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Think of your main checking account as your financial hub. Money comes in, goes out. Your monthly e-statement is a tight, accurate record of all of it. We have two different accounts for you— our “DA” package (this should be your main one)— and our freedom checking, if/when you need an additional account(s) for managing things in your own certain way. Both are free!

The trend, these days, is hard in the direction of debit cards, in which funds come directly out of your account to cover your card-based expenses. Either way, you get a monthly record of your expenses, and you’re more able to solve any problems that arise.

Two rules here— don’t spend more than you have coming in. And pay yourself first (see below)! Save as much as you can as early as you can…and let the huge advantage of compounding work for you.

We strongly recommend— do a budget! Who does this? Not everyone, for sure. But smart people do…even if it is just a simple summary of monthly expenses. The beauty of it is— once you have a comfortable plan worked out, it tells you how far you can go in each spending category. It’s flexible, of course, but it provides a strong sense of financial control.

First, save some money! No matter how much you earn (or don’t), make a promise to yourself to put some money away somewhere that is yours! As a KPCU member, you have a savings account (it’s required…just to be a member). Think of this as a “ready cash” stash for when you need money in a hurry or an emergency. The experts say to build this up to equal two-to-three times your monthly income. We say that’s as good a goal as any. Your best move— let us transfer a set amount from your checking account into your savings account every month. Just do it, forget about it, let it build. You won’t be sorry!

Once your savings account begins to build, you can add any (or all) of these additional savings programs to your financial portfolio. Each one of these offers slightly different advantages. All of them pay higher dividends than you can get on regular passbook savings.

We can’t say a lot about this because we’re not exactly in the investment services business. But the fact of the matter is— you will want, at some point, to do some investing. If you own your home, that’s a sort of investment— generally speaking, the value of real estate appreciates over time. But stocks and bonds are the more common way into this part of the world. “Playing” the investment market yourself is (we’ll say) not the best way to go about things (although some who do, and who know what they are doing, can make out big…sometimes!). A relatively safe “rule of thumb” is to play the long game. Put money in no matter whether the market is going up or down at any particular time, and rely on the fact that, over time, the market generally goes up. Think conservatively…think in terms of a 3-6% growth each year.

For so many years, people were urged to buy and own their own homes. It was solid financial advice, it generally still is. Besides the pleasure and pride of owning your home, the advantage is the “forced savings” benefit of increasing your net worth as you pay down your mortgage. Sure, this happens over many years, but it is amazing how quickly they pass. Many families find that their home becomes the key element of their net worth. Owning is not for everybody, of course. Your situation may dictate a different plan. But there are ways to measure the advantage of owning over renting (or vice-versa). Let us help you figure your best option.