Getting Your Finances In Shape

Along with your Goal setting for the New Year, consider taking a full day aimed at taking a break from your business of life, work, household duties, and put together a financial to-do list that will reap financial rewards in the year to come.

Here are some of the things on the financial task list to consider doing on this “Financial Health Day”:
• Open a high-yield savings account. Why should your savings languish in a low- or no-yield account? (Check into ING online.)
• Get a cash-back credit card. Now we don’t recommend credit cards in general, but if you use one, why not have one that benefits you with rewards or cash back that you WILL use. The key is to always be sure you pay off your balance each month…or else, cut it up! (Go to www.bankrate.com and check into credit card offers.)
• Shop for cheaper insurance. Check into health, life, home and auto. (We personally used Bob Adams of HomeStars in Plant City, and saved about $600/year by making some smart changes.)
• Cut back on phone service/ Change the family cell phone plan.  Consider getting rid of phone features you never used but for which you are paying a monthly fee.   This may take some amount of time, as there may be long waits and/or many different departments needed to check with.
• Make progress on getting a will completed.  If you don’t have a will…do it now! At a bare minimum, go to LegalForms.com and get a bare bones basic one.
• Fill out a “here-is-what-you-need-to-know-about-our-finances-if-I-die” form.  This is a wonderful thing for your family to have during an emotionally wrenching time. Ask your husband to do this for you as a gift of love.
• Set up automatic monthly contributions to non-profit groups.  Maybe this will end your “end-of-the-year scramble to get donations out.”
• Check gift cards to see how much money is left on them; then go ahead and spend that money! The longer gift cards sit you may start to accrue a monthly fee if you don’t use them soon, as well as the bigger chance of you misplacing the card.
• Organize insurance paperwork. Many of us are adrift in a sea of forms that need to be sorted and organized. Take the time to get a system in place that will help you get organized and more efficient.
• Back up your computer.   A preventative step that can save you down the road: make sure your computer has an ongoing backup plan in place — either to an external hard drive or to a vendor such as Carbonite.com. There’s a good chance a crashed computer will cost more to restore than one of these systems. It only takes this to happen to you once for this to mean something!
• Asking the cable company for a lower rate.   Doesn’t hurt to ask…sometimes they give it to you.
• Automating payment of bills for insurance, electricity, gas, water.  This is a significant time saver.
• Setting up an auto-draft for monthly savings.   Easy to do online.
• Closing any unused/old bank accounts.  Why keep what you don’t need?
• Find an online budgeting system, or some budgeting software.  Should be one that you will use and be proactive to track not only your expenses but to have a spending PLAN and track how much you have in each category – not just your checkbook balance. (Mint.com, Crown Money Map software)

If you truly take the time to evaluate where you stand financially and do a check up each year in these areas, you can comfortably estimate that the time invested in tackling her to-do list will pay off each year in savings and earnings. It helps you to reevaluate decisions and prevent the money leaks or drains that have come on unnoticed and gradually into our lives. It’s a reality shock and a chance to get back on track.

Of course, no two people will achieve exactly the same savings. But for most of us, taking the time to do a financial checkup (even just one day out of the year) is well worth the investment of time. Indeed, the return could be so substantial you might even start looking forward to facing your financial to-do list and getting more fiscally fit.

Until Next Time,