Money Moves for Procrastinators: Get Your Cash Game Strong Before 2024

there are still some things that you can do to win with money before the year ends today's video is a partnership with mmobile have you ever stopped to think about why on Earth are we shelling out so much money for cell phone coverage speed coverage data 5G met mobile provides it all with plans starting at $15 a month they ride on the nation's largest 5G Network and cut costs by selling directly to you via the Internet I mean why pay more for the same network access switching to Mint is a game changer not only is it going to save you money every single month but switching is a breeze thanks to digital e cards sign up and activate instantly on your phone no s me will ship one to you and they do it all streaming gaming watching this video here's the kicker until January 1st if you buy 3 months you'll get three months for free check out the link in my description for more and start saving money with met mobile hey everyone I hope you're having a good day I feel like I'm going back to the roots of this Channel today with kind of a sitdown video where we discuss personal finance I've been doing a lot of Vlogs or Recaps and but I wanted to get this one in before the year ended um but if you're new around here hello my name is lyia sin and I make videos on Frugal and simple living because I believe that you may not have been taught about personal finance but it is not too late for you to learn no matter where you are on the financial Spectrum so grab a cup of coffee and let's chat as always notes so let's discuss the top 10 things that you can do with your personal finances before 2023 slams to a close I'm ready for it to be over I'm dragging myself across that finish line I am like Bernie on weekend at Bernie but I'm also the friends don't know how that works so number one and you knew you absolutely knew this was going to be my first one and that is to review your budget to see what areas you spent more than you thought you would what areas you spent less um where you kind of went overboard also revamp whether or not your budgeting system was working for you so you may have been a person that did a whole monthly budget and you realized halfway through the month that that didn't work for you but also consider revamping how you budget because if you're having trouble sticking to a budget it's probably not because budgeting doesn't work for you it's because this style of budget you were using doesn't work for you that's my washing machine hold on now you may have heard about a great budgeting app from a friend you tried it it didn't work for you or maybe spreadsheets make you want to run screaming for the hills find a system that works for you and my favorite system is actually budgeting by paycheck so my husband gets paid weekly and I get paid randomly throughout the month life of a freelancer so we like to break things up by paycheck and in fact every Thursday or Friday I don't know why I keep doing this in my hand we sit down and have a meeting what's coming up this week what do we need to spend money on what goal do we need to work toward and that gives us a clearer picture and so my friend Cari Deb free mom she has a budget by paycheck spreadsheet and she also walks you through how to use it um in the instructions and it's really great it's only $9 I'll link it below this isn't an affiliate program or anything we use it and we think it's great so I wanted to share it with all of you take a closer look at your savings goals income expenses and see where adjustment might need to be made check on your emergency fund do you even have one and is it enough and if you do not have an emergency F now may be the time to start one and you can start small it's there there's no real rule that tells us how much we need my rule of thumb has been one month's expenses as a base I feel more comfortable when I have a few months in my savings um and that's a privilege to be there right like not everyone can just snap their fingers and have that money there it took a lot of work uh we've used our emergency fund we've built it back up we've used it we built it back up we spent half of it a few months ago getting all of our plumbing fixed it's you know this is life money flows out money flows in and you just manage the flow the best that you can but having an emergency find helps you it's the difference between an inconvenience and a crisis and so determine how much you need look at your fixed expenses every month look at your pattern of emergencies have you had a lot of appliances gone out have you had a lot of car trouble have you had broken bones in your home and just kind of come up with a plan for how you're going to deal with those check on your retirement contributions that's number three have you been putting money into your 401k particularly if your company has a match I don't care what anybody tells you do not pause your retirement when you're paying off debt especially if your employer doesn't match because that's part of your salary that's part of your benefits that's no just take the money okay but are you making as many contributions as you could are you maxing it out if that's an option for you if you're doing a Roth IRA how's that going have you checked in on it have you funded it have you bought index funds or whatever you choose to use with the money that you've put in check in on it it's your friend it's your buddy and it doesn't want to be ignored can you tell that we still have Plumbing issues we have to deal with mhm doing great if you got some sort of bonus this year consider making an extra contribution to your retirement or put it towards a goal number four debt assessment did you rack up some debt this year did you slide back into debt listen I know a lot of people people who that happened to this year and I feel like we're all just kind of doing the best that we can and if you are in a situation where you find yourself back in debt please don't feel bad about yourself take the lessons that you learned the tools that you use to pay off debt the first time and just do it again don't beat yourself up for what you did trying to survive basically is what I'm saying so make a plan um sit down and figure out how you want to do this do you want to use the de a Avalanche method that's the one I like where you line up your debts by interest rate and make you know extra payments to the highest interest at first do you want to do a snowball where you line up smallest to largest or are you just a person who's going to have to make micro payments stay consistent stay consistent it's not about motivation it's about the little things that you do every day every week every paycheck number five and this one is just like boo but that is tax planning what do you mean by that okay okay I'll tell you are there any last minute credits deductions that you want to take advantage of before you file your 2023 taxes come next year are there contributions that you want to make to your 401k which lowers your taxable income are there donations that you want to make that you can deduct start kind of planning those things out as the year wraps up Health Savings Account HSA FSA we have an FSA and we have fought with them this year they have wanted to close the card what do they call that lock the card because they want all this documentation and my husband's like how much more documentation do you need having a child who is disabled in your house and having a husband with lupus in your house means you have lots of fun extra expenses and so we have thought with that FSA a lot this year but I still maintain that it is worth it because it is money we don't have to worry about right I mean it's taken out pre-tax and we're able to use it for those expenses so see if you're going to have funds roll over see if there are things that you need to use up and maybe this last week of the year is a great time to schedule dentist appointments or annual exams or go to the eye doctor or things that you've been putting off number seven audit your insurance are you getting the best rate are you getting the best rate on your house on your car um if you live in a rental are you getting what you need and are you getting what you need out of your health insurance do you need to move up a plan do you need to move down a plan what do you need to do take some time to sit down and review your options and I like to do an insurance audit on my homeowners and auto about once a year where I just look and make sure I'm getting the best rate I may call a few people ask a few questions go to my carrier and say this is what they're offering me do you want to match it or maybe beat it because insurance companies know that what any business knows and that it is cheaper to maintain a customer than it is to go out and try to find a new one so see what is available to you on that front and also kind of as a bonus that's a moth a moth tried to fly into my hair how did you get in here some financial goals for the new year and these can be things like I want to pay off debt I want to put more money into my retirement or it can be things like hey our home needs some improvements or we're going to need a new vehicle and we need to plan for that or maybe you want to go on a big family vacation this year or take an extended time off of work and you need to plan for that financially sit down with your spouse your budgeting partner your accountability partner and come up with a plan allow yourself to daydream create a yearin financial summary so document your financial achievements setbacks and Lessons Learned use this information to plan successfully ahead this is different than a budget audit because this is more an overall picture of how your financial health is going are you making good choices are you setting good goals how can you adjust your views of money and then finally and this is one nobody wants to think about but do some estate planning do you have a will do you have a plan for what's going to happen to yourself your children your assets when you are no longer to able to make those decisions for yourself estate planning does not have to be expensive or overly complicated Google your state and what is required for you to have a will and there are lots of free will templates but know what your state requires because every state is going to be different and have all your documentations in a clear place that is easy to find so here comes a Shameless plug but I do have an emergency binder you can download it fill it in and it contains everything like you put your will in there um information about what you want for your kids um asset documentation health information so that it is already in one place these are just simple things that you can do to set yourself up for success in the new year and as always thank you for being here thank you for spending 2023 with me it has been a pleasure chatting with you every week it means the world to me and good luck in your Financial endeavors

Channel: Lydia Senn

Views: 7,816

Keywords: Lydia Senn, five4fivemeals, Frugal debt free life, frugal, save money, debt free, frugal living, how to be frugal, how to save money, spend less money, how to spend less money

Id: IPugsOMF7xE

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 29 2023