MONEY MINUTE: ‘Checks and balances’

Money+Minute+with+Jackson+Boyer.

Lori Erickson

Money Minute with Jackson Boyer.

Balancing a checkbook is an important skill to learn, even in today’s modern world of plastic cards where checks have become obsolete. 

My debit card is like a gift card, don’t know how much is on it but give it a try,” this joke I once heard astonishes me.  One should always, I repeat always, know how much money is in their bank account. Its simple financial responsibility. 

You owe it to everyone you make a transaction with to have the adequate funds to complete it.  Balancing a checkbook or keeping a financial register is easy accounting. 

When you spend money through checks, debit card, or cash: these expenditures should be  subtracted from your account balance. In the reverse order if you receive money, then you should add it to the account balance.  

It is understood that this is a very simple process, but many people do not understand the importance of balancing a checkbook.