 | | Tax Savings Strategies Checklist | | | | To keep yourself on track to healthier personal finances, start here by printing out this
checklist of tax to do's. As you complete each item discussed in the article, check it off
and give yourself a pat on the back for facing your finances. For more information on each
item, refer back to Suze Orman's article: "Sometimes
Simply Trying to Save Money on Taxes Costs You More". | |
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| Sign up for your company's 401(k) and begin contributing.If your employer offers a company match for your 401(k) plan, please please please invest all you can to get the maximum employer match. | |
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| Seriously consider opening a Roth IRA account.If you have the money to fund both your Roth IRA to the max and a 401(k) plan to the max, that's great. I don't have a problem with that, but if you do not have that kind of cash lying around, I want you to suspend your 401(k) deductions once you max out on the employer match. Then take the same amount you would have been investing in the 401(k) and instead invest it in a Roth IRA account. | |
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| Contribute to your IRA accounts early!If you start making your IRA contribution early in the year (in this example, if you had started in January 2004) rather
than waiting to the last minute, you are going to give your money all the more time to compound. | |
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| Re-enable your 401(k) if you temporarily suspended your account.Make sure you sign up for the 401(k) again in time to be eligible for the next year's employer match. | |
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| Pay slightly more with every mortgage payment.Make just one extra payment a year and you will slice 5.3 years off of your 30-year 6 percent mortgage. | |
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