December 2006
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December 2006 |
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Many of us find it difficult to deal with the clutter of everyday life. "A place for everything and everything in its place" may be a goal to work toward, but in reality may be hard to achieve. One important area that may be especially hard to deal with is financial matters. During the summer, I read an article from the Office for Financial Success on the University of Missouri-Columbia campus that shared some self-check questions that I found helpful. Here are a few of those ideas that you may find useful as you work toward your own "financial house of order." Organizational: n Do I know where important documents are located?n Do I have a "system" for maintaining order?n Do I shred rather than simply throw away old documents?Insurance: n Life: Do I need to increase/decrease existing coverage(s)?n Health, home/renters, auto, disability, other: Are current levels of coverage adequate? Am I over-insured? Do I have coverage that can/should be dropped? Should I shop around to ensure I still am paying the best price for my coverage/service?Debt/Credit: n Do I have a plan to eliminate existing debt? How recently have I looked at that plan? Are there expenses I can cut to aid my plan?n Am I paying too much interest in credit cards? Is there an opportunity for me to get a better rate? Have I asked?n Do I have too many cards and should I cancel someof them? n Have I viewed my credit reports in the past year (you can do this for free)?Estate Planning: n Do I have a will and/or a trust? How recently have I reviewed or updated it/them?n Do I have a power of attorney, health care directive?Adapted from: "Putting Your Financial House in Order," Office for Financial Success Financial Tip of the Week, 6/9/06.
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Kris Jenkins jenkinsk@missouri.edu Regional Specialist Human Environmental Sciencs Last revised: 07/21/08 |
