The start of a new year often ushers in a call for New Year’s Resolutions. This goes for personal goals, professional ambitions as well as financial objectives. We have accumulated a number of financial resolutions you may want to consider.
1) Check your credit report.
A review of your credit report is more than a simple review of your credit score. Credit reports offer details about your open and closed credit accounts and loans, payment history, and recent balances. Consider closing unused accounts, investigate accounts you didn’t open and monitor how creditors evaluate you. The three credit rating agencies are TransUnion, Equifax and Experian.
2) Consider a utilizing an ID theft protection service.
Unfortunately, people from around the world have chosen to place their efforts into unscrupulous means as opposed to earning an honest living. ID theft and fraud can be very disruptive to resolve. Instead of playing defense after an infraction, you may opt to employ proactive defensive technics with ID monitoring services. Firms including Aura, Lifelock, Identity Guard, IdentityForce, and IdentityIQ, to name a few, offer real-time ID monitoring services for a nominal fee.
3) Review your subscriptions.
TV/movie/music streaming services, social media, regular media, cable TV, cell phone, and even computer software have moved to a subscription-based business model. Further, automatic electronic payments can make it hard to reconcile bona fide, useful subscriptions from services no longer needed. Review your subscriptions, discontinuing those you don’t value.
4) Consider maximizing your retirement contributions.
Employer retirement plan (401k, 403b, 457 plans) contributions are increasing to $23,000 for under 50 and $30,500 for those over 501. IRA contributions are increasing to $7000 for those under 50 and $8000 for those over 501.
5) Ensure to fund your emergency fund.
You never know when you need cash at a moment’s notice. That is why financial planners recommend setting aside 3-6 months of expense, if you’re in your working years, and 6-12 months, if you’re your retirement years.
6) Keep calm.
If there is anything the last two years have taught us, it’s to keep our emotions in check. Emotions can run high as near-term volatility can seem to jeopardize long-term goals. More often than not, it’s the reaction to near-term volatility that risks long-term goals. Sometimes the best strategy is no action at all. Always be sure to discuss your concerns with your financial advisor and heed his/her advice.
This short list can be considered small details, but ignored details can turn into big problems if left ignored. Here’s to the new year of 2024.
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