Well, the winter that never was has finally come to a merciful end. For those of us who love being snowed in, this “winter” was a total letdown. However, for all you spring lovers out there, time to get moving on those warm weather projects.
The birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, and honey-do-lists are filling up quickly. While we are getting ready to tackle all of these projects, I have a few financial items to add to your spring cleaning check list.
Last month we talked about how to utilize tools to make your financial goals seamless. Now, let’s tie up some loose ends.
- Check your beneficiaries – a lot can change over the course of a year. Have any of those changes affected who you would like your accounts to be passed on to should something happen? Make sure you are keeping those beneficiaries updated as changes occur.
- Life insurance – speaking of changes over the course of the year, have any of those changes caused you to become underinsured? Getting married, having a child, or purchasing a new home are all reasons to reassess if you have enough life insurance.
- Retirement Contributions – the IRS increased retirement account contribution limits for 2023. This is a great time to revisit how much you are contributing to that 401k or (Roth) IRA and see if you have the ability to contribute more.
- Consolidation – no one likes logging into 14 different accounts. If you recently changed jobs or retired, you can consider consolidating those old 401k’s into one account. Consult a financial professional to be educated on your options.
- Update Subscriptions – you know that Men’s Health magazine that gets delivered every month that you never read? Do we really need to keep paying for that? Additionally, many streaming services offer a cheaper “bundle” option instead of paying a-la-carte. Perhaps if you have been paying for BritBox and haven’t used it since lockdowns, you can cut it.
- Revisit Your Budget – now that we have a few months of 2023 behind us, are you meeting the goals you set in January? Revisit the goals you set for yourself and make sure you are on track.
As the weather warms and we spend more time outside by the beach and the grill, thinking about the cumbersome task of finances will fade into an afterthought. Add these to your spring-cleaning checklist along with those other projects to ensure you tackle these all important items.
Who knows, perhaps for all us snow lovers, winter will deliver one last blast and we can tackle these checklists while snowed in for a few days!
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