Before we get started, if you're going into this process with even like the slightest twinge of dread, if you're like, oh my gosh, this is scary and I don't wanna do it, please know I see you and I wanna give, um, a fun little message that I got on LinkedIn to hopefully inspire you and to remind you that we're all in this together and that this community's here to support you. It is not helpful, and I need you to offer yourself so much grace and support and understanding in order to make this exercise the best it can be for yourself. To beat yourself up, to yell at yourself for making potentially a bad choice or something that you wish you had done differently, that is not productive. The last thing I want you to do is to feel so scared of looking at your money that you never do it or when you start doing it. As you look at your money and you take stock and you set financial goals, I need you to do it from a place of grace and understanding for yourself and as excited as you can be, as opposed to shame and judgment and anxiety and fear. Before we get started for the rest of this episode, I need you to promise me you'll do one thing. I just know that like, your life just feels better. That's one thing that I need to do is clean out my car. Whether you spring clean your closet, which is what I'm doing right now, and trying to get rid of a bunch of stuff or what we're doing today, which is spring cleaning your finances, or just spring cleaning, oh, your car. This is my opportunity to suddenly become lighter or at least feel lighter and more aligned with my life. I'm like, this is my opportunity to change my entire fucking life. I weirdly get very excited around spring cleaning time. We're talking about spring cleaning today, and I don't know about you. I would like to say welcome back to my oldies, but goodies. Take some time this spring to clean up your finances and make sure you’re on track to meet your money goals.Become an investor and join our Investing Community, Treasury, with Investing 101īehind the Scenes and Extended Clips on Youtube (It’s less scary than it sounds.) theSkimm But it’s a good idea to do a self-audit at least once a year. You don’t need to obsess over your budget (and it might be a problem if you do - hey, financial anxiety). Make money check-ins a regular part of your routine. You can also give yourself that ‘ found money feeling’ by making an extra debt payment or cashing in on credit card rewards. Or adjust your withholding if your tax refund was a little too big this year. Maybe it’s time to increase your 401(k) contributions. If all your money’s in order, start thinking ahead. Give yourself a boost.įinally, it’s time to reward yourself. Did you leave a 401(k) at a former employer? Take this opportunity to roll it over into your new plan or an individual retirement account.Ĭheck your Venmo or Cash App accounts too if you tend to leave money sitting in there and transfer it to the bank ( it’s safer there).Īnd speaking of transfers, if you're working on paying down credit card debt, consider a balance transfer to help you tackle it faster and save on interest payments. And make sure all your bills are up to date, of course.Īdd ‘ automate my bills’ to your to-do list if you struggle with deadlines. You might be paying your bills every month, but are you overpaying? Look over your recurring expenses and figure out if it’s time to cancel some subscriptions or negotiate for a better rate. Keep an eye out for fraud or errors that could be hurting your score. While you’re at it, you should check your credit report, too. You’ll want to know your credit score to see if it’s in good shape before you start applying for loans. Check your credit.Įspecially if you’re going to make a big purchase in the near future (think: a car or a house). Psst…here are some other times you should refresh your budget. Or maybe you’re looking for a better budget plan because your current one isn’t working. Even if your expenses haven’t changed, maybe your priorities have. ICYMI, inflation’s been on a tear, which means your 2021 budget might need some adjusting.
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