 | | Financial Credibility Checklist | | | | To keep yourself on track to healthier personal finances,
start here by setting due dates for your own financial to-dos. Click the button
next to each item to add it to your Yahoo! Calendar or
print out this checklist of
to-do's and check off each item as you complete it. Get ready to
face your
financial fears today!
For more information on each item, refer back to Suze Orman's article:
"How to Start Saving Late in
Life". | |
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| | Make paying off your mortgage Plan A in your late-start retirement planIf you live in a home you intend to stay in, your best move right now is to get your loan paid
off ASAP. I know, I know. You're thinking, "Suze, are you crazy? My house is my only tax break!" I'm not crazy, but you
might be. Here
we are with the lowest tax brackets in history, and so for many of you that means you are getting just 25 to 30 cents back
for every dollar you pay in interest. Feel free to double-check my math, but I believe that still leaves 70 to 75 cents
coming out of your pocket. This is not really saving money; all you are doing is reducing your current monetary outflow. | | | | | |
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| | Continue contributing to your 401(k) up to your company matchI want you to continue contributing to your 401(k) each year to get your maximum company match. That's free money you
shouldn't pass up. Not all employers offer a company match, but I will assume you have a super great employer who gives you
a 50 percent match up to $2,000 a year. That would mean you need to contribute $4,000 to get that $2,000. But after that
amount, I want you to stop your contributions and use the money to pay down your mortgage. | | | | | |
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| | Review your Life Insurance NeedsThe prime reason to buy life insurance is to provide income for anyone who is dependent on you. Such as your kids or a
spouse. If your kids are now grown, or you are divorced, you might think twice about continuing to make your payments. | | | | | |
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| | Drive Your Car LongerThere seems to be a three or four year itch where once you get your car loan paid off, you want to buy a new car. Don't
scratch that itch! I want you to keep driving your car for at least another three or four years after you've paid it off-but
(and here's the real trick) continue to make the monthly loan payments to yourself. | | | | | |
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| | Raise your Home and Car Insurance DeductiblesYou can reduce your annual premiums by 20 percent or so if you boost the deductibles. And in today's insurance world that's
simply smart business. If you happen to have a low deductible and make a lot of claims, chances are pretty good your insurer
will either boost your premium cost at your next renewal, to "get back" the money they paid out to you, or, even worse, they
can choose to cancel your coverage. The bottom line is that you only want to make insurance claims for big-ticket problems. | | | | | |
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| | Stop Getting a Tax RefundBecause you didn't have the right amount withheld from your pay (or because you overpaid on your estimated tax payments if
you are self-employed) Uncle Sam returns the overpayment to you in the form of a refund. There are two big problems with
this. First of all, during the year Uncle Sam got to earn interest on that money, not you. Second, when people get refund
checks they always seem to blow them on vacations or shopping mall pig-outs. | | | | | |
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