Going paperless

I can safely say that the majority of the mail I get consists of bank statements. I chuck them on my desk and at the end of the month, file them away. (I’m getting better, I promise: I used to do it even less frequently! But in an effort to simplify and declutter, I’ve reorganised my desk and filing system).

But I’ve been thinking: Should I stop my paper statements? I do all my banking online and don’t actually read the physical copies, because I’ve already seen it all. I keep them more for my records and in case I ever need to check something out – I’ve been told my bank only stores electronic statements for 12 to 18 months.

What do you think? Do you still receive statements in the mail? And what if you need to confirm a transaction from, say, two years ago?

Major WTF

Huge, massive WTF, in fact.

T’s been coaching for two months now. He was paid once, middle of last month. Then the franchise was taken over by new people. A payment showed up this week in his account with no reference details, but it was about the right amount for what he was owed from them.

He called today to give notice (all their coaches are employed as contractors) as he and our other flatmate have some work lined up for the summer. Even if it’s not full time, it beats the three hours a week of coaching. And apparently the new owners were pretty upset and have had a few other coaches quit on them.

Then that money disappeared from his account. No trace, no record of a deposit or withdrawal/retraction. Really, really odd. (So basically, no proof except for my memory of seeing the deposit earlier this week). I don’t know if the  angry bosses recalled that payment (Can they do that?) Or was it just a bank glitch that has been resolved? (In which case he’s still owed for a couple of weeks’ work…)

I love ASB!

I don’t actually keep very detailed track of my money. I use SimpleD to allocate what will be spent on what every week, and I use Fastnet internet banking to transfer money and keep on top of things. I don’t do Excel…I don’t do Money, Quicken, or other third party programmes. 33percent doesn’t support ASB, Who Stole My Money costs if you want any of the decent features, and frankly I’m wary of the security involved with downloading my financial info. It’s all just been too much effort.

But now ASB has its own spending trackers in Fastnet!! Voila! I don’t even know how often I’ll use it, if ever. But when i saw this, I just had to have a go. I played around with it briefly tonight – so much fun! Graphs, colours, coding different types of transactions…..a PF dream.

Screenshots…

Kind of sad to realise how much we spent on ‘dining’….as well as an extensive list of categories, you can add up to four of your own. That might not be enough for some people, though.

Another thing I’m REALLY SUPER EXCITED ABOUT (see below right) is the fact that we can now use references on transactions between accounts. it’s GREAT news for me. I’m constantly transferring money between my accounts, and not being able to remember what each was for often got really confusing. I’d be left wondering what that $50 was for, or if I’d remembered to save bill money that week, or if I’d transferred money for groceries or if that was for the prior week. Now, I can label them “power bill” “jeans” or “insurance”. Woop woop!

Pesky bankers

I wish I could wear a sign on my forehead saying “Don’t try to sell me shit” every time I visit the bank.

I know the bank tellers have to try and upsell things, and inform us about new products. It’s their JOB. But there are only so many times I can hear about KiwiSaver and Visa Debitplus before I lose it! One day, one very bad day, I just know I’m going to snap at the poor undeserving teller for his/her inane spiel, just because s/he is trying to make commission. Which is why, like I said, a sign on my head would be a really good idea. Or more practically, some sort of alert that pops up once you swipe your card, informing tellers that you’re opted out of sales pitches.

Granted, one teller did tell me something of interest once. She deviated from the usual things and informed me that after graduating I’d be eligible for a low interest graduate loan. Something different, something useful to know.

But I do NOT want a Visa Debitplus – if I did, I’d tell you. I don’t have a spending problem. I can handle credit responsibly. I’ve never run up consumer debt in my life. (I do, however, currently have a cashflow problem, which makes the Debitplus even less useful to me). So no thanks. Every time, I grit my teeth and smile and say “not for me at this moment”, because I have little patience for repetition.

Nor do I want to sign up to KiwiSaver. Wait, let me rephrase. I DO. But it’s not on the cards at the moment. As I usually (when I can be bothered) explain, my partner has been laid off. Things are tight. It would be foolish to tie up money in KiwiSaver and lock myself into contributing for a year at this stage.

Tellers usually go “mmhmmm” at this point and nod vaguely. I’m pretty sure they don’t even hear. Next, inevitably, comes the question “So, are you working?”

Yes, of COURSE I’m working. We’d be on the street otherwise.

“Oh, well, because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t have to contribute anything at all.”

Yes, thanks. Not applicable. Plus, I know this because everytime I’ve come in over the last year, I’ve heard this over and over again.

All right. Enough’s enough. I think I’m going to either suggest kindly to ASB that they implement an opt-out alert like I mentioned, or nicely ask a teller next week when I go to the bank next.

Nifty little thing

I noticed a nifty little thing on Fastnet today – don’t know how long it’s been around, but I don’t think it’s been long at all.

It’s called Online Vault and is a way to store important details online within your online banking, like account details, important contacts, insurance details, IRD, driver licence numbers etc. I love doing things like that and immediately set about backing up our important info, details that would be hard to recall if say our wallets were lost or stolen. It also got me thinking about sorting insurance – I got three quotes today, and will confirm it in the next day or two.

What else will I need? I’m compiling a list of things I need to do for insurance – like take photos, copy receipts, serial numbers, etc.

Gotta love ASB – I think they’ve always been ahead of the game, despite their increasingly grating ads.