Managing Personal Finances with Demand Deposit Accounts

Summary: Demand deposit accounts offer individuals many different options and benefits when managing their personal finances. Deposit accounts can be used to manage everyday expenses, keep track of personal cash flow and save for the future while earning a return. There are many different types of deposit accounts, each offering a means to achieve specific goals. In the following pages, I will break down some different types of accounts, discuss their purpose and show how each one can make achieving personal financial goals a simpler, more attainable task. Demand Deposit Accounts, or DDAs, are accounts offered by financial institutions such as banks and credit unions that allow account holders to deposit and withdraw funds and perform many other types of transactions. These accounts are called demand accounts because they give the client access to funds upon demand, either limited or unlimited depending on the type of account. The main purpose of these accounts are to offer clients, personal or business, a secure means of storing, transferring, spending, or saving money. The first and most common type of DDA is a checking account. A checking account offers the convenience of being able to deposit and withdraw funds and issue checks, or drafts, to transfer money to any individual or business. This is a much safer way to keep money that is used for everyday expenses because it is insured by the federal government and usually requires some type of identification to access funds. If checks are lost or stolen clients have the ability to issue a “stop payment,” which means that the lost or stolen checks will not be paid by anyone trying to access funds using those specific drafts. Checking accounts also make record keeping more manageable. Each time a check is issued or a transfer made, there is a