In the first episode of 2021, I sat down with our newest co-host and fellow financial advisor, Jacqueline Schadeck to bring our listeners a step-by-step guide on ways that you can set yourself up for financial success this year.
- CONDUCT A FINANCIAL AUDIT
You can’t know where you want to go without looking at where you are.
Go in and look at your numbers right now
- How much cash do you have allocated?
- How are your investments doing? How are your stakes?
2: FIGURE OUT WHERE YOU WANT TO GO IN 2021
What specific financial goals do you have? What’s the easiest way to achieve them?
Reverse engineer your goals: start at the end and then work backwards from there.
- Breaking down your goals as finite as possible to remember how attainable it is.
- Tie it down to something that’s more meaningful to it.
- Attach your goal to something qualitative.
- For example, everyone wants financial independence, but what exactly does that mean for you?
- Give a title to the accounts that you have so that your qualitative goals are more real for you
- Job loss, no income.
- Expenses we expect to happen ex: vehicle taxes, a major surgery,
- Everyday spending money
- Vacations
- Treat it like a bill. It’s mandatory.
- Emergency Fund:
- Emergency Reserves:
- Variable spending account:
- Major Expenses:
- Investments:
- Save for your taxes
- Run back through 2020 finances and see what you didn’t have withheld so that you know what you’ll owe the IRS.
- If you’re due a refund this year, have a game plan for what you’re going to do with it.
- Plan Out Your Savings:
- Get a little more granular
- At what point do you want work to be optional?
- Consider no longer using the word retirement and instead think of it as “financial independence”.
- What are your retirement accounts?
- What makes sense for you to invest?
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