Organize Your Financial Life in 2007

While it's not all estate planning-related, here's my plan for organizing your financial life, one month at a time, in 2007.  Most of these items shouldn't take more than an hour to do.

JANUARY: Start the new year off right, with a focus on financial planning.  For most people, that means a checkup in planning for two areas: your kids' college education and your retirement.  A good, fee-only financial planner should be able to give you some guidelines re. how much you should be saving per month.

FEBRUARY: This month's focus is on taxes.  If you have an accountant, you should get him or her all of your information, so your returns can be prepared early.  If you don't have an accountant, get one!

MARCH:  Here's an easy task: open a safety deposit box if you don't already have one, and put your important papers (Wills, deeds, etc.) in it.  If you already have a box (or if you're opening one for the first time), keep a list of the box's contents -- and where the keys can be found -- at home.

APRIL: Tax time, part 2.  Review your completed returns, and ask your accountant if there's anything you should work on or consider for next year.

MAY:  Time to think insurance.  Make a list of all of the policies you own, in table form, with company name, policy #, beneficiary (if any), subject of policy (auto, home, disability, etc.), and contact information for your agent.  Put a copy of the list in your safety deposit box.  Every five years, consider sitting down with an insurance expert (NOT a hard-sell type) to review your coverage.

JUNE: Time for a mid-year check-up, via a net worth statement.  Figure the value of your assets (cars, houses, savings, investments, etc.) and your debts (mortgages, student loans, etc.).  Subtract, debts from assets to figure out what you are worth.  This might take a little effort the first time you do it, but the internet should make it simple on a going-forward basis.  And -- of course -- a copy should be in your safety deposit box.

JULY: Embrace the Independence associated with getting and being organized this month.  I recommend hanging files, although any system that works for you is a good one (like a bunch of big envelopes?).  A simple system works best -- disability insurance in one file, mortgage info in another, 401k statements in another.  Receipt files are also important (like one for charitable deductions, and one for big-ticket items).

AUGUST: Check in on your financial planning again.  How does the college fund look? What about your retirement accounts?

SEPTEMBER: Another month for insurance: walk through your house with a videocamera, taping all of your contents (and supplying a narrative).  Stash the tape in your safety deposit box.

OCTOBER:  Time to look at your estate plan.  If you don't have one, see an attorney.  If you do have one, review it to make sure it's up to date.

NOVEMBER:  Estate planning, part 2. Since the family is around for Thanksgiving, how about a talk with them regarding end-of-life decisions?  Hopefully you put these in writing last month or earlier when you executed powers of attorney for health care and property. 

DECEMBER: December means it's time to review this year's budget and set your budget for next year.   Did you overspend? If so, where? What can be cut next year without much pain?

Comments

[michel]

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[Polaris World]

It is not always easy to organise your finances for an entire year, I know, on numerous occasions I have tried, last year I planned out what I would spend and earn only to find my partner had put a deposit on a property in Spain at Polaris World, this of course threw everthing out of the window and all of a sudden I found that we would not survive financially unless we undertook some drastic steps, it pays to plan but always be aware of those hidden things that come to throw a spanner in the works.