Sunday, June 29, 2008

Clean Up Your Financial House

Have you ever asked yourself, “How can I keep track of all my accounts?” The easiest ways are not as tough as you may think.

Consolidate them and use on-line bill pay. That’s it.

Okay, maybe that is not the whole story, but consolidate where and when you can. I try to have my clients that are worried about missing something do the following:
  • Have one checking account and one savings account
  • Manage your time and your money more efficiently by using your bank’s on-line bill pay service. It is a quick way to setup reminders and pay bills.
  • Setup automatic payments for recurring bills.
  • Have one IRA and/or Roth IRA - it is okay to have one of each
  • Have only your current 401(k)/403(b) Plan - rollover previous 401(k)and/or 403(b) plans to your IRA - one client “forgot” about $150,000 at a previous employer
  • Have one brokerage (taxable) account. It helps to cut down on errors at tax time. Stop looking for multiple reports, and only look for one account.

These are simple things, but the more spread out you are, the more time it takes for you to know and understand where you stand financially.

If you need some help gathering all of your assets into one place, give us a call. We are happy to help. Whether you want for us to manage the assets or simply hold them in your accounts, we want you to clearly understand your financial position.

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