As many of you know or maybe don’t know, I am a huge football fan. I can not wait for the NFL season to start. It kickoffs with my defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints taking on the Minnesota Vikings. WHO DAT Its not going to be an easy task for the Saints to repeat as Super Bowl Champs. The team has to focus on one game at a time in order to repeat as Champions and TWO DAT. Its the same with your personal finances. If you want to simplify you have to tackle each financial task one tackle at a time. Don’t try to financially multitask and take on more than you can handle. Its much easier to tackle each task one at a time. Here is a quick list of financial task you should tackle to simplify your finances:
BANKING
- Consolidate your bank accounts
- Sign up for online banking
- Set up account alerts
DEBT
- Consolidate your credit cards
- Eliminate credit card balances or put plan in place to eliminate it
- Refinance your mortgage or renegotiate your credit card interest rate
INSURANCE
- Evaluate your all of your insurance coverage
- Determine if you have enough coverage
- Are you paying to much for your coverage
RETIREMENT
- Consolidate your retirement accounts
- Are you on track to reach your retirement goal?
- Have you reallocated your retirement accounts?
EMERGENCY FUND
- Have you established an emergency fund?
- Do you know how much it should be funded with?
- Is it adequately funded?
ESTATE PLAN
- Do you have a will in place?
- Have you reviewed the beneficiaries, executor, and guardians you established?
- Is you family aware of your intentions in your will?
EDUCATION
- Do you have education saving plan in place?
- Have you set a goal for what how much you will need?
- Do you review you plan regularly?
TAKE ACTION
Determine which financial task would help you simplify your personal finances and tackle this one first. Ask yourself the three basic questions provide. Once you tackle the first one move on to the next. After you tackle each one at a time your financial life will become simpler and you will begin to live a simple financial lifestyle you want to live.
Til next time remember to take it one tackle at a time.
This post was featured in Carnival of Personal Finance #274: I Love NY Edition.
If you enjoy what you’re reading and want to stay up to date on the latest posts please make sure you follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my RSS feed.
