Boost Your Financial Knowledge
If you’re looking for a place to start, we’ve got you covered. Whether it's questions about homebuying, budgeting, or managing your credit we are ready to lend a hand.
Understanding your finances can seem like a daunting task, but with the proper stepping stones you can become a financial wiz! Look over our resources and start building confidence in your financial future.
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Budgeting and Saving:
Budgeting and saving can be easier than you think. We can show you how to plan for your financial goals in a way that works for you.Learn More -
Learning Center:
Expand your financial smarts with our free online courses. Knowledge is power after all, start learning today.Learn More -
Boost Credit Scores:
Understand how your credit score is calculated and explore ways to raise it over time.Learn More
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Savings Accounts:
Build your savings with competitive rates and great returns. Check out our certificates and money markets.Learn More -
Keys to Homebuying:
Ready to buy a new home? Learn the step-by-step homebuying process from our experienced loan officers.Learn More
What Does Your Savings Look Like?
What’s better than keeping your money under the mattress? Putting it into a savings account that grows with you. Opening a savings account takes no time at all and can be a valuable resource. Keeping your money secure, assisting with goals and guaranteed growth are a few good reasons to use them. Take advantage of one or more of our savings options and make your money work for you.
Your Financial Refresher
If you’ve ever felt out of the loop during a financial conversation, don’t worry. We’ve all been there. Mastering your finances can be overwhelming sometimes, and it may take time to decide on a starting point. That’s where our learning center comes in.
We’ve pulled together a comprehensive list of educational articles, courses and guides all in one convenient place to help you master your financial conversation points. Outside of conversations, these resources will help you understand banking basics, homeownership, unexpected expenses and so much more. Launch one of our free courses now!
Improve Your Chances with Improved Credit
Do you know your credit score? If you’re looking to upgrade your old vehicle to a stylish new car, your credit score may be the difference in your interest rate. If your score is not where you hoped, become a Landmark member and use Credit Hub to set you on the right track. Check your score for free, setup alerts, set credit goals and learn how you can enhance your score1.
Mastering Your 2025 Budget
If learning how to budget is a part of your New Year’s resolution, try one of these popular strategies. Stay in control of your money by using Loud Budgeting to keep your budget in the conversation or learn how to pay yourself first. Find the best starting place 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 groceries, transportation and 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.
Time For a Change of Scenery?
The homebuying process comes in all shapes and sizes. Whether you’re going from renting to owning, downsizing your living situation or building a dream home, our experts can help. If it’s time to change your 2025 housing, we have the resources to get you there. Attend a seminar in person or online to get a new perspective on homebuying.