This post brought to you by BMO Harris Bank N.A. Member FDIC. All opinions are 100% mine.
Do you remember when you could only bank during set business hours? 9-to-5, Monday through Friday? With a few short hours on a Saturday morning …
It seems like it was just yesterday when my mother would drag us to the bank.
The place where time stood still …
Where lines moved a fraction of an inch an hour …
no matter what day of the week, or time of the day.
And where the lollipop reward when we finally reached the teller was never reward enough.
I remember when I first worked in New York and had to race to the bank on my lunch hour to deposit my paycheck. And checking my watch and tapping my foot, willing the line to move faster so I could get back to work on time.
And then – cue the angels singing – ATMs were introduced. Access was limited. So were services. But at least you could gain access to your money outside of the nine-to-five business hours confines.
How strange does that all seem now? I’m thinking it’s my ‘walked ten miles to school in a snow storm with no shoes’ story for my grandchildren …
But now? Well, now access to our finances is just the punch of keyboard away …
or touch of a smart phone (and I say ‘touch’ like you would know what that means; I still have a dumb phone so I’m no hip on the mobile smart phone technology lingo).
But the idea of managing your financings any time of day — or night – is comforting. Not to mention convenient. No more waiting for a statement in the mail to balance a checkbook. Heck, no more checkbooks for that matter!
I thank my lucky stars for banking technology each and every day. If I had to keep an accurate hand-written accounting of each ATM withdrawal and check written, our finances would be a mess. A complete and utter disaster …
Seriously, I don’t know how my parents managed all those years ago!
And speaking of managing finances and online banking, this is the final week of the BMO Harris Bank Scavenger Hunt Sweepstakes …
This week’s prize is a good one … $2,000 in cash!
Just follow the clues and answer questions about financial management …
… and learn more about online services to manage those finances.
You can enter for a chance to win the $2,000 prize at BMO Harris Bank on Facebook.
So, do you remember standing in line with your mom at the bank?
I used to rush to the bank, too. But it was to make sure get the checks I’d already written covered…
Remember the whole balancing my checkbook thing? Having to sit down once a month when the statement came and reconcile everything. I say that like I ever did it…