Life is busy, and not enough of us prioritize our personal finances. I have good news! You can move from “flying by the seat of your pants” to confidently being in control without a huge time commitment. It’s all about working smarter, not harder.
Automate, Automate, Automate
Automate as much as you can. Set up automatic withdrawals or bill pay schedules to ensure bills are paid on time and late fees are avoided.
You should also automate your savings. If you plan to spend $10,000 on travel this year, set up monthly transfers into a savings account to ensure the funds are there when needed.
Automation isn’t just for short-term needs. Many retirement plans allow you to automatically increase your retirement savings by 1% each calendar year. This small adjustment can often go unnoticed, but before long, you will have significantly increased your retirement account without lifting a finger!
To be very clear, automate does not in any way mean ignore! You should review the expenses and ensure the payments align with expectations. Set time aside once a month to review your bank accounts and credit cards to ensure no surprises.
Show Me the Money
When was the last time you looked at your expenses? While this could be a time-consuming project, several budgeting apps can connect to your accounts and clarify how your money is being spent. These apps aren’t perfect, but they will give you a good idea of your habits. If you have the time, you can edit miscategorized line items for a more accurate picture. You can also input a budget and get notifications when approaching your budget limit. If you don’t want to define a budget for each category, focus on one or two at a time.
Make sure you select a credible app and that you are comfortable with the security measures in place. The last thing you want is for a fraudster to gain access to your passwords or bank accounts.
Set Small Quarterly Goals
Maybe you’ve recently updated your estate planning documents. The next step is to review your beneficiary designations to ensure they coordinate with your new documents. Sounds easy until you realize you need to track down logins for life insurance policies, employer plans, and old retirement accounts.
Instead of tackling this all at once, schedule time on your calendar once a week to make progress. Giving up a whole afternoon might not seem realistic, but chipping away over a few weeks will have a big impact. You could take the same approach for reviewing insurance coverage, freezing your credit, or rolling over retirement plans. Keep that meeting on your calendar as a time to focus on your financial goals. Without that protected timeslot, you could quickly lose sight of your goals.
Freeze Your Credit
No one wants to deal with credit fraud. It’s time-consuming and frustrating to unwind. Instead, proactively freeze your credit with the three major agencies. You need to contact each agency independently to lock down your credit, but no one can open an account in your name once you do. When you need to open a new account for yourself, find out which credit agency the financial institution uses to run your credit and contact them to unfreeze your account.
Getting the new account open may take a few extra minutes, but it’s still significantly less time than closing down a fraudulent credit card. Most credit agencies will even allow you to indicate the timeframe you want your credit report to be available so you don’t have to take the time to put the freeze on again.
From Chaos to Confident
The next time personal finance comes up in conversation with a friend or loved one, don’t be the person with their tail between their legs. Instead, you can tell them you’re in control.
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