If you only review your finances once in a blue moon, you’re in luck. Most years have 12 full moons, occurring approximately monthly. Because each calendar year contains about 11 extra days, every few years there is an extra full moon, called a “blue moon” (hence the phrase “once in a blue moon,” meaning a rare event). This year, December will have two full moons. The first one occurred on the 2nd. The next will occur on the 31st, giving us a blue moon for New Year’s Eve.
What better time to review your financial plan and make sure you’re on track with your goals? Here are a few financial planning tips to help you get started:
Know Thyself: How successfully you manage your money is as much about the mind as it is about the money. How often have you read about people who earned high incomes, won the lottery, or inherited large sums of money, yet ended up going broke? Or the reverse: people who earned modest incomes yet managed to build substantial wealth and live comfortably?
Most people have a love-hate relationship with money, and understanding what makes that relationship tick can do as much for your finances as picking the next successful stock. What are your spending and investing habits? Do you and your spouse have conflicting views about spending, saving, investing? Exploring and understanding your relationship with money will provide invaluable insights for making the right changes in your money management strategies.
Pay Attention: Countless families have no household budgets and thus have no idea where their money goes. The majority of people have never calculated how much money they need to accumulate for a comfortable retirement and, thus, have no idea if they’re saving enough. Workers mistakenly believe their employer covers them with long-term disability insurance. No wonder their finances look like a garden of weeds. Just starting a budget and thoroughly reviewing your financial situation will be huge steps toward putting your financial house in order in the New Year.
Take Personal Responsibility: Too often people simply hand over management of their finances to financial professionals – stockbrokers, accountants, insurance agents, attorneys, financial planners – without staying involved. But the more involved and knowledgeable you are about your own finances, the better this team of professionals can help you meet your personal goals.