Steps to De-Clutter Your Financial Life

We’ve turned the calendar to another year and a new decade, which is exciting. There’s nothing like a fresh start to motivate us to get organized and that also applies to our finances.

It’s time to de-clutter our portfolio and get everything in order for 2020. On this episode of Money Wisdom, Joel will help you do just that by providing you the steps you need to take. He’ll break it up into the four main categories to focus on: Insurance, investments, savings, and taxes. We’ll also jump into the mailbag and get to three great questions before the show is over.

Organize Your Financial Life

Remember the last time you motivated yourself enough to clean out your closet and organize your wardrobe? Well, we’re taking that analogy and applying it to finances today. Joel will explain how the analogy works, give you the four areas to focus on, the steps you need to take, and even mix in some more specific comparisons.

The new year is a perfect time to get organized and make sure you know what you have and where you have it. By listening to this episode and following through, you’ll be able to de-clutter your finances and make your retirement planning that much easier.

[0:31] – An experience more than a year ago is the inspiration for this episode.

[2:37] – Let’s declutter our financial lives. How might we use the analogy of cleaning out our closet?

[3:51] – Where is the best place to begin?

[4:50] – Four basic categories to get organized.

[5:12] – Once you know what you own, find out how much you’re spending each month.

[6:35] – Do your accounts match your goals?

[7:37] – Some people have a seasonal closet when organizing. What’s the equivalent to that in finance?

[9:26] – How can you ‘vacuum seal’ part of your finances?

Answering Your Questions

The second half our show today will focus on your questions and your needs. As always, you can send questions into the show through our website and we might feature them on a future episode.

Today we’ll tackle three different submissions from listeners. The first comes from a couple that are closing in on retirement and plan to save an additional $90,000 in the three years before then. They will utilize an IRA but what else after those limits are met? Joel will provide some guidance based on the info he has.

The second is a great one about 401(k) rollovers. You might not like your company’s investment options but can you rollover your IRA while you’re still working there? The answer might be yes but find out how you can be sure.

The final question is about risk management. Many people are concerned about the future of the market and want to know what safe investment options are out there. Joel will share the different ways he limits risk.

[11:48] – Listener question: We’ll be retiring in 3 years and we plan to save about $30,000 each year until then. What accounts should I be using for this money?

[16:04] – Listener question: I don’t like my 401(k) investment options, but my company says I’m not eligible to roll the money to an outside account. How does this work?

[18:09] – Listener question: I feel like I need to reduce the risk in my portfolio, but I don’t know where to turn. What should I do?  

Thanks for checking out our latest episode of the Money Wisdom podcast. Please subscribe when you have a minute. We’ll talk to you again soon!