Do you balance your checkbook/reconcile your account?

[disneysteve]

This came up in another thread but I thought it deserved it's own conversation. I actually think I may have had a similar thread here in the past but it's been a long time.

So what say you? Do you regularly balance your checkbook or reconcile other accounts? If not, why not?

The recent Wells Fargo debacle was just one glaring example of the importance of paying attention to your account but there are far more common and mundane reasons. Many people just trust the bank's numbers but numerous times over the years I have found bank errors when balancing my checkbook. For example, one time a check got processed for a different amount than it was written for. Another time a fee got charged to my account in error. Both times, one simple phone call corrected the problem, but if I didn't balance my account every month, I never would have caught the problems.

I also don't understand how anyone functions without keeping an accurate and up to date account register. How do you know how much money you have? "Oh I check the balance on my phone" is a common answer. Great, except that number isn't accurate. I just checked. The bank says I have $7,286.50 in my account. However, my account register shows that I actually have $6,373.45, a difference of over $900. Sometimes the differential is considerably larger. No wonder people are constantly overdrawing their accounts.

[MonkeyMama]

Yes, our bank accounts are pretty much always reconciled. In the electronic age, they are basically always reconciled. Could be every day, but at the least once per week.

There was the conversation of "money management versus more income" recently, and I think this plays well into that discussion. I couldn't fathom paying for something and not knowing about it. I know where every penny of my money goes, always.

[disneysteve]

Yes, our bank accounts are pretty much always reconciled. In the electronic age, they are basically always reconciled. Could be every day, but at the least once per week.

I'm curious about the frequency. Do you go into your account daily to check what has and hasn't cleared? Do you feel it's necessary to do so?

I reconcile mine monthly when the statement comes. I've never seen any reason to do it more often than that though I will occasionally log in to check on a specific transaction. For example, my part time job paycheck is direct deposited so I'll log in every other Thursday to check how much my check was that week so I can enter that in the register.

[97guns]

Never, I don't write a whole lot of checks so there's not a lot to keep tabs on. I will write 1 or 2 checks and let them clear the account before writing the next set. Havnt kept a checking register in 20 years and never had any withdrawn issues. My rental income comes in every month and it all goes out within 2 weeks

[scfr]

Yes - I keep old school paper registers and keep the true balance up to date though I'm not obsessive about it (I may let it go 4-5 lines before calculating the balance). I reconcile my checking account every time I log on to my account to pay bills which is a few times a month.

I took accounting in high school and college, and I like numbers, so I guess my brain is just hard-wired to need to verify.

[MonkeyMama]

I'm curious about the frequency. Do you go into your account daily to check what has and hasn't cleared? Do you feel it's necessary to do so?

I reconcile with the push of a button. I have all my finances together in software, so if I am maintaining anything financial for any reason then I can just push the button to reconcile my bank accounts. The thing is if you do keep track electronically it's just basically always reconciled (doesn't take any additional effort on your part). & I mean, most our payments are electronic and also clear within a day or two, so we very rarely have anything outstanding.

I'll push the button to reconcile my checkbook when I download credit card transactions (is probably the main reason I am in the software at least weekly) or if I am doing anything else in the least bit financial. Yesterday I checked that my husband's direct deposit was the amount that I thought it would be. Today I will check that his 401k funded (for the correct amount). Monday I get paid and will transfer money to savings. So that's a few days where it's going to be daily. I might not look at anything again until the 1st. (Except that I will be reviewing credit card charges as they come through, as I mentioned, weekly. If we are spending a lot of money then I might download more often while the spending is fresh in my mind and easy to categorize).

[MonkeyMama]

I'm curious about the frequency. Do you go into your account daily to check what has and hasn't cleared? Do you feel it's necessary to do so?

I think also some of it is with the electronic banking, and the fact that we pay all our bills on the first. Then yeah, everything is always reconciled. I might not even look at my bank account for the next two weeks, but there's nothing going on. It's reconciled because we don't have a lot of transactions. I think that's the other part of it.

[FLA]

I was a diehard reconciler every month, until my neuro incident when for the first 6 mos at least I could no longer do it, so I relied on checking my banking online and make sure I always have a cushion. I haven't bounced a check yet. I don't know if I could do it now, but I wonder how I would even start to jump back into to reconciling it. I don't write a lot of checks so that helps.

[snafu]

I stopped using a written registry soon after cheques were no longer used for deposits or paying bills. I do verify all electronic income and disbursements.

For those of us who always pay all CC balances in full at least two business days in advance of due date, it seems beneficial to use CCs for repetitive bills for the 'cash back' benefit. It initially seemed small but it has added up surprisingly well over time. I'm trying to be mindful of all spending in each category and like to believe I'm giving every dollar [about .76 cents American] a job.

[disneysteve]

Never, I don't write a whole lot of checks so there's not a lot to keep tabs on. I will write 1 or 2 checks and let them clear the account before writing the next set. Havnt kept a checking register in 20 years and never had any withdrawn issues. My rental income comes in every month and it all goes out within 2 weeks

I don't write many checks either, maybe 3-4/month, but will have probaby 2-3 dozen transactions each month with deposits, electronic payments, etc. I can't imagine not regularly checking to make sure they all got done properly.

Also, and this is my fault obviously, but pretty much every single month I find at least 1 or 2 transactions that I failed to enter in my register.

[Petunia 100]

I don't keep a checkbook register anymore, because I don't write paper checks. So I no longer do a traditional reconciliation. However, I enter my transactions into my budget (Excel spreadsheet) about once per week. I don't have a lot of transactions, especially since switching to cash for groceries, gas, and personal.

I keep my checking account balance at $500. When money comes in, I use online banking to pay bills, then sweep what is left to savings. It is only a few days before I am right back to $500.

[disneysteve]

I reconcile with the push of a button. I have all my finances together in software, so if I am maintaining anything financial for any reason then I can just push the button to reconcile my bank accounts.

Help me understand "push the button to reconcile". If I make a deposit, I write that deposit in my register. When the statement comes, I make sure that deposit got entered into my account. If I pay a bill electronically, I check the statement to make sure that payment came out as it should have. How does that get done electronically?

[greenskeeper]

Once per month when all bills are paid on the 1st, regardless of when they are actually due.

[HundredK]

My accounts are perpetually reconciled in Quickbooks, and transactions downloaded daily. Once a month, I officially reconcile using the statement balances, but it's always noneventful since it's looked at daily anyway.

[HundredK]

Help me understand "push the button to reconcile". If I make a deposit, I write that deposit in my register. When the statement comes, I make sure that deposit got entered into my account. If I pay a bill electronically, I check the statement to make sure that payment came out as it should have. How does that get done electronically?

If you're using a software program, like Quickbooks or Quicken, you enter your deposits into an electronic register. Throughout the month you download your transactions directly from the banks (the software does this for you automatically). Then, once a month, you push a button and it brings up all your transactions for the month and it automatically checks off the right ones for you and shows that you have no differences (or gives you the opportunity to select different items if necessary).