This Could Be Your Savviest Banking Move in 2023

And the sooner you implement it, the better.

The start of a new year is a popular time to map out different financial resolutions. Yours might include paying off your credit cards, spending less money, and boosting your savings.

All of these can be challenging goals. But if you make one key banking move, you may find that you're able to close out 2023 saying that you've pulled all of them off.

It's all about managing your money effectively

If you work and get paid on a regular basis, you can probably anticipate that a specific amount of money will hit your checking account month after month. Now you might take the attitude that once all of your bills are paid in a given month, you'll take your remaining money and use that cash to meet your goals. So you might, for example, put $100 at the end of the month toward your credit card balance and then stick another $50 into savings.

But there's a problem with that strategy -- namely, it assumes you'll keep your spending in check enough to eke out money each month to meet your goals. So rather than leave things to chance, a better bet may be to take advantage of one feature that most bank accounts offer these days -- the automatic transfer.

Unless your bank is really behind the times, you should have the option to set up an automatic transfer that moves money out of your checking account and into your savings account in conjunction with your paychecks arriving. And that's an important thing, because if the temptation to spend money has thwarted your financial goals in the past, this helps eliminate that temptation.

So, let's say your goal is to boost your savings by $2,000 in 2023 and also pay off a $1,000 lingering credit card balance. That means you'll need to come up with $3,000 to make that happen.

If you set up an automatic transfer from your checking account, you can arrange for $250 to land in your savings account each month. You can use some of that money to pay off your credit cards and keep the remainder in savings so you have cash reserves to tap in case you wind up facing a financial emergency, like a home or car repair.

A move worth making

There are different banking moves you might think to make in 2023. These could include opening a certificate of deposit (CD) or even switching from a physical bank to an online-only bank if that results in a higher interest rate on your money (which it very well might).

But another key move to make in 2023 is to set yourself up with an automatic transfer. Doing so could spell the difference between meeting your financial goals and falling short. And if you don't want to deal with the disappointment of failing at your financial resolutions, then it pays to take this very simple step at the start of the year -- before you have a chance to fall victim to impulse spending.