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Re: Survey: how do you move money around? Direct deposit, manually, etc...
« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2015, 05:54:05 AM »
I have my fortnightly salary going into two accounts, one is my normal small expenses (food, etc), and another the savings account. The credit card is used for the recurring monthly/quarterly/etc expenses (autopaid).

Once a month, the amount for rent is automatically transferred from account X to account Y, where it's automatically set for direct debit. I'll manually move the money to the transaction account and pay off the card via BPay.

Cheques? Virtually never. I barely even walk into a bank branch these days, my banking is basically 100% electronic.

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Rubic

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Re: Survey: how do you move money around? Direct deposit, manually, etc...
« Reply #8 on: December 27, 2015, 08:47:14 AM »
Due to bank bonuses and credit card churning I tend to move money around quite a bit.  Using a spreadsheet and mint.com helps with tracking.  Except for loading Amex Serve as part of manufactured spending for CC bonuses, everything is handled electronically via ACH transfers.

 

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