Has there ever been a time when living was not expensive?
Car payments, groceries, clothing and other expenses seem to have a way of consuming income and assets faster than they can accumulate for many households. It’s a notion from which budgets are created to help people manage their finances and handle the high cost of living.
Budgets are longstanding tools that have been the same for centuries, but technology has now updated the concept so that users can maximize savings and minimize spending.
To help members create and follow a budget, Tower Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Laurel, launched FinanceWorks. FinanceWorks is an online Personal Financial Management (PFM) solution, powered by Quicken and provided by Intuit Financial Services, that gives users a customized picture of their finances so they can establish priorities, track cash flow, tweak spending levels and determine disposable income. FinanceWorks is free to members and accessible through Tower’s Home Banking.
Tower members use FinanceWorks to create a budget, track spending, set up bill payment alerts and reminders, and even calculate their net worth. Members can view all of their financial transactions in one place with one login, even transactions from non-Tower accounts. They can select from a list of more than 18,000 financial institutions and creditors — including checking, savings, loans and credit card accounts.
Charts and graphs show the member’s financial picture at a glance. The FinanceWorks solution can be customized to fit his or her personal financial goals and priorities.
“Tower members are sophisticated individuals who know the level of planning they need to achieve their financial objectives,” said Christine Bouma, e-services product planner at Tower. “FinanceWorks helps them do that, from major considerations such as college savings and retirement, to everyday transactions. Members can even allocate funds from one transaction to multiple expense categories such as the amount spent on food vs. fuel at a gas station.”
Browser-based PFM solutions are fairly new and do not yet enjoy widespread use. However, Bouma says more than 10,000 Tower members are now using FinanceWorks as part of Tower’s secure online Home Banking. In the first week following the launch, more than 1,500 members signed up; by the end of the first month, that number rose to more than 4,000.
Tower’s rate of member signups for FinanceWorks is more than twice the 3% national average for bank customers who use a PFM tool.
Of course, budgets are only as good as the data they contain and only work if you follow them. But as Tower members have demonstrated with FinanceWorks, once they have that solid data collected in one place, it is easier to adhere to a budget and reach their savings goals.
