Somehow, we’re already halfway through the year. I have no idea how that happened, but it did and there are some things that we can do now to evaluate our progress towards our goals, and get ourselves back on track if we need to, that will help to set us up for success over the next 6 months to end the year strong.
Get Organized
Do you have a system for organizing your personal financial life? If not, then now is the time to put one in place. You should know that all of your important documents and passwords are stored in secure places whether that be a folder structure on your computer, cloud storage, or something else.
I’m not a cybersecurity expert, but I do know that this is very important information that you don’t want the rest of the world to have in its hands so you should take the security of where these things are stored extremely seriously. Hint: It’s probably good to review all documents and passwords every once in a while to see if anything could use updating. The password that you created 6 years ago and have never updated has probably been compromised through a data breach.
Evaluate Your Insurance Coverages
I’ve written about this many times before, including earlier this month. Do you have the proper insurance in place? Are you paying too much? Take a little bit of time now to answer these questions about all of your policies (life, disability, homeowners, auto, etc.). You may be able to improve your coverages and/or save some money over the rest of the year (and into the future) by putting in a little effort now to get serious about making sure you have the right coverages at the right price.
Pull Your Credit Report
By this time, you should have pulled your credit report a couple of times already this year. But, if you haven’t, then now is a good time to do so. You’re entitled to a free credit report from each of the 3 major credit reporting bureaus annually. It’s good to pull each report each year to check and make sure that there’s nothing off and that no accounts have been fraudulently opened in your name.
I like to space out when I pull mine. For example, pull Experian in January, pull Equifax in May, and pull TransUnion in September. This way, you can monitor your credit history multiple times throughout the year without ever having to pay to do so. Now is probably also a good time to put credit freezes in place, if you haven’t already done so.
Check Your Budget or Spending Plan
Have you been following a budget or spending plan throughout the first half of the year? If you have, then now is a good time to evaluate where you are in regards to the goals that you set for your spending at the beginning of the year. This can help you to figure out if you need to tighten up over the rest of the year or if you have some room to spare and extra money to spend that you didn’t think you would have.
If you haven’t been working off of a budget or spending plan, then now may be a good time to consider what your goals are for your money for the rest of the year and how you should allocate your money to make sure that you reach those goals.
How Are Your Savings?
Along with getting a good grasp on where your spending is for the year, now is the time to take a look at how much you’ve been able to save so far and if it’s putting your on track to reach your objectives. If so, then keep on the right track. If not, then it may be time to buckle down and be more disciplined to make sure that you reach your savings goals for the year. Even just increasing your retirement plan contribution by 1% can make a huge difference over the long-run.
Track Your Net Worth
Hopefully, your net worth is rising each month. I believe that tracking your net worth monthly can be motivating as you can see your hard work paying off as the number continues to get bigger. If this isn’t something that you’re already doing, then you can find easy Excel templates that can help to get you started on the right path.
Take Action
Yes, these are all very easy and simple things to do, but most people don’t actually take the time to complete an exercise like this. Some of the most difficult parts of being successful in your personal financial life are actually taking action and making sure to remain consistent and update often.
You’ve still got almost half a year to make sure that you reach your 2019 financial goals and it starts with evaluating where you are today and what you need to do to get where you want to be. Even if it seems like too much to accomplish over the rest of the year, break it down into smaller goals to make it easier on yourself and more realistic to achieve.
