With April right around the corner, warmer days will be here before we know it. While many people associate spring cleaning with cleaning and organizing your home, have you thought about spring cleaning your finances? Spring cleaning your finances is a great way to get back on track with paying off any debt, getting organized, and evaluating your overall financial situation. By following our five spring cleaning tips, you will be on your way down a more stable financial path.
Take a look at how much total debt you owe. To truly understand your debt load, you will need to calculate how much debt you owe compared to the amount that you earn. If your total consumer debt is less than 20% of your net income, you are in fine standings. But, if your total consumer debt is above 20%, it is time to assess your debt load. Don’t let it overwhelm you though as there are many solutions to becoming debt free such as cutting expenses, creating a debt-free plan, setting goals each month, getting a second job and numerous of additional solutions.
Organizing your finances is a vital part of being able to gain control over your financial situation and to make sure that additional wealth is going to be created. A few ways to organize your finances can include consolidating accounts, filing important documents, determining your personal net worth, estate settlement, and shredding documents that you no longer need. All of these tasks will help you be on your way to better-organized finances.
Your budget is one of the most important parts of your financial planning. Without a budget, you could be at risk of overspending on items that could cause you to go into debt, or further into debt. The best way to tweak your budget is to look back at the past couple of months and analyze what you spend the most and least money on. From there tweak it accordingly if you see any trouble spending areas or areas that you’re budgeting more than you need to.
It is always a good idea to check up on your insurance policies, whether it be health, property, casualty, or any other insurance policies you may need to evaluate. There are many benefits by doing this such as catching any mistakes, finding better rates, or realizing it may be time to bundle. As your life changes over the years, it is always best to ensure you are not paying for insurance you no longer need or that you are not underinsured.
Evaluating your 401k is important for a number of reasons. Many people make basic mistakes such as overlooking retirement plan fees, getting scared by market volatility, or getting overly aggressive. Reasons like these are why it is important to think about retirement sooner than later so that you are able to take on an appropriate level of risk all along.
If you are looking for financial services to help get your finances in order this spring, contact David Mills CPA LLC. David Mills offers financial and accounting services to small and medium-sized businesses, as well as individuals in Peoria, IL as well as the surrounding areas. To learn more about the services we offer, or to learn more about David Mills CPA LLC as a company, contact us here. We look forward to speaking with you!