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15 December 2011
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Review your monthly budget and track your spending. Keeping track of where your money is being spent will highlight unnecessary expenses. Cutting expenses is a good way to improve your cash-flow.
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Begin saving today. A savings account can help when life throws an unexpected curve ball. Ideally, you want to build up an emergency fund that could pay for your necessary expenses for 6-12 months.
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Examine how much you have been contributing to your retirement plan this year. If you can afford to, maximize your 401(k) contributions. At least be sure to take advantage of your employer's match program and, if your company doesn’t offter that, consider talking to your advisor about contributing to a Roth IRA.
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Review your beneficiary designations. Take a look at your workplace retirement plans, IRAs, annuities, insurance policies, and any other instruments that transfer ownership or make payments to a designated beneficiary upon your death. Be sure the person or people named in those instruments match your wishes. You should also check for this in documents such as your will. (For example, if you still have an ex-spouse named as the beneficiary of an insurance policy, that is who will get the money when you die. This might not sit well with your current spouse if you are remarried).
"P R E P A R E T O R E A C H Y O U R G O A L S"
