Mid Year Financial Review
7 Steps for a Mid-Year Financial Check-up
It’s hard to believe, but this year is half over. Take a timeout from barbecues to give yourself a mid-year financial checkup, using these steps as a guide:
Revisit Your Monthly Budget: Is it working for you or are you falling behind each month? After reviewing, make adjustments.
Anticipate Large Expenses: List large expenses you anticipate in the coming six months, like household appliances that may need replacing or anticipated medical expenses not fully covered by insurance.
Next, determine the spending category you will take the money from to cover these expenses. If you do not have enough money set aside, build a savings plan into your monthly budget so you have the funds available when needed.
Review Your Tax Withholdings: Review your tax withholdings to see if they need adjusting. Your goal is to pay the perfect amount so you’re not hit with a huge tax bill at the end of the year, but you’re also not lending the government your money all year long.
Check Your Credit Score: Visit AnnualCreditReport.com for your free credit report from any of the three major credit bureaus. If your score has dropped, review your report and take the necessary steps to fix your score. That could be contesting an erroneous charge with the Federal Trade Commission, scheduling automatic payments on some of your bills or lowering your credit utilization rate by paying with plastic less often.
Review Your Investments: Review and adjust all of your investments, including retirement funds, stock investments, bonds, trust funds or CDs. Make sure you are maximizing your contributions when possible and that your investments are performing according to plan.
Tackle Your Debt: List every outstanding debt you carry, including credit card debt and any type of loan. Designate one debt to tackle first and work on a plan to pay it down. Once you’ve paid off this debt, move to the next one on your list. And remember: Our Debt Consolidation loans start at 3.49% APR.
Review Your Financial Resolutions and Long-term Goals: Review your financial resolutions and goals and determine whether you are taking the steps necessary for making them happen. If not, create a plan for working toward those goals for the rest of the year.
If you need the help of a financial advisor, visit qc057.com/financial-education or stop by one of our branches.