With the start of a New Year, it’s a great time to look at what you want to accomplish financially over the next twelve months.  Who has time for that?  You do!

Sometime over the next few months, you are going to have to collect all that paperwork for preparing your taxes.  This is a perfect time to add an extra hour to the process and consider this list – do it for yourself and your financial safety & Success:

1. Build an Emergency Fund – make sure you have some cash that can tide you over if something goes wrong.
2. Pay off any debts that aren’t increasing your wealth – Credit cards and Car Loans keep you from building wealth
3. Make sure you have the right insurances in place – protect the important things: Your Health, Income and Lifestyle can all be protected.
4. Re-balance all your assets – The location of your money
5. Review your mortgage – don’t spend too much on interest and make sure you are paying it off on your timeframe.
6. Buy an Investment Property – Great alternative to mutual funds for building wealth over time and diversifying your assets.  Maybe buying your retirement home this year is the right thing to do. (See #11)
7. Or, Help Someone buy their first home – gift a down payment to a family member to help them get started while homes are more affordable than ever!
8. Increase your 401k or IRA savings – make sure you are putting away the right amount.
9. Save for your kids College Education – it’ll be here before you know it.
10. Buy the home you really want – home prices and low interest rates make this the best time to move in years.
11. Buy your retirement home now, and then rent it until you need it.  Let someone else pay down the mortgage and you get the tax deductions until you retire.
12. Download this free ebook to see how to pull all this advice together or contact me for a free consultation.

Whatever you decide – here’s the number one tip:  Write it down!  Writing down your goals somehow helps to make them happen.  Here is more on how SMART goals work.

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