FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Whether you’re working toward paying down debt or trying to build your savings, being intentional with your finances is critical.
“Every six months to a year, you should be asking yourself, ‘What are your financial goals? What’s really going on?'”
Certified Financial Therapist and CEO of The Academy of Financial Education, Samuel Molina, says taking a proactive approach to your finances can go a long way toward achieving those goals.
Planning ahead makes it easier to save for major life events and avoid financial emergencies.
“If we can weather the storm for six months, we’re pretty solid,” Molina said. “We have less stress in our lives and if we own our own homes, a lot of folks like that because there’s a lot of freedom that comes with it.”
Stay on top of your safety nets and purchase protection every three months.
“Making sure your car insurance policy is up to date,” Molina said. “Homeowners insurance, make sure nothing has changed because all too often, we’re not looking at those documents, so it’s important to do those every quarter because you just might miss something.”
Each month, Molina says we should be checking in on our budgets.
“You’ve got to make sure what income is coming in, what expenses are going out, because sometimes we have those fluctuations in our expenses, but it’s important to know what’s going on each month,” he said.
If you own a business or itemize your expenses, don’t wait until you’re filing taxes to organize your receipts.
“If you wait until the end of the month to add up all of your receipts, it’s going to be time-consuming,” Molina said. “If you do it on a weekly basis, that’s going to be easier.”
Contributing to savings or retirement accounts can also be done in weekly or monthly increments. You can set up automatic contributions to ensure consistency.
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