The Amateur Financier

Ah, Spring is here, Spring is here.  Not only that, but it’s starting to feel  like Spring, as well; for the first time in months, I’ve been able to go outside without a coat and not feel like I was about to freeze (or that my car would be covered in frost (or snow, or ice, or mixture of the two) the next day).  Yes, Spring is a wonderful season, and it’s definitely good that it finally got here!  (It seems like it took long enough, doesn’t it?)

Of course, if there’s one other thing that Spring is known for, it’s Spring Cleaning!  Yes, now that the snow and ice is gone (or going, at least), it’s time to tidy up those houses of ours and get them back into ship-shape!  I know I’ve spent more than a little time this weekend cleaning up my apartment (although that might have something to do with leaving for more than a week for Spring Break… which happens to be another thing that Spring is known for).

I was going to post a picture related to 'Spring Break', but it was impossible to find one that would be safe for work. So instead, have some flowers.

It’s also a good time to take a look at some of your financial standings and make a few corrections, modifications, and shifts as needed to make sure our money works for us to the best of its ability in the coming year.  There’s quite a few things you can do, so here are a few suggestions:

1) Make Last-Minute Deposits in Your Retirement Accounts for Last Year: Who said the IRS is a heartless bureaucracy?  Just in case you didn’t max out your IRA or 401(k) for last year (and be sure you check the IRA contribution limits to know how much you need), you still have the opportunity, as you can do so now, if you so choose.  Yup, until tax day (April 18th this year), you can make donations to a (traditional) retirement account and deduct the contribution amount from your income on your 2010 taxes.  If you are a few hundred (or thousand) dollars away from the limit, and want to boost your retirement fund and cut down your tax liability at the same time, you can donate and list it as a donation for 2010.  Not bad.  And while we’re on the subject of taxes…

2) Do Your Taxes (If You Haven’t Already): By now, you should have all the paperwork and information you need; the only thing that should be stopping you is, well, you.  There’s no reason not to work out your taxes.  If you’re owed money, the sooner you collect, the sooner you can put that money to work for you (or spend it, I suppose), rather than giving the government an interest free loan for longer than necessary.  If you owe the government money, though, knowing what you owe will give you the chance to save up, rather than being caught off guard and scrambling for money at the last minute (nobody said you have to send in the tax money now, after all, just make sure that you work out your tax obligations).

3) Change Your Financial (and Other) Passwords: I don’t know about you, but I have a number of financial sites I use, to say nothing of email, social networking, and of course, this blog itself.  I know it’s a pain to change a dozen or so passwords, but if you don’t, you’re just inviting some ne’er do well to take advantage of your information.  At the barest minimum, I would say that you should switch up your passwords twice a year; doing it at spring and fall makes as much sense as other ways to keep it at the forefront of your mind.  (More often is even better, but I’m certainly sympathetic if you want to switch things up as seldom as possible.)

(Also, if you need to write down your passwords, I suggest doing it in a book (or multiple books) that you keep in a safe, secure place(s), and for added security, writing them in code.  On the off-chance that someone sinister gets your password book(s), a nice code will slow them down, if not stop them entirely.  The only risk is that you might forget how to interpret your own code…but I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to cope.)

4) Do Some Rate Shopping: You probably have quite a few bills that you pay on a regular basis, from water and power to television, phone, and internet services.  If you’ve been with the same companies for these services for a while now, they might have increased your rates substantially compared to what new people pay for similar service, depending on your slothfulness to stop you from seeking a better deal.  Well, foil their plans, and spend some time contacting competing service providers in your area and see if you can get some better rates.  Once you have the better quotes in hand, you can switch to the cheaper providers, or use the quotes as starting points for talking your current providers into lowering their rates.  Either way, you’ll be sure to save plenty of money over time with your lower rates.

5) Review Your Resolutions, and Keep At Them: It’s been nearly three months since 2011 started (crazy how fast time goes by), and hopefully you’ve been diligently working on meeting your resolutions.  (I know I have.)  If so, now is a good time to do a progress check, seeing if you’ve lost weight, built up muscle, avoided cigarettes, or whatever you set out to do.  If so, good job, and keep it up; no sense slipping back into old bad habits when you’re doing so well.

If not (or if you completely forgot about your resolutions sometime around Groundhog Day), now is a good time to sit down and figure out what went wrong.  Perhaps you have been approaching your goal the wrong way, or maybe you’ve been too sporadic in keeping with it (I’ll confess that I’ve been that way with some of my resolutions).  Consider changes you could make, either in your approach to the resolution or the resolution itself, that could make it easier to achieve your desired goal.  Once you do that, then stick with it!

There you have it, five ways to help Spring Clean you finances.  How are you celebrating the start of Spring?  How have your New Year’s resolutions been going?  (Assuming you made any, of course.)  Anyone else feeling a bit nervous about possible pollen and allergies now that Spring is upon us?