Let’s Break it Down
It’s time to use your financial knowledge to finalize your goals. Whether it’s additional ways to save, paying off debts, or managing your credit score we’ve got you covered. Understanding your finances takes time, but reaching the finish line with all your ducks in a row can be a great feeling!
Use our resources as stepping stones to continue building confidence in your financial future.
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Savings Accounts:
Build your savings with competitive rates and great returns. Check out our certificates and money markets.Learn More -
Maintaining Better Credit:
Explore ways to manage your credit score and ensure that it stays in proper standing.Learn More -
Refinancing or Downsizing:
Ready to refinance or downsize? Discuss your options with one of our experienced loan officers.Learn More -
Budgeting and Debts:
Find a budget that works for you and prevent a future headache with proper debt planning.Learn More
What Does Your Savings Look Like?
Diversify your savings options for the long haul and complement your goals. Don’t keep your money under the mattress, put it into a savings account that grows over time! Take advantage of one or more of our savings options and make your money work for you.
Further Your Financial Knowledge
Introducing our new learning center! Add another building block to your financial brain power with helpful concepts, tips and tricks.
We’ve pulled together a comprehensive list of educational articles, courses and guides all in one convenient place tailored for you. These guides can help you deal with healthcare costs, investment risks, taking control of lingering debts and so much more. Exercise your mind with our free courses now!
Stay on Top of Your Credit Score
Do you know your credit score? If it’s not where you hoped it would be or if you want to make sure it doesn’t change, use Credit Hub to stay on track. Sign up in Digital Banking to check your score for free, set up alerts, set credit goals and learn how to maintain your score.1
5 Tips to Maintain Better Credit
- Pay your bills on time each month: Remember, late payments can affect your score.
- Pay down debt as soon as possible: Avoid using more than 30% of the credit available to you.
- Hang onto old card accounts: The longer a credit line stays open, the more positive it looks.
- Don’t over-apply for new credit: Every application for a card or loan requires a credit check that can ding your score.
- Spread your debts around: Having a mix of credit in your file like a mortgage, car loans or a credit card shows that you can handle multiple debts.
Want an in-depth breakdown of your credit score? Check out our helpful article on all the categories that make up your score.
Refinancing or Downsizing?
Whether you’re downsizing your living situation or moving someplace warmer, it’s important to be prepared. If 2025 is your year to move, we have the resources to get you ready. Attend a seminar or talk with a mortgage loan officer to get information on today’s homebuying process.
Don’t Let Debts Linger
Between a mortgage, medical expenses and other bills, it’s normal to feel like the finish line is far away. Give yourself a second wind by crafting a budget and assuring your monthly expenses are covered.
How to Stay on Budget
- Do Your Research: Read articles, watch videos or see what family and friends have done.
- Find a Plan: Choose a budget style that works best for you like the envelope system or 50-30-20.
- Talk to a Pro: Chat with a financial expert about different ways to tackle debts.
- Stay Aware: Always reevaluate when necessary and make a habit of keeping your goals on hand.
Master Your 2025 Budget
While you may have used a budget plan before, there are plenty of new ones to try out. A budget is never a bad route to take when attempting to pay off remaining debts. Try out one of the popular methods below.
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A reverse style of budgeting where you take your monthly income and set aside cash for your savings goals first. After that, you use the rest for necessary bills and other expenses. Figure out what percentage you want to save each month and automatically take that amount out per paycheck right away. You can always increase or decrease the amount you are taking out depending on your comfortability.
- Great for those who want to save without investing a lot of time and energy into a budget.
- Not the best strategy for those that have very little wiggle room with bills and leftover income.
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An oldie but a goodie. Set your spending limit for each category you spend money on like groceries or utilities. Then fill an “envelope” with money you will use on that category. While using a physical envelope used to be the preferred method, you can approach this any way you like. This method helps to prevent overspending on unnecessary categories or reach a savings goal.
- This strategy works for those who want a physical grasp on where their money is spent.
- Since this method involves physical money, it can have the pitfall of misplacing funds. Additionally, it requires time and energy to manage several “envelopes”.
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This strategy involves splitting your income across three categories. Break out your money into 50% for needs like bills or groceries, 30% for wants like a night out with friends and 20% for general savings or paying off debt. Remember, it’s important to stay consistent with your categories. Swapping expenses from bucket to bucket is not ideal and can ultimately defeat the purpose of the budget.
- Perfect for those who need a consistent budgeting strategy but don’t need to worry where every dollar goes.
- Not ideal for those with changing expenses like contract workers.
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Great for planners, this method uses every dollar and cent deliberately. Allocate your money to all needs, wants, investments and savings. The goal: income minus expenses, equals zero. Layout your take-home income for the month. List all your necessary expenses like your mortgage and car insurance. Then any other expense categories like entertainment. Take your income and start subtracting your expenses from it. Whatever is left, move it to savings, retirement accounts or an emergency fund until you reach zero.
- This is a good strategy for budgeting pros who want to know every detail of their dollars spent.
- This won’t work for individuals who prefer an out of sight out of mind method of saving.