Are You On-Track to Meet Your Annual Financial Goals?
We have five simple steps you can take today to help you gauge your progress
First American State Bank is committed to helping our valued customers stay on top of their annual financial goals. We offer a variety of products designed to help you earn money on deposits, buy that new home, make a desired home improvement and more. But it helps to know where you currently stand beforehand. That’s why a mid-year financial health check is a great way to stay on top of your financial goals and make necessary adjustments so that you’ll end the year right where you wanted.
Here’s a more detailed look at each step:
- Review Your Budget
- Evaluate Income and Expenses: Compare your current income and expenses to your yearly financial plan. You can use an online budget calculator or even a simple spreadsheet to help you visualize and streamline this process.
- Adjust Budget Categories: Modify areas where your spending and income patterns don’t align with your expectations. If you haven’t built a budget yet, what’s stopping you? First American State Bank works with an organization called Banzai and they offer an online tool that can help you create a reasonable budget.
- Evaluate Savings Goals
- Check Progress: Assess how close you are to meeting your savings targets for various goals such as establishing an emergency fund, saving for that special vacation or building your retirement.
- Adjust Savings Goals: Sometimes, we set goals that are more aspirational than achievable. If your savings goals are not sustainable, identify areas where you can cut back on spending. Again, our friends at Banzai have several tips on reducing food and utility bills.
- Automate Savings: If you don’t have access to it, you don’t spend it. Set up automatic transfers into your savings or retirement accounts to ensure consistent contributions. In this way, you begin to treat savings like one of your other mandatory bills.
- Assess Debt Management Progress
- Debt Paydown: Review your debt paydown progress. Check how much debt you’ve paid off and if it matches your goals.
- Spending Habits: Evaluate your credit card usage and any new loans. Consider if these habits are hindering your debt paydown efforts.
- Refinancing and Consolidation: Explore refinancing or consolidating debt to lower interest rates or monthly payments. First American State Bank can help you with this so be sure to ask a banker if this option is right for you on your next visit.
- Review Your Investment Portfolio
- Performance Evaluation: Check the performance of your investments and consider rebalancing your portfolio if needed.
- Retirement Contributions: Many employers offer matching funds for the retirement accounts they have for employees. Ensure you’re contributing enough to your retirement accounts to get a full employer match, if applicable.
- Alignment with Goals: Everyone has their own goals and tolerance levels. Make sure your investment strategy aligns with the long-term financial goals you’ve set for yourself and your personal risk tolerance.
- Plan and Evaluate Taxes
- Tax Withholdings: Review your tax withholdings and estimate potential tax payments, especially if you are a contract employee.
- Maximize Contributions: Look into maximizing contributions to your retirement accounts and explore other tax breaks or advantages.
- Tax Planning: Use tax planning resources to stay ahead of potential tax liabilities.
By taking these steps, you can make informed adjustments and improvements to your financial plan. This proactive approach helps you stay organized and empowers you to make better financial decisions. Remember, maintaining financial health is an ongoing journey, and these mid-year checks are crucial milestones to ensure you remain on track.
Https://blog.banzai.org/have-you-done-your-mid-year-financial-health-check-5-steps-to-ensure-youre-on-track/
Step 1. Review Your Budget
Step 2. Evaluate Savings Goals
Step 3. Assess Debt Management Progress
Step 4. Review Your Investment Portfolio
Step 5. Plan and Evaluate Taxes
