My name is on a variety of checking accounts. Some are personal, others business related. Either way, I feel compelled each month to balance every one to the penny. In all fairness, I must admit in my business world I have an assistant who does most of the grunt work. Regardless, between the two of us we account for every dollar and dime that filters through the various accounts.
It’s come to my attention that this monthly habit marks me as a dinosaur. I’ve learned that young people today don’t bother with a regular accounting of their spending habits. My son the professor, for instance, never balances his account and takes instead whatever the ATM spews as what he has as working capital. This is foreign to me.
What about the checks he’s written that haven’t been cashed yet? What about any automatic deposits or withdrawals? He doesn’t seem concerned. And the thing is he’s never commented about overdrafts, so this must work for him.
I guess in this day of instant online banking one can always see what’s been cashed or deposited; one can also set up overdraft protection. One can probably hire an assistant banker or some minion to actually balance accounts. Yet, I probably will still plod along with the old-fashioned reconciliation method. Dinosaurs have trouble changing.
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