Introduction
Managing finances involves tedious tasks like tracking expenses, paying bills, monitoring bank accounts, and collecting paperwork. This financial busywork is time-consuming and distracting from more productive or enjoyable activities. Fortunately, technology now allows automating a large portion of personal finance administration. Implementing various levels of automation provides multiple benefits including time savings, convenience, organization, security, and cost savings.
Automated Payment of Bills and Debts
One of the biggest areas for automation is recurring payments for bills, loans, insurance, utilities etc. Options include:
Auto-Pay Through Vendors
Signing up for auto-pay through merchants directly is the basic option. This automatically pays fixed bill amounts monthly/periodically via a specified account or card.
Online Bill Pay Through Banks
Configuring online bill pay processes payments on due dates from your bank account to avoid late fees. Can centralize multiple bills.
Third-Party Bill Payment Services
Apps like Prism and services like Quicken automate myriad bills by using secure account info and calibrated algorithms to maximize on-time payments.
Auto-Debit of Credit Cards and Loans
Banks/lenders can directly debit monthly card and loan payments automatically from your account to avoid lapses.
Benefits
Automated payments mean no late fees, avoid disruptions/shut-offs, helps budgeting with fixed costs, and greatly simplifies financial management.
Automated Savings and Investing Contributions
Automating transfers into savings, retirement accounts, and other investments takes the effort out of manually saving:
Percentage-Based Auto-Transfers
Banks can be set up to automatically transfer fixed percentages of paychecks or income like 10% into savings accounts.
Round Up Programs
Apps analyze purchases made with linked cards/accounts and round up each transaction to automatically transfer the difference into investment accounts.
Periodic or Milestone-Based Contributions
Allows scheduling recurring transfers on specific dates or after thresholds like $500 in spending is met.
Retirement Account Contributions
401(k), IRA, and other retirement contributions can be set up as automated payroll deductions.
Benefits
Easy way to save consistently without thinking about it. Reduces temptation to spend the funds elsewhere while consistently building wealth.
Automated Financial Tracking and Budgeting
Monitoring cash flow and sticking to budgets is greatly simplified via automation:
Spending Trackers
Apps can automatically categorize spending across all linked accounts and cards to generate spending reports.
Digitized Receipts
Forwarding receipts from retailers to apps eliminates manual entry and provides accurate categorization.
Automated Net Worth Tracking
Accounts that provide a complete picture of assets and liabilities can auto-update net worth.
Budgeting Tool Integration
Apps can pull income and spending data to project future cash flow, alert to issues, and track budgets.
Benefits
Automated tracking provides real-time financial visibility, allows proactive decisions, and minimizes time-consuming expense logging.
Automated Tax Recordkeeping
Tax prep and filing is another area prime for automation:
Auto-importing Tax Documents
Apps can pull W-2s, 1099s, and other tax forms into pre-populated returns reducing manual entry.
Digitizing Paperwork
Scanner apps like Expensify convert paper receipts and other documentation into digital files for tax purposes.
Auto-categorization
Expenses get automatically categorized for taxes with only limited manual review needed.
Tax-Aware Investing
Robo-advisors can provide automated tax-loss harvesting of investments to lower taxable income.
Benefits
Automation allows compiling a complete tax picture with minimal effort so filings are ready sooner and likely more accurate.
Security Benefits of Automation
Automating finances also improves security:
Secure Passwords and Credentials
Password managers, multifactor authentication, and biometrics make account access safer.
Email and Text Alerts
Gets notifications if abnormal credit card charges or account withdrawals occur so fraudulent activity is caught quicker.
Direct Deposits Minimize Checks
Direct deposit avoids paper checks lingering in mailboxes which could be stolen.
Reduced Points of Contact
Fewer in-person interactions when paying bills or depositing/withdrawing funds minimizes security risks.
Data Encryption
Automated apps leverage sophisticated data encryption for transactions and stored information.
Benefits
Automation mechanisms represent best practices for data security and reduce risks associated with physical documents.
Conclusion
Manual financial management can be unwieldy and risky. Automating processes like bill payment, tracking spending, tax documentation, savings, and security protocols saves substantial time while lowering errors. Given the accessibility of financial apps and integration capabilities, consumers have more ability than ever to automate for confidence in meeting obligations, growing wealth, and securing finances.