Improve your financial fitness and manage your wealth. Get your finances in shape by taking these steps:
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Bulk up your emergency fund. Having a back-up fund may prevent you from having to tap or max out credit cards if your refrigerator dies or your car needs major repairs. Start by putting $5 each month into the fund, increase when you can.
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Improve your credit score. Having a clean credit history is more important than ever. First, obtain your free credit reports from annualcreditreport.com, review them, and dispute any errors. Next, work to improve your score: Pay all bills on time, maintain a healthy mix of credit, use less than 30% of your credit limit, and be sure to pay all fines and tickets—even unpaid library fines or parking tickets may be viewed negatively by potential lenders.
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Stay on top of your accounts. To avoid overdraft fees, account closures, or other unexpected events, regularly monitor your credit card and other account balances.
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Create a spending plan—and stick to it. Bottom line: Expenses should not exceed income.
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Get organized. Consolidate accounts, organize financial documents (paper and digital), and use online banking, which can simplify your finances, track your spending and reduce the likelihood you’ll miss a payment. Using online services like bill pay, text banking and e-alerts can help you manage your records, and alert you when loan payments and bills are due, or balances are close to their limit.
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Pay down debt. Attack your high interest credit cards first by paying more than the minimum balance each month. Once you get your debt under control, make it a goal to pay off the balance each month to avoid accumulating interest. kstate CREDIT UNION has a competitive rate on their credit card that may save you money if you transfer balances from other high interest credit cards.
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Use direct deposit. If you still get paper checks, think about switching to automatic deposit. By having all or some of your payroll checks directly transferred to your credit union account, you’ll be less tempted to spend what you could be saving.
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Take control of your investments. Regularly review and organize your portfolio and talk to a financial professional about rebalancing it.