Here's your annual personal finance checklist in a concise and user-friendly format:
**Take Stock of Your Finances**
Before you dive into budgeting, it's essential to get a clear picture of where your money is going. Review last year's expenses and consider how you want to allocate your funds for the months ahead.
**Maximize Your Retirement Savings**
1. **IRA Contribution**: Check if you're maximizing your annual IRA contribution as early as possible each year.
2. **Adjust Retirement Plans**: Revisit your retirement accounts, special savings plans (like a 529 plan), and adjust them based on changes in household income, planned retirement age, risk tolerance, or other factors.
**Secure Your Financial Foundation**
1. **Check Credit Report**: Obtain a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com to gauge your financial responsibility and detect potential identity theft.
2. **Verify Social Security Statement**: Ensure your Social Security statement is accurate by reviewing it on SSA.gov and correcting any errors.
3. **Monitor Credit Score**: Keep track of your TransUnion Vantage Score 3.0 (or other credit scores) using tools like WalletHub, which can predict how changes in your financial habits will impact your score.
**Streamline Your Finances**
1. **Cancel Unwanted Subscriptions**: Review automatic payments from budgeting apps and credit card accounts to cancel unused subscriptions.
2. **Optimize Savings and Expenses**: Identify areas where you can reduce spending and allocate those funds more efficiently.
By tackling these essential personal finance tasks, you'll be well on your way to a healthier financial future.
**Take Stock of Your Finances**
Before you dive into budgeting, it's essential to get a clear picture of where your money is going. Review last year's expenses and consider how you want to allocate your funds for the months ahead.
**Maximize Your Retirement Savings**
1. **IRA Contribution**: Check if you're maximizing your annual IRA contribution as early as possible each year.
2. **Adjust Retirement Plans**: Revisit your retirement accounts, special savings plans (like a 529 plan), and adjust them based on changes in household income, planned retirement age, risk tolerance, or other factors.
**Secure Your Financial Foundation**
1. **Check Credit Report**: Obtain a free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com to gauge your financial responsibility and detect potential identity theft.
2. **Verify Social Security Statement**: Ensure your Social Security statement is accurate by reviewing it on SSA.gov and correcting any errors.
3. **Monitor Credit Score**: Keep track of your TransUnion Vantage Score 3.0 (or other credit scores) using tools like WalletHub, which can predict how changes in your financial habits will impact your score.
**Streamline Your Finances**
1. **Cancel Unwanted Subscriptions**: Review automatic payments from budgeting apps and credit card accounts to cancel unused subscriptions.
2. **Optimize Savings and Expenses**: Identify areas where you can reduce spending and allocate those funds more efficiently.
By tackling these essential personal finance tasks, you'll be well on your way to a healthier financial future.
it's crazy how everyone's trying to sneak in retirement savings without even noticing 
. Like, come on, folks! Don't we need to make sure everyone's got a safety net before we can start maxing out those IRAs? What about the people who are struggling just to make ends meet? Shouldn't they be our top priority? I think the government should step in and create some kind of universal retirement plan, like a social security overhaul 
. We need to rethink how we approach financial security for all citizens, not just the privileged few 
.
just did my own annual finance review and i'm shocked at how much money goes towards streaming services lol 
my monthly subs are like 100 bucks and i only watch vids on youtube 
anyway, i think its great that these checklists exist - i mean, who doesn't love a good spreadsheet 
did you know that in 2024, the average american household saved around $8,500? 
btw, my credit score is already at 750 and i've been maxing out my ira contributions since 2019 
I mean, managing finances is literally like cleaning out your room... you gotta get rid of all the stuff you don't need anymore! 
It's so easy to overspend or forget where our money's going. But making a checklist like this makes it super manageable, right? 
. Now that we're in retirement, it's even more important to keep an eye on our finances so we can make the most of this chapter of life 
.
It feels like a chore and honestly, I'd rather be using that time to plan something actually exciting, you know? 
What's wrong with just winging it for once? 
. Also, what's the deal with Social Security statements? Does anyone actually get these things? 
btw, have u checked ur credit score lately? 
i've heard if u don't review them regularly, there might be errors that could affect ur benefits 
. Why can't we have a simple "save money" checklist with checkboxes or something? And what's up with the ads in this thing?! Can I please get rid of them? 
I love that we're getting reminders to check our credit report & social security statement - it's soooo important to stay on top of that stuff 
! like I was literally stressing about not knowing where my money was going last year lol. and maximizing my retirement savings is SO important idk how people even do that without these tools