Every 3,000 miles you take your vehicle into the shop to get an oil change and a general check out. We visit the dentist at least annually to ensure we have healthy teeth and gums. We visit the doctor annually for check ups, or if we get a small cold to ensure we pull through it. How often do we perform financial check ups? For my family and me we review our finances monthly. We calculate our net worth, which thanks to a new mortgage is negative. We make sure we know what bills need to be paid, what bills are coming up. We budget; we calculate and perform general maintenance where we need it.
Many families don’t perform financial check ups, and I’m sure that singles do it even less. Ask someone how much money they have in the bank and you get a ball park figure. I have many acquaintances who have grown head aches because they over drafted their account and just don’t understand how! A good friend of mine was experiencing some financial ups and downs which caused her to move out of her apartment and move back in with her father. After listening to her I handed her my copy of Kiplinger’s Practical Guide to Your Money: Keep More of It, Make It Grow, Enjoy It, Protect It, Pass It On (Kiplinger’s Personal Finance)
Another question to ask is how much debt you have. Many people don’t have a true number, just a ball park which is usually way under what they actually owe. I have an acquaintance who is somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 in debt. He has no true idea how much he owes because he doesn’t check on it. He just sends the minimum balance and presses on with his life.
This week I will be writing about financial check ups. I will address the check ups in a generalized manner which can be applied to your monthly check ups but will start out from the beginning as if you have never performed a financial check up before. We will talk about what items to gather, setting goals, over spending, planning, psychological influences. We hope that you will enjoy this week’s articles, news and reviews. Thank you from Kristin and I for all the support all of you have given us, your continued readership and thanks to Patrick from Cash Money Life for all his support, encouragement and wisdom! Go check out Patrick’s blog he’s got some great stuff over there!
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