New Year Checklist For Financially Wise People

Year End Financial Checklist

Let's go through a new year checklist for financially wise people. If you want to build wealth, then you need to be methodical in your financial decisions.

The great thing about the Financial Samurai community is that most of you are intelligent, hard working, non-delusional people who are willing to put in effort for reward.

We could take the easy route and just focus on being super frugal to achieve our financial goals. But I think it's far more interesting to see if we can grow our net worth to the max!

Did you know that most people give up on their resolutions by Feb 1? Sad! The new year checklist is primarily targeted to those who want or have the freedom to choose their own path. Everybody says they want financial freedom, but only a minority of people are willing to do the things necessary to make throwing away their alarm clock a reality.

I've done every single item on this checklist. I suggest you do the same given the stock market is in a precarious situation, interest rates are high, a recession could be on the horizon, and we might have new politicians in office.

NEW YEAR FINANCIAL CHECKLIST

Here are the best items on the new year checklist to help you build more wealth and achieve financial freedom sooner.

1) Create a pie chart of your income streams.

Go to a spreadsheet, create your list of income streams with the various amounts for the year, and hit that pie chart wizard. Does one slice still dominate (50%+)? If so, you should come up with a game plan to reduce the percentage under 50% by GROWING other income streams so that the overall income flow is greater. No income stream lasts forever.

2) Compare year over year growth rates.

Once you've listed out and totaled all your income streams, compare each line item with the prior year's figures. Figure out where you've been slacking in order to optimize. Also make some realistic forecasts on which line items will fade away. Always be trying to build new streams of income.

Everybody should have a target net worth and target net worth growth rate on their new year checklist.

3) Focus on your ideal income for maximum happiness. 

Once you've analyzed your income streams, ask yourself whether you're happy with what you've got. Does the effort you've put in to create this income stream match the reward. Research shows that $75,000 a year in income is ideal for most of the country. My research concludes that $200,000 – $250,000/person is ideal for the most expensive parts of the country / world.

The ideal income generally follows the tax code where you don't pay more than a 24% marginal federal income tax rate.

4) Review your investment portfolio(s). 

Make sure that your investment portfolio composition aligns with your risk tolerance. Positions can easily shift over the year, and I recommend everybody rebalance twice a year on average.

You can easily run your portfolios through Empower's Investment Checkup tool to see where you might be overweight certain assets. Link up your portfolio(s), click Advisor Tools on the top, and then Investment Checkup to get some recommendations based on your profile.

Below is an example of an investment checkup snapshot. Decide whether you like your current allocation, like their recommended target allocation based on your input of who you are as an investor, and make changes, if any.

Everybody should come up with an investment thesis for all their investments. If their investments are no longer aligned with their investment thesis, then changes need to be made.

Personal Capital Investment Checkup - new year checklist

5) Review your net worth composition.

As part of the new year checklist, you need to review your entire net worth. Your investment portfolio(s) should only be one component of your net worth.

Don't be like most Americans who either have 80%+ of their net worth in stocks or 80%+ of their net worth in real estate. If a downturn comes, you will also be slaughtered like most Americans were during the housing crisis. Check out the Recommended Net Worth Composition By Age for some great charts on what to shoot for.

6) Review and then raise your saving rate.

If the amount you are saving each month doesn't hurt, then you aren't saving enough. Add up what you've saved/invested so far and divide by your YTD gross income. Whatever the percentage I'm sure you can still save more. Ideally, shoot to save at least 20%, and up to 50% of your after-tax income each year.

Make sure you max out your 401k and/or IRA plan. Then try to increase your savings rate by another 10% this year. A 50% savings rate is the magic threshold where you'll really start to see big changes in your finances. If you can't get there, work on a side-hustle to make more! With interest rates so high now, it's easier to save more in a money market fund or buy Treasury bonds.

7) Take inventory of all the stuff you've bought.

As part of your new year checklist, you need to take stock of what you've bought. This list should not only include clothes, shoes, and toys, but also nonessential spending such as bathroom remodels, international trips, meals where you spent more than $100/person, and so forth.

You want to add up and visualize how much you've actually spent on things you don't really need and adjust your spending accordingly. Then you can either sell the items, donate them, or throw them away.

8) Analyze and reduce your debt.

If used properly, debt can supercharge your net worth. If used inappropriately, debt will cause other people to pay for your mistakes. Always compare your debt interest rate to the risk-free rate of return. If your debt costs no more than 100% the risk-free rate of return, you're in the OK zone so long as you can manage the payments.

It's imperative you pay down all consumer/credit card debt because credit card interest rates are averaging close to 20% a year! Never carry revolving credit card debt! Paying down student loans or your mortgage depends on your income, write-off ability, interest rate, and amount.

See: Pay Down Debt Or Invest? Implement FS-DAIR

9) Review all your insurance policies.

One unfortunate incident could take your financial empire down. It's important to call and review every single one of your insurance policies: auto, home, life, and umbrella.

The umbrella policy is particularly important to update if you've seen your net worth increase tremendously due to the bull market. Make sure there is no lapse in coverage. Also, it's better to round up how much you need.

During the pandemic, my wife and I got matching 20-year term life insurance policies through Policygenius. After we locked down the policies, we felt a tremendous amount of relief. With a four year old and a six year old, we now don't have any worries.

If you have debt and dependents, please get term life insurance. Life insurance is an act of love and kindness.

Check out: How Much Life Insurance Do I Really Need?

10) Make sure your credit report is clean. 

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that 5% of credit reports have errors. That's bad if you are looking to rent an apartment, apply for credit, apply for a new job, or buy a home. I had an $8 late electric payment on a rental that crushed my credit score by 100+ points for two years and I had no idea.

The utility bill was supposed to be paid by my renters and the utility company never contacted me. The credit problem almost derailed my mortgage refinance. You can check your Experian credit score here or see if one of your banks or credit card statements has your score.

11) Review who or what you neglected. 

There needs to be a minimum amount of balance in your quest for financial freedom. Working 80 hours a week, never taking a vacation, and forsaking date night with your significant other doesn't sound very good. Take stock of who or what you neglected over the past 12 months and make them a priority. Always ask yourself your WHY so you don't get too far off track.

Related: The Unhealthy Desire For Prestige Is Ruining Your Life

12) Check to see if your retirement is on track. 

After you complete an investment checkup, do a retirement health checkup with Empower's Retirement Planner under the Advisor Tools section. They use your real inputted data to run a Monte Carlo algorithm to estimate whether you will have the desired cash flow to cover all your expenses during your retirement years.

Other calculators let you fudge your numbers, which leads to output that can't be as trusted. Feel free to adjust your expenses as you see fit e.g. $50,000 a year in college expenses starting in 2028.

The Retirement Planner step is the culmination of all your financial efforts so far. Make sure you realize how far you have to go so you can take steps to get there.

Planning for retirement when paying for private grade school
Are you on the right retirement path?

13) Make sure your will and estate planning is in order.

If your will hasn't been updated in 10 years, you may want to take a look. Your favorite child or niece might have turned out to be an ungrateful dud. If you don't have a will, then take time to at least write out some simple instructions on how to access your accounts and who gets what.

If you're fortunate enough to amass over the estate tax threshold, then you better figure out your estate planning if you don't want the government to take 50% of it away when you pass! Please visit an estate planning lawyer to help you work out your succession plans.

Bonus! Get rid of the non-A players in your life.

For your final new year checklist item, get rid of toxic people. For once and for all, stop associating with people who try to get you down. Wish them all the best and bid them farewell. There's no changing the mindset of pessimistic people who feel the world owes them something.

FINANCIAL FREEDOM IS AN INEVITABILITY

My favorite Chinese proverb is, “If the direction is correct, sooner or later you will get there.” Once you come up with a game plan and regularly check in on your progress. You will blow away your own expectations!

Follow my new year checklist and you will dramatically increase your chances of achieving financial freedom in your lifetime.

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61 thoughts on “New Year Checklist For Financially Wise People”

  1. I’ve been reading your work for quite some time but have never left a comment or posed a question. I’m a big fan of your writing style, humor, and content.

    I’ve recently moved into an S&T role at a large IB. Reading this article made me think of job security for some reason. If you’ve got a minute, I’m curious about your opinion on the best IB jobs that balance job security and compensation.

    I’m sure internal audit or compliance is safer than a credit trader in a down turn, but the compensation is so much larger that the on time would pay for the off time. What’s your take?

    1. Ah, Sales and Trading. It’s all about eat what you kill in this department. Therefore, my vice to you is to be so good they can’t fire you. I have the same worry when I started out and that’s what my mentor said.

      If I’m top three with some good accounts and if I’ve got the direct line to the portfolio manager, how can never fire me? Do the same thing.

  2. Danielle@wenthere8this.com

    “If the amount you are saving each month doesn’t hurt, then you aren’t saving enough.”

    What a wonderful quote. I recently re-evaluated how much I have been saving. In 2016, it was about 40% of my after tax (and 401k contributions) income. I haven’t been hurting at all. With my goal of retiring as early as possible, it is time to increase that savings rate. After some calculations, looks like I will be increasing my savings rate by 15% for 2017.

    I started using Personal Capital in 2016, and find it to be a great resource. I have been tracking my income/expense in spreadsheet for many years, but this adds a little something extra to that.

    Right now, I have one income stream (full time job) that dominates my income. I am working on additional income streams so I can reduce reliance on just one piece of the pie.

    Thanks for these great tips!

  3. Wow Sam, you are on fire!! Your blogposts of the last couple of days are gems. Each and everyone of them.
    This one in particular has been a wake up call. Specifically the first point on sources of income. I really need to make work of this in 2017. All my income comes from my day job. And i recently took a hit in income as I transitioned jobs ( and industry of employment). So the extra will be more than welcome.

  4. Great list and reminders! We are checking into an umbrella policy this week. We zero-base budget which takes care of #7, but I want to see that info in a pie chart so thanks for the idea!

  5. Little House

    Great tips for the new year, Sam. I use Quickbooks for tracking my income and expenses and it automatically does the first two items in your list (I love pie charts!) But I think my favorite sentence from this whole post is, “Your favorite child or niece might have turned out to be an ungrateful dud.” Haha! We recently updated our wills right before moving into our new house and currently have our beneficiaries as our parents. However, we know that in a few years, we’ll have to change that to a niece or nephew. But we’re waiting to see “how they turn out.” Then we’ll choose. ;)

  6. Ashley Sollenberger

    This is a great list, the note to examine insurance policies is of particular importance to me, along with making sure all my beneficiary information is correct. I haven’t done a great job of protecting myself from a worst case scenario, not fun to thing about, but essential none the less.

  7. The Green Swan

    Great recap of financial to-dos for 2017. I especially like the bonus… we might focus on the numbers, but it’s important to keep in mind who surrounds and supports you. Happy New Year!

  8. Sam, regarding #8 – paying off debt that is above the risk free rate. When you say evaluate the debt one has at 100% of the risk-free rate you mean any debt with an interest rate that is 2x the risk-free rate, right?

    There’s no bank offering loans at the risk-free rate…because they wouldn’t make any money doing so. Hoping I’m asking a silly question. Thanks!

  9. Smart Money MD

    Nice list.

    Sam, what percentage of your overall liquid net worth do you (should you) have that can be used to eliminate any mortgage debt if the need arises? I’d imagine that we’d want as small a percentage as possible, but for more beginner real estate investors the money is in immediate cash flow. We may not have the ability to pay off any mortgages immediately without taking a severe hit in our net worth or reserve.

  10. It’s a great checklist there, Sam. I especially like the idea of the income stream pie chart. You never know when one source of income might disappear overnight. ANY income stream can be gone tomorrow, regardless of active, passive, or portfolio origins. A great series of videos to watch on YouTube that illustrates this so clearly is Game Theory’s videos explaining how YouTube works and why once popular channels (such as PewDiePie) are seeing HUGE drops in traffic and income lately. No income is safe, so you’re right that no income stream should make up more than half your earnings.

    Happy New Year! I hope 2017 finds you well.

    Sincerely,
    ARB–Angry Retail Banker

  11. Trust me, park your money Someplace where you’re getting interest (even if it’s in a pathetic bank account), be super frugal, and in no time at all you’ll be financially independent. In time you’ll consider it a badge of honor to live below your means, because you’ll realize that you’re Better than your fellow man who thrives on Wasted money thrust into gaining Attention.

    And a word of wisdom is not to become greedy And don’t make foolish mistakes like chasing after millions. Allow millions to Slowly accumulate in your own account by themselves over the course of time.

  12. It is hard once you have reached a substantial NW to rely on savings as a tool to increase NW. You work hard to save $10K in a month, and see your NW go down by $30K in a day. I am not completely sold on this save hard rule esp. for 40+ folks.

    1. I get what you mean, if a person has a million net worth, saving 10k is small increase in net worth. But if you continue to save while the NW has gone down by 30k in a day, maybe when the market rebounds the increase would be 50k… Also if you don’t want you NW fluctuating so much maybe should be investing in less risky investments IMO. Good Luck

  13. I would say that when it comes to personal finance, old wisdom is the most respectable:

    “Let every man divide his money into three parts, and invest a third in land, a third in business, and let him keep a third in reserve” //The Talmud 1200BC-500AD

  14. My problem is that I am too afraid to take a serious look at my finances on paper.

    The irony is that I am in better shape than a lot of people I know. I save a good % of my net income, my family’s expenditures are modest and my debts are basically zero (rental house, paid off car, no servants haha).

    If I actually analysed my finances properly it would expose my imagined financial position is worse than reality. I would then have to make serious decisions and sacrifices about how to get to the point I want. In the long run I would be better off but for me it is like jumping into the cold ocean in the summer. The initial shock would give way to the latter benefits and I know this.

    Yet, I just can’t take the leap. Is this common amongst a lot of people? I see people’s weak or even negative savings rates and their perilous financial position and realise that they too struggle to face up to reality.

    Do you have any advice or success stories for people who know they should face up to reality but are too comfortable to come out of the closet?

    1. Your fear is understandable, but ultimately irrational. You do yourself more harm than good to cover your eyes to your finances. Don’t worry about being given “bad news”. You’re not being diagnosed with cancer. Just focus on whatever tweaks need to be made. It’s probably a lot less than you think.

      Take some spare time and just do it, if only to alleviate an irrational fear.

      Sincerely,
      ARB–Angry Retail Banker

    2. You have to find the courage to take a look. If you can’t diagnose the problem, how can you figure out the cure?

      yes it may be worse than what you think, in all likelihood not what you want and even may push you into depression.

      But you know what you got to have the little pity party but don’t unpack and live there. Vent your anger at the world and its unfairness and then knuckle down to be better and do better!

      Good luck!

  15. Great list, Sam!

    I haven’t done many of the items on your check list for quite a while now. Keeping busy at work and, in my spare time, working on my DGI blog, are my excuses. But I’ll have a break over the Christmas holidays and I’ll dig into some of those items then.

    Thanks and take care!
    FerdiS, DivGro

  16. Great checklist. A few things on there that I haven’t thought of yet so thank for the reminders! I certainly need to look into my insurance policies this year to make sure they’re all up to par on the rental properties. Both areas were hit by pretty big natural disasters this year(fire in one and flood in the other) but luckily I came out with properties unharmed in both locations luckily.

  17. Love this list! I actually looked at my income pie chart on Mint and on Personal Capital this morning! I especially think the bonus “to-do” item is a great idea though. I heard a quote recently that said you are the average of the 5 people you are around the most (sorry not sure who said it!). That has really stuck with me and I want to make some changes in the New Year. Not cutting people out necessarily, but increasing time spent with people I want to be more like.

  18. Financial Nirvana Mama

    Excellent article! Do you know of any tools/websites/apps that would display it like a simple dashboard? I’m thinking broken out by goals, milestones for the year against actuals, income via pie chart, net worth by year, life health indicators, contingency money, risks in a Dashboard view? I made one up in excel but it’s clunky to use.

  19. What am I neglecting? My finances, in favor of my son. Luckily, we’ve laid a solid foundation over the years prior, so we can survive a few years with reduced financial focus. Building good financial habits gives you that luxury.

  20. First world problem here, my business income grows >100% per year. Having investment income streams keep up with that is practically impossible. I’m lucky if my investments grow 10%/year.

    Despite that, I still am constantly investing for diversification.

  21. OlderAndWiser

    Many of these things I already do.

    Making sure that we have multiple income streams is something I’ve done, but never to the point of making a pie chart and looking at the percentages. That sounds like a really good idea, so I’ll do that!

    One thing not mentioned in your post that I think is prudent for everyone is to be proactive about is preventing identity theft. In the past I’ve run my credit reports, but this year I’m going to do a credit freeze. It’s on my list of things to put in place before year-end.

    One thing I’ll be doing during my year-end review that is completely new and different is looking at possibly DECREASING our savings rate. Due to our age and years of aggressive savings (say what you like, but frugality has paid off for us), it’s time to start thinking about easing up a bit and start crossing things off of the bucket list. This will involve a mental shift that I don’t think will be easy.

    1. OlderAndWiser,

      I am so happy to hear this from your perspective. I’ve wondered about how I would feel about that myself when the time came. How do you transition from a lifetime of being so frugal to feeling like it’s okay if you spend money? At some point it seems like frugality becomes a part of your DNA.

      A big part of the reason I’m aggressively saving is so someday I can afford to live in a nicer (i.e., more expensive) house and travel to far away places in comfortable first class/business class airplane seats and stay at plush hotels, instead of cramming into coach and staying at budget hotels with creaky mattresses. I do worry about being able to “flip the switch” into spending mode. Let us know how it goes! :)

  22. Great list and I especially love the quote at the end. Sometimes simply making the decision to drastically improve your finances will start producing results.

  23. Adam @ AdamChudy.com

    A couple on my personal list:
    1. Look at all recurring charges. Ensure they’re worth it. Cancel if not.
    2. Check any upcoming credit card annual fees. Cancel if they’re not worth it.
    3. Pull together my charitable contributions for tax season.

    1. Definitely worthwhile looking at recurring charges and credit card fees. They often go unnoticed and you end up paying for something you’re not getting value from.

      I recently went through an analysis of our credit cards and made some changes that will save us about $1,000 / year when you factor in points/cashback programs.

  24. Trying to get ahead

    Financial Samurai — When you suggest a 50% savings rate, is that based on gross income or net? Do taxes include just income taxes (including payroll) or real estate taxes also? The issue is that, if these savings rates are based off net income, one’s tax rate influences the overall rate significantly. Thanks.

    1. Save 50% of your after tax income first, and then calculate what that percentage is when you compare to your gross income. We’ve got to all pay taxes, some less than others.

      If you can save 50% of your after tax income, that means you can live on 50% of your after tax income. Every year you save is one less year you need to work. Ratchet the rate up to 70%, and each year you are saving two years of work.

      Of course, it all depends on how much you are making, your lifestyle desires, etc.

      Related:

      Target Net Worth Goals By Age

      How Much Should I Have In Savings By Age?

  25. Go Finance Yourself!

    Thanks for the list Sam. Reviewing my insurance has been on my to do list for a few months now. I haven’t done that for 3 years now. Time to go out and check rates!

    I’m also working to diversify my after-tax portfolio by investing in real estate through crowd sourcing and investing in P2P Lending. I have a plan mapped out to grow both of those significantly in 2017.

  26. Middle Class Millionaire

    Excellent post! Tracking your progress is certainly key in my opinion. Also making checklists helps you stay on track and know what needs to get done and when it needs to get done by. Most millionaires use checklists and so should everyone else.

  27. Great list! Two that I’m thinking about a lot are ‘who did I neglect?’ and ‘reduce non-A-players’. Being more mindful of who is allowed in my orbit, and paying the respect and attention to those who have helped and supported me, is very worthwhile. I recently came upon the phrase “Be Useful!” from Scott Adams, in the context of ‘adding value’ to others which will result on one’s own personal satisfaction. It’s working so far!:-)

  28. My wife and I have an annual “summit meeting” on or soon after New Years Day where we do a lot of your suggestions. We also agree on major expenses for the upcoming year–home renos, significant travel, other major purchases. This puts us on the same page for the year and really helps avoid conflict–or at least confines it mostly to the summit meeting! Wine helps too. :)

  29. Mr. Enchumbao

    Awesome list. We go through these exercises throughout the year. I really like the bonus item. It’s something I’ve been doing for a while and it’s rewarding me beautifully: Eliminate the negative people, that don’t add any value to our happiness, out of our lives.

  30. Michael @ Financially Alert

    Excellent list Sam. I especially like the bonus one… keep a close circle of A-players – they will raise your standards! Insurance is another often overlooked necessity once you’ve got a lot of skin the game.

  31. Nice list. I will do most of these in January. A pie chart for passive income source is a great idea. I’m going track our passive income a lot more closely in 2017 to see where we can improve.
    Yeap, we all have to just keep moving in the right direction.
    Good luck in 2017!

  32. I agree in principle with the idea of rebalancing; however, twice a year or more seems to me excessive. A drift of 1-2% in an asset class most likely has little effect on your overall portfolio, and the same asset class may drift back the other way during the course of a year. I generally rebalance at the start of each year, though if there’s a substantial drift from my target allocation (say gains in the stock market of 4-5% or more), I would rebalance more frequently.

    1. The main goal is to get people to actually LOOK at their investment portfolios at least twice a year just to make sure things are aligned. This is especially important once your portfolio grows to a large absolute amount, and/or if your investment portfolio is a large percentage of your net worth.

      You can rebalance nothing, or you can rebalance a minimal amount too. The good thing is that rebalancing is so cheap nowadays thanks to financial innovation.

      1. OK, I think that’s fair. It’s also a good idea to consolidate your portfolios so you don’t have a lot of duplication that would make analysis and rebalancing of your holdings more difficult. You could have a lot of mutual funds and think you’re diversified, but if several funds are holding largely the same types of investments, you are just cluttering your portfolio.

        1. Mr. Enchumbao

          I reviewed them quarterly but don’t rebalance unless there’s a shift of 5% or more from the intended allocation. That’s the beauty of tools like Personal Capital, they allow you to see all your holdings at once and check if you’re overweight/underweight in certain sectors.

  33. I definitely need to pencil out my numbers and do all the things you listed above. I know I’m generally on track, but I want to see the actual numbers to see if I should be forcing myself to do more. Thanks, Sam!

  34. FullTimeFinance

    Great list Sam. I usually do one additional thing. I review wills, insured property lists, and other such documents to ensure they are still current. Happy new year.

  35. Any reason for 50% “ceiling”? I’m from India and my savings rate is 65% post tax and am not even hurting right now, which tells me may be I should do more.. much more! Before anyone thinks I’m frugal, am not (Stay in a good home in a “luxury” complex, run two cars that are in good shape, and have servants for cooking, house help and even washing the cars – all separate, not full time though).

    Yes, double income helps but the biggest help is just the sheer realization of the power of money, being in zero debt and just being sensitive about spending. We also have 8% returns from Fixed income and historic return of 15%+ from stocks. That’s a massive factor in motivating to save more..

    1. He actually said 50% savings on GROSS income (pretax), not post tax. Rerun your numbers and see where you are; it’ll be way less than 65%.

    2. I think you might have misread. The 50% isn’t the ceiling for one’s savings rate, it’s a ceiling target for one source of income. Most folks will have their day job account for way more than 50%. I’d like to challenge people to diversify their income streams by building more and growing them.

      You’re free to save much more than 50% if you want. During good years, I went up to 75%-80%. But in general, I’m always at about 50% at the minimum. It just feels great!

      See: Target Savings Amounts By Age

        1. Adam @ AdamChudy.com

          It’s also a relatively realistic number for upper middle class and above compared to hard-core early retirement percentages.

      1. The Wealthy Accountant

        I give the same advice when advising people. A good starting point is to save half. Once you get the into the habit of saving half you will go higher automatically without any prodding by Sam or me. If you save at least half it means most months you will not even desire to spend the half allocated for spending, hence a higher savings/investing rate.

        Sam, I like you checklist for the new year. I also want to point out the opening of your post. You state “. . . most of you are intelligent”. I wonder how many readers will worry they don’t belong with the crowd (many) or if they are a part of the other, you know, unintelligent crowd. (Side note: You were looking to add some humor. I’ll help grease the wheels.)

      2. Great. 70-80% savings rate is a nice number to target. I will personally shoot for 75% in 2016 without being too frugal. Let’s see how that goes!

  36. John C @ Action Economics

    I think the income stream pie chart is a great idea, I need to run a few of these year to year comparisons. A big part of my end of year checklist is comparing my income to my projections I made for this year and adjusting my retirement account contributions accordingly before the end of the year. Mrs. C. and I earned a bit more than projected so we will be putting a couple thousand extra into our IRAs and HSA.

  37. Money Beagle

    That’s a great list, Sam. I’m happy to say that most of these are incorporated in some fashion in our financial tracking and goal setting.

  38. Thank you for this great list, I’m going to start right away with the ones that I haven’t done yet.

    I was wondering: your current allocation/target allocation seemed to be quite off with most categories. Was this to show us the importance of checking your allocation every year or did you make a conscious decision to stay away from bonds and stick to cash etc.?

    1. Good question! I ran the investment checkup after a sold a bunch of positions a week before and 10 minutes before the close on the day of the rate hike. I figured the market would have a rally and then fade.

      For the portfolios being tracked, the allocation is essentially ~70% equities / 30% cash/fixed income/alternatives if you add it up. But the reality is, I’m much closer to 50/50 because the investment checkup isn’t analyzing my CD positions, just the portfolio makeup.

  39. Really good list of things to review. I haven’t done that in-depth of an analysis of my finances before and can see how it would be really beneficial. The nice thing about rainy weekends is it’s a great time to stay in doors to work and get caught up on things like this!

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