Earlier this week my employer announced that all active employees would receive a bonus. The details of the bonus were listed on the company website for all employees to read. I was a bit confused by the information presented. The notice detailed the number of shares of company stock provided to each employee, but also mentioned that a number of shares would be sold to cover applicable taxes. Based on the information in the notice it was unclear just how many shares had been awarded to each employee. I logged in to my bank account to verify the transaction and to determine just how many shares I received. The number was smaller than what I expected, (I always forget just how much money the tax man takes away), so I asked another employee how many shares were deposited in her account. She said, “I haven’t logged into that bank account for years.”
Rather than calling and waiting for a response from HR, I decided to ask another employee. The bonus was exactly the same for all employees, so I just needed one other person to verify the number I saw. The second employee also admitted that she had not logged into her account. I asked three other employees and received the same answer from each.
I couldn’t believe that no one had logged into their accounts to verify that the transaction took place. I started to wonder, if I asked five more employees would they have also given me the same answer? How many people would I have to ask, to find one employee who had actually verified the transaction? Are these individuals lazy? Uninterested in money? Do they know how much money they have in their bank accounts? How much money they’ve made this year?
I take money very seriously, maybe too seriously. But I have to admit I was surprised to find so many coworkers who didn’t even bother to log in to their bank accounts.
Most people get their ideas of money from their parents. I’d imagine that’s why they have that attitude.
Keep up the good work!
I login to my bank accounts 3 to 4 times a month. Though I have two stocks in my brokerage account, I login to the account 3 to 4 times a week. Of course, I use this as a core account for all my online payments.
I had a similar experience trying to find out when my previous employer’s company match actually got deposited. I asked about 5 people all of whom had been working for the company for years. Not one of them had ever even logged into the website and none of them knew because they never looked at anything other than the top number on the quarterly statements.
I’m getting better now where I can sometimes go an entire day without looking at all of my financial accounts, but man I don’t know about some people….maybe it’s really a blessing in some regards, but the number of errors I have found in my accounts my diligent checking makes me think a lot of people get ripped off and never catch the mistakes.
It definitely seems like there are two extremes to this issue. Those who log in to their accounts daily, and those who never log in at all. Of course, my husband and I are the former. In fact, my husband jokes that we’d know within hours if someone stole our credit cards or gained control of our bank accounts. He says we’d definitely be able to spot an unknown transaction within less than 24 hours.