Southland News

While you're spending the time to get your home in order this spring, don't forget to take a look at your finances!

Having scheduled times throughout the year to breakdown your finances and closely examine them is the best way to ensure that you are on track to reach your financial goals and not endangering your lifestyle by letting things slip by unchecked.

6 things to add to your to-do list:

1. Revisit your financial goals

Do you remember what all your financial goals are? Have your goals changed?

Taking a look at the progress towards your goals and ranking your goals in order of importance is a great way to evaluate if you are on track, or what you may need to change about your spending in order to get back on track. 

Goals don't need to be rigid, as the financial market is constantly changing. If you aren't on track to hit your goals, is there something you need to reevaluate so you can challenge yourself while still being realistic?

2. Refresh your budget

It's important to reevaluate your budget often, as costs associated with your budget will likely change often.

Rent, grocery bills, gas and other expenses fluctuate, which can leave gaps or overspending in your budget. Take the time to track your spending from the past few months so that you can see any patterns or trends in your spending and plan accordingly. 

Different times of the year also bring changes to budgeting. In the summer months you may want to set more money aside for vacations and fun spending, while closer to the holidays you're probably putting some money away for gifts and traveling to family. 

Taking the time to look at your budget now will help you stay on track for your other financial goals!

3. Review your credit report

Reviewing your credit report is an important step to keep your finances in check. Since there's so much information about your credit and credit seeking activities that gets reported, it's vital to make sure that it is all being reported accurately. Information on your credit report is how your credit score is calculated, so inaccurate data can hurt your score and your interest rates on any future loans. 

You can request a copy of your credit report from each of the three major consumer reporting agencies annually. This is a free service and is not considered a hard inquiry on your credit, so there is no impact to your score. Visit annualcreditreport.com to request your credit report.

4. Cancel unused subscriptions

Subscriptions can cause a huge hit to your bottom line, especially if you don't keep track of them. Subscriptions are easy to start and seem low-cost, but since they are automatically paid each month it can be easy to forget about them, and the costs start to pile up. 

If you're not sure where you stand with your subscriptions or you want to make sure none have slipped through the cracks, try downloading an app like Rocket Money to help you. 

Even if you want to keep all your subscriptions, it's a good idea to take a look at your billing plan. Have prices increased? Be sure to add up-to-date pricing to your budget and adjust the rest of your spending accordingly. You may even be able to save money by paying an entire year of your subscription in advance if you know you're going to keep it for a while.

5. Review insurance policies

As changes in your life happen, it's important to look into your various insurance policies to make sure you have adequate coverage, and that you're not paying for more than you need to. 

Have you recently received a raise or a pay cut? Are you living in a new home or rental? Have you moved to a new state? Has your family situation changed? These are all things that might justify a need to change your insurance policies or even shop around for a new insurance provider.

6. Automate your savings, investing, and bill pay

This one can be tedious and time-consuming to set up for the first time, but once you have it set up, your life will be so much easier.

Setting up automated payments will take another thing off your plate that you would normally do on a weekly or monthly basis. It also helps to ensure that you're not paying late or defaulting on any bills, which will keep your credit score looking as healthy as possible. 

Automating your savings and investments is also a great way to stay on track to your financial goals. If your goal is to put $500 a month into long-term investments, it makes it that much easier to stick to that goal when you don't have to manually go in and transfer your money.

Extra work pays off

Spring cleaning, whether for your home or for your finances, is never fun. But, the results will allow you to breathe a bit easier. 

If these to-do list items feel like too much to take on all at once, try spreading them out over several weeks.