Personal Finance & Technology
For a while now, technology has invaded every aspect of our lives. Some of it is good, and some of it can be bad, but whichever the case may be– it’s here to stay. One area of life that has been radically changed over the past 10 years or so is the personal finance sector. Now it’s easier than ever to conduct all of your financial business online. From mobile apps to online businesses, you can do it all. Here are a few ways tech has become the new normal in personal finance.
Keep Track Online
Long gone are the paper and pen budgets and keeping everything in notebooks in a filing cabinet. We now have access to every kind of app imaginable to keep track of our finances. There are budgeting apps like Mint and You Need A Budget. These apps will actually connect to your bank accounts and categorize every transaction you make automatically to keep track of your budget. With just one glance you can see if you overspent in any particular category without even having to balance your checkbook.
Online banking has been around for a while, but credit unions and banks are constantly improving the functions of them. When you login, you have immediate access to your bank accounts. You can see every transaction and can do many of your banking needs, like transferring money between accounts, right from your computer. Monthly paper statements from your financial institution are no longer needed. If you want to take your banking business on the go, a mobile app will help you along the way. With a mobile app from your financial institution, you can see your accounts and transactions, transfer money, and even deposit checks all from your phone or tablet wherever you are.
Paying Your Bills
Technology has greatly increased efficiency at paying bills. Pretty much all companies, big and small, accept payments online now. You can pay your bill immediately or even schedule it out into the future with online bill pay. If you don’t even want to go through all of that trouble, you can sign up for automatic draft at many places, where they just take out your money for you every month. Many financial institutions have automatic bill pay, where you can set it up to where the bank pays all of your bills online automatically for you. It doesn’t get any easier than that!
Making Money & Get Paid
Not only can you spend and track your money online, but many people are now making lots of money online with online businesses. From blogs to selling stuff on Etsy, Ebay or Amazon, there is a way to make a living from home. With ridesharing apps, you can become a driver. With websites like Airbnb, you can now rent your home out to others. If you want to make money online, there is probably a way with all the endless possibilities.
Not only are there many ways to make money online, but technology has now granted us an easy way to get paid for those services. First, there was direct deposit from your employer. You no longer had to visit your bank every week when you got paid. Now, if you have an online business, you can get paid through PayPal. If you have a physical store or even if you are selling things at a yard sale, you can have a card swiper that connects to your phone and accept card payments on the spot. Cash only isn’t a requirement anymore.
So, as you can see, technology has changed the way you conduct your financial business drastically over the last 5 to 10 years. It has never been easier to be financially healthy and get your finances in order, and it will probably only get easier as the years go by.
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