August 12, 2026

Are you looking to get a jump start on your fall savings goals? Wanting to make sure you are making financially sound decisions? August is the perfect time to start planning for a busy autumn and holiday season, both of which often come with increasing expenses.

As this Friday, Aug. 14, is National Financial Awareness Day, we wanted to share some tips to improve your financial wellness. Think of this day as an opportunity to have a money “reset”. Make time to review your current budget; paid subscriptions, such as streaming services; and check for any recurring expenses that you may not even realize you are still paying for. This is also a great time to review your savings progress so far as well as your goals for the remainder of the year.

A helpful tool to keep you on track is OVB’s Benjamin Tracker. This free service makes tracking your budget easy as it helps you simplify your financial goals. You can sign up through your Digital Banking. Once Benjamin Tracker is set-up, you will see that your accounts are already connected. Through Benjamin Tracker, you can tag transactions to get a better understanding of your spending habits. Other features include:

  • Cash flow calendar to track inflows and outflows in one place.
  • Visual trackers for customized spending targets.

Another way to keep up with your money goals is by taking advantage of the My Financial Health Suite, which is available through the OVB Online Experience. My Financial Health Suite includes four free security tools, including:

  • My Credit Manager (monitors your credit score).
  • Personal Information Protect (privacy scan).
  • Subscription Manager (keeps track of recurring billing).

For a premium upgrade fee, My Financial Health Suite also offers additional services, such as student loan aid, which helps you creature a repayment plan, and more.

As keeping your accounts protected is an important part of maintaining your financial health, OVB also offers free Alerts & Protections for all our credit and debit card users. This service is available within the OVB Digital Banking desktop experience as well as the OVB Mobile Banking app. Through this free service users can:

  • Freeze credit cards temporarily until you wish to use them. This feature also enables users the ability to block cards permanently should the card be lost and/or stolen.
  • Create robust alerts through the OVB app, text message, email, or a combination of all three. For example, notifications can be set to alert you to merchant type, such as travel, gas, and more. Notifications can also be based on transaction type to help with spending limits that you set as well as usage at international locations.
  • Controls to block suspicious transactions.

Remember, if you still have concerns and/or questions about your financial health, visit your favorite OVB location and one of our community bankers will be happy to assist you!