Financial to-dos take a while to carry out, and they are often mentally challenging too. I like to pick one “to-do” at a time to work on. With kids back-to-school and the tree leaves starting to rustle with dryness, now is a great time to set your financial to-do project.
Which of the following is a good match for you?
1. Start saving for your children’s after high school plans.
Whether your children choose to go to college, start a business, or explore a passion, having a financial base can help them achieve their goals. Perhaps now is a good time to start (or add to) a savings account for your child’s future.
A savings account matters. Findings from multiple research studies suggest that children with savings accounts, especially those designated for school, may be more likely to enroll in and graduate from college. Expectations matter.
Take time to explore what is the best financial tool to use for your savings. A basic savings account may be a good place to start. 529 College Saving Plans can provide tax-advantage savings but do come with more limitations. You can start your research with these resources:
2. Complete home repairs before the cold weather returns.
If you’re like me, you may have had grand plans for home improvements and repairs last April. Where does the time (and energy) go? Maintaining your home helps protect your house investment. Pick one project and tackle it.
Keep in mind that a home improvement tax credit may help pay for your home repair or improvement. Be sure to read all the rules and keep your documentation if you choose to use a tax credit. Learn more at:
3. Create a plan to pay down debt.
One strategy is to take a look at your overall financial situation and decide how much you can commit monthly towards paying down your debt. Then put that payment on automatic. Making the decisions once can be less stressful than trying to juggle the decision every paycheck.
If you’d like to explore other strategies, University of Illinois Extension has many resources on paying down debt from podcasts to blogs to recorded webinars. Visit the website:
4. Before you start spending, create a holiday budget.
It’s easy to overspend during the holiday seasoning. Not only do many people buy gifts, other costs such as food, flowers, travel, clothing and more add up! Usually, we start thinking about the expenses once commitments are made and costs start to pile up. Set your spending plan now:
- Top Five Tips and Strategies to Save Your Sanity and Budget This Holiday Season
- Debt Free Holiday Gifting
- Calendaring Your Holiday Spending
5. Personalize your plan.
What have you been putting off? Do you need to write a will? File taxes for past years? Re-evaluate your student loan payments? Invest for your retirement?
These are all big challenges! What’s the first small step you can take? Breaking a big project into small manageable steps can make it all happen. No one cares about your financial health like you do – take the first step today!
Photo by MART PRODUCTION
Kathy Sweedler provides personal finance online education with Illinois Extension. Kathy’s emphasis is to encourage people to be confident in their financial decisions, and to help them explore new ways of thinking about and managing money. When Kathy is not engaged in Extension work, she is often traveling and piecing together family genealogy. Genealogy is a puzzle, not that different from managing money!
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