Bankruptcy

Take Time for a Financial Tune-Up

By Chris Kramer

Many people know that it's important to maintain healthy credit, particularly in a bad economy. But ?maintaining good credit? is a vague concept at best. Here?s a look at some concrete steps you can take to improve your finances?even if you only have a few minutes to spare.

Fifteen-Minute Finance Boosters

This post from WalletPop.com outlines a few ways you can bolster your financial situation in a mere quarter hour. Here?s a look at the suggestions.

• Set up an emergency fund: Most experts advise having some money set aside for unexpected expenses (like car repair, illness or even job loss). This can be as easy as figuring out how much money you?d like to have in your fund (experts generally recommend anywhere from three months? to one year?s expenses), setting up a high-interest savings account and starting regular contributions.
• Look at your credit report: One essential part of maintaining healthy finances is keeping current with how the authorities view you as a credit risk. And, thanks to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, doing so is as easy as visiting www.annualcreditreport.com and following the prompts. All Americans are entitled to one report per year from each of the big three reporting bureaus. If you space them out, you could check up on your credit once every four months.
• Review your bills: Take a look at the goods and services you pay for each month (utilities, cable, phone, insurance, etc.). Then do a little research online or by calling your providers and see if you can get a better deal somewhere else (or from your current provider). Bonus: the money you save each month can be funneled into your emergency fund.
• Draw a map: In order to stay on top of your finances, you should be able to understand them fairly easily. Take out a sheet of paper and outline your accounts, debts and credit cards. Making a visual representation of your finances should help you see any unnecessary duplications and help you determine what you can eliminate to streamline things.
• Think about retirement: Even if you already have a retirement account through your job, you can start a Roth IRA, which would grow tax-free. The government has instituted contribution limits, though, so do a little research before you commit.

One of the most important things to remember about improving and maintaining your finances is that you don?t have to do everything at once. A little work at a time can make a big difference in the long run.

Additional Resources

Fair Credit Reporting Act

Full post as published by The Bankruptcy Blog on May 22, 2010 (boomark / email).