The hustle and bustle of life can make time pass too quickly, and before you know it, your bills are late, and your financial goals have been put on the back burner. Not staying on top of your finances can cost you hundreds of dollars in late fees and overdrafts.
If you find yourself paying bills late, not keeping up with your budget, and not reaching your financial goals, these important reminders can help you start taking back control of your finances.
By setting up important reminders you can stay on track with your finances, start good money habits, and prevent financial mishaps. And it doesn't have to be difficult.
You can set up financial reminders on your electronic devices, or use a planner or a spending journal. That being said, below are 9 financial reminders you definitely want to set up!
1. Automate your savings
Saving money is something you should be doing every single time you get paid. This would include saving for retirement, in your emergency account, and for other goals that you might have.
Set reminders that coincide with your pay dates so you remember to make the transfers. Better yet, automate the transfers and set the reminders so you can check your accounts to ensure the transfers took place for the right amounts. Setting up important reminders to save money is crucial to your financial future.
2. Schedule bill payments
This is usually where things get annoying. With different bill due dates, bills dues monthly, quarterly, and annually, it's easy to forget when something is coming up. Plus, managing your money as a busy person can be challenging.
A good way to get around this is to build all your bills into a budget and then set reminders to alert you a week or a few days before they are due. Your financial reminders should include ALL your bills including utilities, memberships, subscriptions, insurance payments, etc. Many times, these bills are forgotten in monthly budgets!
3. Check your credit for errors
At a bare minimum, you should be pulling your full credit report once a year which you are entitled to get for free via annualcreditreport.com. You should also be monitoring your credit score often and you can do this for free via tools like creditkarma.com.
Set monthly and also annual reminders to be sure you keep up with your credit. Credit errors and identity theft are all too common. Having reminders in place to review your credit will help you stay on top of your credit and avoid these issues.
4. File and pay your taxes on time
Be sure to set reminders in advance of the April 14th tax filing deadline to complete your tax filing and also to pay any taxes you may owe.
It's a good idea to get this done a couple of months in advance so you don't find yourself scrambling a few days before the tax deadline.
5. Shop around for the best rates at least once a year
It's definitely worth taking some time out once a year to shop around for the best rates for things like your insurance, cell phone, and cable plans.
Set a reminder to do some comparisons across different service providers so you know what else is out there. You never know, you may be able to find some really good savings!
6. Set reminders to review your budget
Having a budget is vital to financial stability. However, you need to review your budget regularly to ensure you are budgeting correctly. If your bills increase or decrease, or if you have a change in your income you need to be sure you update your budget to reflect these changes.
Set financial reminders to review your budget on your calendar to keep a tight hold on your money.
7. Remember to track your spending
You may think balancing a checkbook is outdated since everything seems to be electronic these days, but one of the most important reminders is to track your spending.
Tracking your spending helps you stick with your budget and shows you what you are spending your money on. You can do this on a spreadsheet but writing down your expenses makes more of an impact.
A spending journal is a perfect way to track your spending and it will help you with your money habits too!
8. Set a reminder to create a vision board and review your goals often
"A picture is worth 1,000 words" and a vision board can be one of the most important reminders you can have to help you reach your goals! A vision board is where you post pictures, images, and written goals onto a poster board and hang it where you see it every day.
Is it your dream to own a house on the beach? Do you want to save $10,000 in a year? These are things you will put on your vision board to help you reach your financial goals.
Be sure to set a reminder to review your vision board and in turn, your goals, at least once a month.
9. Review your expenses frequently
It's much too easy to let unnecessary spending creep into your budget. Cutting expenses from your budget such as eating out, ditching cable, and canceling subscriptions can help you save money.
Make it a goal to review your spending every month to see where you can cut spending. This is one of the most important reminders you can do because it will decrease your spending and increase your bank account fast.
Become financially savvy
Setting up important reminders for your finances will make you financially savvy in no time! It's easy to get side-tracked, and scheduling financial reminders can keep you on the course to financial success.
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