Personal Finance - Start Strong - 2018 Fall-Winter Spectrum Magazine

START STRONG! It’s that time of year…a chill is in the air, and the Are you excited? I am. Here is a excitement of the holidays have come to a close. It checklist of 10 things that I will be is a great time to reflect and set new goals. I don’t working through to help me start know about you, but I always get excited talking to 2019 as strong as ever. Hope it friends about the possibilities of the new year! helps you to do the same. Whether I ask them, or they ask me, we always seem to agree that the year goes by quickly and if we aren’t q Maximize the contributions to my retirement determined and focused, the list of goals, to-dos, and savings account resolutions that we set are never conquered. Of course my conversations are typically regarding q Start a Roth IRA financial matters, and along with my clients, every q Review beneficiaries on insurance policies and year I create an aggressive list of new things I want to do, situations I want to improve, and things I want to retirement accounts and update if necessary stop doing. Most often these lists include start saving q Review my will more, stop spending unnecessarily, keep better tax q Pay off a debt records, and more. Sound familiar? q Get my free credit report and credit score We all know that with any good plan, periodic progress checks against it are necessary. So here (annualcreditreport.com) we are, beginning the first quarter of the year. How q Organize tax documents and receipts well will you do against your plan? You may do well q Negotiate lower rates with all creditors in some areas and not so well in others. But guess q Make a gift to a worthy charity/nonprofit what? The year is just beginning! You have plenty of time to meet all of your goals! Just start and organization finish strong! q Create a budget for 2019 Be Well. Be Blessed. Be Strong! Dana S. Branham, Financial Wellness Coach 28 SPECTRUM | FALL/WINTER 2018