9 Time-Tested Ways to Protect Your Money Every Time!
Image source: Christina Radevich @chris_designer
My ex-girlfriend and I broke up in July. In August, I happened to be in San Diego for some business training. My ex-girlfriend happened to be there too but for another meeting. This made it easier for me, rather than be together in a small-group seminar of 12 people.
You see, she lives in Los Angeles and I live in New York. Apart from the peak months during COVID when I could visit her somewhat regularly and work remotely, that was a prime example of a ‘long-term relationship’.
That August night, she came by and handed me the ‘Bunny Box’ which contained my stuff instead of shipping it to my house as I had asked. . .
She had placed my stuff in an old suitcase. One wheel was partially broken which needless to say made it clunky to roll the suitcase. Reminiscent of our relationship in the end – bumpy. HA.
Anyway, after my training course I took the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner to visit my dear college friend Roni. I carted the suitcase on to the train.
Truth be told, this was the epitome of ‘baggage’ because having to lug the suitcase around took up energy and emotional shelf space. When Roni picked me up at the Amtrak Railroad Station in her town, it was lunchtime.
Nonetheless, my first stop was FedEx. It was a no-brainer to ship my stuff home, especially since we have a FedEx account. And the incremental cost wasn’t that much considering that I would have had to pay JetBlue a $40 fee to check the Bunny Box suitcase.
Having lightened my load and shed some baggage, Roni strolled over to the dumpster in the parking lot and pushed the suitcase into the abyss. Then we enjoyed a care-free lunch.
But nothing is ever easy.
Wouldn’t you know it? FedEx charged me $52.50 for the shipment and also $76.86 for the same shipment. Double charges. A nuisance.
Our company doesn’t use FedEx all that often and I sign all our checks and approve our wire transfers, so it was easy to see that they charged us twice.
Since I paid FedEx only the amount we thought we owed and I wanted to make sure that we kept our account in ‘good standing’, we wrote FedEx a letter explaining the situation and requesting a credit. They reversed the charges and actually sent me a refund of $9.82.
The point is, it’s worthwhile to check the invoices and bills you receive against the products and services you received.
To shed some light on how to do this, let’s turn to my days as an auditor in public accounting. When I got out of college, I joined pwc – then called PriceWaterhouse – as an auditor.
Auditing means checking a set of books and records to ensure accuracy and proper reporting:
Follow the money trail.
While you don’t need to major in accounting, become an auditor or obtain your CPA to leverage these valuable and moneysaving skills. . .
Grab these 9 time-tested ways to help you protect your money:
Analyze receipts carefully.
Some years ago, we and four other couples went to dinner at a restaurant on a Saturday night. The server had added an extra entrée to our bill. Really? Thankfully, I happened to review the receiptWe called this to the server’s attention; interestingly enough, he was Not at all surprised. We went to this restaurant a year or so later and the server added an extra entrée yet again. We concluded that it was their standard operating procedure. We Never went back.
When I was in San Diego in August, six (6) of us went to dinner to celebrate Roni’s birthday. The restaurant added an 18% gratuity to our bill. In my experience, restaurants typically add the gratuity for parties of eight (8) or more, not six. Thankfully, Roni’s friend Denise reviewed the bill and caught the add-on. Otherwise, we would have added another gratuity. For whatever reason that night, I’m not sure that I would have reviewed the bill. But I didn’t pick up the check; Denise did. My bad. Rest assured I won’t let that happen again.
Obtain and save receipts for important purchases and ones that you may have to question or verify later on. Or, at least save the text messages and emails when merchants send you a digital receipt. With paper receipts, you may want to take a selfie or photocopy because I have found that the ink fades over time.
Compare the amounts reflected (reported) on the receipt against the quantity you ordered and the prices they charged you. The difference between two numbers is called a ‘variance’. Variance means change; for example that the actual cost is different from the amount you expected, forecast or estimated. The key is to identify any variance or variances and determine what it’s all about; why it happened; and what you need to do to fix it. One prime example is the duplicate FedEx charge relating to shipping the Bunny Box – the variance was approximately $55. . . Worth looking into in my book!
Compare physical items when relevant.
In other words, if you drop off 12 items, count how many you receive when you pick up your stuff. If you ordered 8 products, did your order contain 8?
Last week, I took a few shirts, a pair of pants and a pair of LL Bean Chino Shorts to the dry cleaner. When I picked up my order, the shorts were missing in action. Turned out the dry cleaner had ‘mis-tagged’ my shorts and nestled them inside my neighbor’s order. Johnny found them a week later. That saved me $45.
Recently, my daughter Rita received two ‘muffler clamps’ from Amazon – I guess for the imaginary car she doesn’t own. . .
Last month, I took a bunch of stuff to my local ‘Wash ‘n Fold’ laundry service. When I picked up my clothes, I noticed that one of my favorite shirts was nowhere to be found. I called them; turned out they had hung it up on a hanger to dry and it was still on the rack. I’m sure that many times, people’s stuff gets lost in the sauce. I don’t know how they tagged my shirt so I don’t know whether they would have given it to me later on. But I’m glad I was on top of this. Count your items!
Check your 401(k) account retirement account statements, 403(b) account retirement account statements and brokerage account statements every time you make a deposit or withdrawal.
I have several investment accounts – some taxable and some tax-deferred (e.g. Individual Retirement Account or IRA). When I make a deposit into my brokerage account, I always check both my checking account to see that the check cleared my bank account (checking account) for the correct amount. And I check the brokerage account statements to make sure that my wealth advisor deposited the check into the correct account for the correct amount.
For example, a few years ago I wanted to deposit (contribute) money into my IRA, but accidentally deposited the funds into my ‘regular’ account, which was taxable and not tax-deferred. I called the error to their attention and they transferred the money from the taxable account to my Individual Retirement Account IRA. Problem solved.
If I hadn’t noticed the error, I would have paid more income taxes than I had planned on paying.
Check your bank accounts (checking and savings account statements) to see that the money you deposited or paid matches the money that the financial institution credited to your checking account, savings account, etc. Review your bank statements or accounts online regularly. Make sure that You actually made all the transactions that are reflected in your bank accounts and on your bank statements (checking account, savings account, etc.). Reconcile your checking, savings and brokerage accounts regularly.
Some ten years ago, I went to a wedding. I gave the couple a check for $300. Somehow, my bank debited my checking account for $350. Weird. But glad I checked and noticed it. A good reason to reconcile your checking account.
Review your credit card statements for erroneous and fraudulent charges, Regularly. I check my credit cards accounts online every couple of days. These days, as I’m sure you know, hacking is rampant. I understand that thieves steal credit card numbers and create phony credit cards and buy stuff; they also make online purchases. Sometimes, thieves test a credit card by making a relatively small purchase, for example buying gasoline at ‘pay at the pump’. Often, credit cardholders don’t check their statements so might overlook this.
Last June, I went to a conference in Austin, Texas. I stayed at a Hilton for three nights. I checked out at the front desk; but apparently, the desk clerk did not properly close my file. So, the hotel thought I didn’t check out. They charged me for an additional night’s stay. Ouch! I called the hotel’s accounting department and they identified the error and reversed the charge. That would have cost me $255 plus taxes. Glad I was awake.
Years ago, I went to a restaurant and somehow left my credit card in the folio. When I got home, I called the restaurant but they couldn’t find my credit card. Not a good sign. Immediately, I called my Credit Card Company. Within 90 minutes, the thieves had charged over $400. They bought gasoline, pay-at-the-pump; some groceries; clothes; and flowers at a florist. Crazy. With small-dollar purchases like pay-at-the-pump or a Starbucks, McDonald’s or Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, the cardholder does not have to present the credit card to the merchant; the cardholder just slides the credit card into the slot. In a sea of 100 or 200 purchases in a month, it can be easy to overlook a stray charge. . . My credit card company removed the fraudulent charges from my account. Good thing I was vigilant and called right away. Now, most or all credit card companies do not hold the cardholder responsible for fraudulent charges; but my concern is about Identity Theft and that can be a huge problem.
Reconcile your financial accounts including checking accounts, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, etc. Start with the account’s beginning balance; review the activity; and review the account’s ending balance.
I reconcile my checking accounts several times a week. I would bet that only a fraction of the people look at their checking accounts regularly and only a handful actually reconcile their checking accounts.
Check out the handy check register and reconciliation Excel spreadsheet we created. You’ll find it in Excel and can download it for Free here.
Beware of unsolicited calls from charitable organizations, seeking a donation.
Some 15 years ago, on a Saturday night we hosted two couples for dinner. During dessert, someone called us, posing as a representative of Public Television – Channel 13. Think Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. The person asked me to donate money to support public television. I gave them my credit card number and hung up. But for some reason, the caller didn’t sound legitimate to me. So, within 10 minutes of the call, I called my Credit Card Company to see if the charge was legitimate. It was Not. The thieves had already made fraudulent charges at two or three merchants. Within 10 minutes. Not good.
Better to call the charitable organization yourself directly and donate directly; or visit the charitable organization’s website.
Follow up with merchants, financial institutions and other third parties to reconcile differences, errors and fraudulent transactions on a timely basis. I recommend that you contact them within a day or two of identifying the discrepancy or questionable or fraudulent transaction. I prefer to call them instead of sending an email or entering a complaint on their website. Take Action Quickly!
Many companies set a time limit, a deadline for filing a claim, before they close a matter. Then the loss is on you – you lose. This is where your backup – supporting detail (receipts, credit card statements, etc.) come in handy and timely review and action can save the day and protect your money. Familiarize yourself with each company’s rules.
If you are in doubt about the safety of your financial accounts, don’t hesitate to freeze the accounts or cancel them. Request replacement credit cards and the like.
Be on guard! Stay alert for suspicious activity.
Once you get in the habit of checking your financial activity – bank accounts, credit card accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement plan accounts, etc., regularly, who knows how much money you’ll save and recover!
This year, I have saved over $163 with these habits.
Oh, and change your passwords regularly and use different, ‘oddball’ (random) passwords for each account.
Don’t store your passwords in your computer or for example under your keyboard.
Let me know how it goes and what you find. We’ll share your input with our readers in an upcoming issue of Budget and Grow Rich®. Thank you.
See you next week.
Arthur V.
Before you sign off, read the story below. We think you’ll find it to be amusing if not hilarious. We did!
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Funny Story. . .
Turning to a different woman, my buddy Peter and his spouse Ruby wanted to fix me up with their neighbor Robin. This match had been in the making for a month or two now.
I saw Peter the other day and he said, “No go. She refused to go on a date with you.”
Wow, she didn’t even know me yet.
When she learned my last name, ballgame over. Hello and goodbye in the same breath.
Turns out that Robin’s ex-husband dated my ex-wife for five years.
Robin thought it was just too weird.
Over and done, before we even began. Go figure.
How she would conclude that we were not the ‘perfect’ match without going on a date is beyond me.
Me? I thought it was comical. And while Robin and I got divorced and neither of us was a good match with our spouses, maybe we were the perfect match. Guess we’ll never know.
As Leroy Jethro Gibbs of the very popular TV series NCIS gave us Rule #39: “There’s no such thing as coincidence.”
I don’t know if I agree with Gibbs, but I sure do believe it’s a very small world. And you can’t make this stuff up!
Good luck Robin – I hope you find what you are looking for.
Next!
Maybe my date with Lisa tonight will be a winner. Hope springs eternal!
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