Tidy up your financial life in 2017.
With a new year comes a desire to get organized once and for all. This is especially important in one’s financial life, as you don’t want to miss bill payments, nor do you want to them pay twice. Plus, keeping your financial information neat and tidy makes tax time much less painful and can help you meet your savings goals.
Here are eight easy ways to organize your financial life this year.
Automate bill payments.
One surefire way to make sure you always pay your bills on time is to automate payments. You can do this by setting up automatic payments by credit or debit card, using your bank’s online bill pay service or authorizing automatic debits from your account. Be sure to keep track of the payments you have automated, so you know when to stop them or update credit cards.
Pay yourself first.
The easiest money to save is the money you never see. Many employers allow you to have money from your paycheck deposited directly into a savings account. If your employer doesn’t offer that option, you can set it up yourself with automatic transfers from checking to savings. You can also set up automatic deposits or transfers to retirement or investment accounts.
Track your spending.
Knowing where your money goes is the first step toward using it well. Plus, an organized tracking system will make gathering information for your tax returns easier. You can use a program such as Quicken, an online solution such as Mint, Personal Capital or Tiller, or an old-fashioned spreadsheet — or even a notebook. Some programs will download transactions from banks and credit cards, while others require you to enter information manually. And some even have apps that let you enter transactions on your phone. Choose a system you’ll stick to.
Organize your files.
We are not yet in a paperless world, and there are some financial documents everyone should still keep on paper. Create a filing system that works for you, using a file box, a file cabinet or even a set of shoeboxes. At a minimum, you need a place to put receipts for tax time, stock statements, medical insurance information, estate planning documents and repair records for your home. If some of your files are electronic, make sure you have them backed up, either to CDs, external drives or to the cloud.
Make a budget.
A budget can help you control your spending and ensure you don’t spend more than you make. It can also help you keep your spending priorities in check. Couples should periodically discuss their household budgets and make sure both parties are in sync with how their money is being spent. You can write up a budget on a legal pad or use a budget app such as YNAB or Mint on your computer, tablet or phone.
Update your documents.
A new year is a good time to make sure all your financial documents are still current. That includes updating beneficiaries on 401(k) and retirement accounts, checking (or writing) a will, drawing up health care surrogate and other estate planning documents and making sure any automatic payments you set up are still configured properly.
Organize your online accounts.
We all have numerous online accounts with passwords, including online bank and brokerage accounts, shopping accounts and mileage accounts. Do you know where all your accounts are? Create a list of all your accounts, usernames and passwords, and keep it in a notebook or at a secure online password vault such as LastPass, or both. While you’re doing this, unsubscribe to shopping updates or daily deals that tempt you to spend money.
Create your own mail station.
Many important documents, including stock statements and medical bills, still arrive in your mailbox. But as paper mail becomes a less important part of our life, it’s easy to ignore it as it arrives. The most efficient way to deal with mail is to organize it as it comes in. You might need something as simple as a set of boxes labeled “Bills to Pay,” “Documents to File” and “Items That Require Action.”
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8 Easy Ways to Organize Your Financial Life originally appeared on usnews.com
