Your tools for managing money like a pro

Financial independence. When you live on your own, you’ll be earning and paying your own way. Bank accounts help you manage those finances. Savings accounts securely save money and earn interest. Checking accounts allow you to deposit and withdraw your money, such as for paying bills.  

With a checking and savings account opened ✔, you can unlock other banking options you’ll need down the road, like home or auto loans, credit and more. Here’s how to prepare future you for the accounts you’ll need as an adult.

Make family finances fun!

Make family finances fun!

With Greenlight’s award-winning debit card and app for kids and teens, financial literacy is one step away.

Try Greenlight today

Choose your bank.

When choosing your financial institution, think about what’s most important to you. Do you want to earn the highest interest on your savings? That might be an online bank. Or is it important for you to have a local branch you could visit? 

When choosing a bank, make sure you understand all the financials. Think beyond any initial sign-up promotions and focus on the ongoing numbers — like any minimum balance required, or the fees charged for different services, such as ATM transactions.

Put your finances on autopilot. 

Whichever bank you choose, take advantage of automation as a smart money move. You can keep track of all of your finances and save the amount of time you spend doing it.

This starts with direct deposit for your paychecks, so you won’t need to cash a physical check. The money will go straight from your employer to your account. Then, you can set up automatic transfers of money to savings, which pays yourself first and maximizes interest you can earn.

Automatic bill-pay is self-explanatory… it pays your bills automatically on a set schedule. Bills paid on time? ✔ That helps protect your credit, too. 

Learn. On repeat. 

Speaking of credit, are you ready to learn the ins and outs of a good credit score and how to get it? That’s up next. Stick around for our Future You series. For now, quiz yourself about Banking on Kahoot!