One of the biggest time-wasters for me is checking my account balances online, and shifting money back and forth between checking and higher-interest savings to maximize my interest. It’s a delicate balance, since one $30 overdraft fee can kill increased interest very quickly. Last year I solved this problem and fully automated my finances. Here’s how I did it:

• Opened an online ING Checking account with high interest (right now its 1.75% 1.0%, but that still beats Chase at 0.15%)
• Set up direct-deposit of our paychecks into this account
• Analyzed our monthly ATM withdrawals and set an auto-transfer in ING to move that much money, plus a little cushion, into Chase on the 1st of every month (we have to do this since ING does not have local ATMs in NYC, and we don’t want to pay ATM fees. Chase has more ATMs than any bank in NYC, and is available in Duane Reade as well)
• Set up auto-pay for mortgage, maintenance, cell phones, cable, electricity/gas, parking, insurance, credit cards
• Set up auto-withdrawals of a set amount each month into Fidelity brokerage account
• 401(k) and employee stock purchases contributions are automatically taken out of paycheck
• Automatic savings for vacations and emergencies goes automatically from ING Checking to ING Savings monthly (I have a future plan to set up several savings accounts one for each category, since I don’t like mixing my emergency funds with funds I plan to spend)

With all that done, all I need to do is:

• pay Amex (they still don’t have an auto-pay) [Update: Amex has direct debit!  You have to call their 800 number and ask for a form, it's not available on the website. Another update 12/14/08: you can now enroll for this online, it's called AutoPay.  Make sure you set it up to pay your full balance, not your minimum balance]
• review credit card bills 1x per month for errors, etc
• glance at ING once per week to move any excess checking money into savings or investment accounts (although this shouldn’t happen if I’ve properly budgeted)
• do everything else I want to do in my free time!

What are your tips for saving time with your finances?

[This is the last of a multi-part post.  To read from the beginning, start here.]

Last time we created a general plan of bullet points. Now we’ll break that down into specific actionable items, and go off on our merry way checking them off (which helps me feel like I’ve accomplished something each time). I also will assign a time-frame for doing these tasks, so they don’t linger on forever. I know from experience in helping people with their financial plans that procrastination is silent killer to any plan. It’s so much better to just get it over with!

Increase life income by saving and investing

• Update my 401(k) contributions to take advantage of my company’s match [done]
• Design a plan for increasing my 401(k) contributions over time (i.e. add 1% per year) [done]
• Open a non-retirement brokerage account for my investing [done - fidelity]
• Set up monthly automatic withdrawals from my ING checking into that account, based on how much I can afford (see future post on my simple budget) [done]
• Maximize interest by using a high-interest checking account [done]
• Design an asset allocation [done]
• Re-allocate all of my investments according to that allocation (July 08)

Increase free time through information filtering and automation

• automate my finances (direct deposit, auto-bill pay, auto-invest) [done - see how I do it]
• look for tasks to outsource - I have a goal this year to outsource 2 parts of my life (Dec 08)
• decrease news reading or and watching CNN to 15 minutes per day [done]
• use GoogleReader to organize all my news sources and blog reading to speed perusal [done]
• decrease TV watching to 1-2 hrs per week [done]
• what else? please post comments if you have other ideas of how you saved time in your life

Decrease expenses through efficient and wise spending

• Start using a spending analysis tool [done - mint.com is awesome!]
• Review investments for performance compared to fees, and re-organize to minimize fees if necessary [done]
• Review investments for tax efficiencies - make sure investments like mutual funds that throw off capital gains are held within tax-deferred accounts (IRA/401k)
• Review expenditures for large areas of spend (”low-hanging fruit”) - review these with my wife to validate
• Review monthly costs for potential tax savings [done - pay for subway card and parking with pre-tax dollars, parking tax rebate for NYC residents]
• Review need for car based on usage through the year (I’m keeping track) and cost if I had to rent each time instead (Dec 08)
• Shop around for car insurance savings [Dec 08]
• keep brainstorming in this area…

Decrease risk of loss through proper and careful use of insurance

(look for future posts on who needs what kinds of insurance - but these are pretty standard for 20-30 somethings who are married with no dependents)

• Life insurance for me to protect my wife [done - 15yr Term from William Penn - $310/yr]
• Life insurance on my wife [done - 15yr Term from ING Reliastar - $290/yr]
• Health Insurance [done - covered through my wife's plan, which is the cheapest and best of our employers]
• Long-term disability insurance - opt-in through work [done - $32/month]
• Auto-insurance [done - Geico $490/6mos including all discounts and safe driver course I took]
• Home insurance for our apartment [done - Travelers ~$50/month]
• Valuables insurance for wedding rings and engagement ring [done - Chubb ~30/month]

Do you have an action plan for your goals? If so, how old is that plan?