Jan 08
1
Happy New Year, fellow cheap bastards! Everyone looks at the beginning of a new year as a new beginning of sorts, and it seems like everyone likes to put together their list of resolutions. I’ve never really liked the practice or the term, mainly because most people come up with stuff like “I want to lose weigh” or “I will get out of debt”, or some other non-detailed far-reaching pipe dream that will be forgotten after February 1.
I don’t do resolutions in the traditional sense because I don’t want to waste my time. However, I do like to define specific tasks to complete in the short term to drive my actions. So here is my financial do-to list for 2008:
1. I will get my tax records organized and have my return ready to file as soon as all my source documents arrive. I should be looking at a decent refund this year, so I will put together a checklist of all of the tax documents we are expecting (W-2s, interest statements, etc.) and get my charitable donation support totaled and ready.
2. I will open 529 plans for each of my kids. We live in a state with no state income tax, so there is no incentive for investing in our resident state plan. Therefore, I’ll have to evaluate the plans available and pick one that best meets or needs.
3. Evaluate options for our old 401k plans. Both my wife and I have 401k plans with our previous employers that we have left in those plans. The reasoning has been because we both work for the same firm and the options in our plan, well, suck, leaving the balances in the old plan would allow us to achieve asset diversification that would not be possible in our current employer’s plan alone. Both we each have enough in the other plans would could probably do a rollover IRA and meet the minimum balances for whatever number of plans we would want to invest in.
4. Organize and scan our financial documents. We have paper everywhere, and I am always afraid of losing something important. I plan to scan in all of our statements and other financial documents, shred the originals where appropriate, and make a couple of backup copies for safe keeping.
5. Catalog all of our financial accounts. We have so many credit and bank accounts, keeping up with it is a rather difficult task. I want to evaluate the accounts we have, close and consolidate where appropriate, and then use the financial records organizer I got from T Rowe Price to create a guide to what accounts we still have should anything ever happen to us.
6. Take and pass the Certified Fraud Examiner exam. As FMF over at Free Money Finance has said many times, perhaps your most powerful financial asset is your earning potential. For me, I can increase that potential through relevant certifications. Not only would passing the exam earn me a nice $1000 bonus from my employer, it would also make me that much more valuable in the job market.
I’m sure there will be others I will add to the list, but these are my initial tasks for 2008. What are your to do tasks for 2008?