Why Clean the Clutter?

I am going to chat about cleaning your financial clutter, but first, look at the desk in the picture. Isnt' this the desk you always see in magazines or on display, but it's never YOUR desk? Where's the dual monitors? The erganomic keyboard and mouse? The plugs to plug in all your tech?

I chose this pic because it reminds me of how tidy we want everything to be in our lives. Well, in finance, you can be tidy! The primary reason to streamline your finances is so that you can track your income and expenses easily enough. The more accounts you have, the tougher it is to follow what's leaving your house.

Here are some benefits of tidying up your account clutter:

1- Having all of your accounts at one institution/screen allows you to make quick glances at your income and expenses.

2- Many financial institutions offer preferential treatment to those who have multiple products with them.

3- It's easier to carry big balances when they're pooled together: this means more compounding interest and potentially even further preferential treatment from the institution.

4- Investment growth is much greater when assets are pooled together, returns on a larger balance are just plain larger!

What happens if you have several accounts and credit cards across mulitple institutions? I bet you find it overwhelming! You're etransferring funds in between accounts, trying to keep track of which credit card needs a payment and how much, then from what account to pay it. That is not only a great way to give up on getting a handle on your financial goals, it can also be pretty expensive. An average household really only needs a few accounts: Chequing, Savings, 1 credit card and maybe a line of credit for emergencies. There are also many more benefits to consolidating your accounts including estate planning strategies.

Our Clean the Money Clutter program, along with it's Lite counterpart, works towards gaining clarity on your banking and reducing those nickel and dime fees.