FINANCIAL



Mon3y advice

If you’re ready to put an end to the mess, the following steps can walk you down the path of organization:

Don’t do something you love. Do something other people will love you for doing. Very few people earn a living doing something they truly love. But many successful people love what they do because other people value them for doing it.

Work your ass off. But remember that you don’t live to earn money. You earn money to live. Balance is better than excess

Never stop learning. Education is the gateway to differentiating yourself from the crowd and constantly improving yourself so you can adapt and evolve with the ever changing economy. The internet is a gold mine of information and educational resources

keep your finances simple. Reduce the number of bank accounts and credit cards you have. Consolidate your brokerage accounts. Make your financial life more manageable. Use a personal finance app

Stop spending money on useless “stuff”. It’s very unlikely that all that extra stuff you’re buying is making you happier. In fact, it’s probably just putting a strain on your financial budget. Don’t spend to impress your friends and your neighbors. You’re not winning any gold stars for owning things you can’t afford.

( “The person who mistakes ‘money’ for ‘wealth’ will live to accumulate things, all the while mistaking a life of owning for a life of freedom and living.”)

You could also keep a spending diary and keep a note of everything you buy in a month. Or, if you do most of your spending with a bank card, look at last month’s bank statement and work out where your money is going.

Life is unpredictable so try to review your budget and your spending if there’s a change, or at least every couple of months.

However, a budget is really just a tool to gain a better and more accurate insight into your spending habits. By listing all of your sources of income against all of your monthly expenditures

If you’re spending more than you have coming in, you need to work out where you can cut back. This could be as easy as making your lunch at home, or cancelling a gym membership you don’t use.




  1. Gather all your financial documents.

This should include paperwork, bills, and unopened mail.

  1. Set up a filing system.

Use the following table as a guide to organize your personal files. For most of the primary subjects, you need only one file. You may find that fewer or more files are necessary depending on your personal situation, preferences, or number of documents you have for a particular file.

Folder

What to Keep There

Advisors

List of names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses
of the important people in your financial life.

Car / Repairs

Car or truck title and maintenance record.

Bank Accounts

Keep your monthly statement until it is reconciled and the next monthly statement has come in.

Bills Due

Immediately after opening mail, file bills you have to pay
here.

Contracts

Legal agreements and employment
contracts.

Credit Cards

An annual credit report, your current monthly statement, and
older statements that contain expensive items that are under
warranty through your credit card company.

Education


Enrolment records, diplomas, certificates, grade cards,
transcripts, and progress reports.

Employment


Employee handbook and benefits handbook, pay checks (the most recent if cumulative data appears on the stub), employee

evaluations, current resumé.

Healthcare

Medical records, vaccination information, receipts.

Home Repair and Maintenance


Records and receipts for any home services, repairs, or
equipment (doors windows).

Insurance

Any insurance policies you have: home, life, auto, medical,
personal property, and so on.

Investments

Bank investment account statements, brokerage account records other

Loans

All documents pertaining to a loan for as long as you owe money
on the loan.



Tax Records

Keep tax returns and supporting
documents for at least three years.

To Do


Pending finance-related projects.

Utilities

Current monthly statements for water, gas, electric, phones,
and cable or satellite TV.

Warranties

Keep warranty information on file until an item is no longer under warranty.

Wills, Trusts, and Estate Planning

All current, executed estate-planning documents, as well as a
list of beneficiary designations.

  1. Separate your paperwork into four stacks: Bills To Be Paid, To Do/Read, File, and Shred.
  2. Place the Bills To Be Paid stack into your new Bills Due file, place the papers in your To Do/Read stack into your new To Do or Read files, file all items in your File stack in their appropriate files, and shred the remaining papers.

Every time you retrieve the mail or obtain additional paperwork from work, from the bank, and so on, immediately follow Steps 3 and 4.