April 2015 - Getting it Together

How To Get Financially Organized – Part 2

Hopefully by now you have your systems in place. Did you decide to go paperless or are you feeling more comfortable with a small file cabinet? Did you check out the fees at your bank? If you received the 1to31 organizing system how are you doing with it? Do you need a quick consultation on how to get the most from it? If so please contact me and I will walk you through it. In the mean time, check out this short video on

How
To Get Financially Organized

– part 2

and then read Getting It Together’s Top 5 Tips Tip #1: Automatic savings. Set up an automatic savings deposit every month. Look at your finances and decide what amount can go to your savings accounting. If it is done automatically you will not miss it. Even small amounts add up. Check out the documentary “livingononedollar” if you do not believe me. I save all of my change and add it to this account. Those loonies and toonies add up for those of us living in Canada. I see the States have a one dollar coin now too. Welcome to our world America. Tip #2: Make a monthly date with yourself. Once a month take the time to look over your financial situation. Review your bank statements and files in your file cabinet if you are not paperless. If you receive everything online set up files on your computer using the same file names in tip 1 from part 1 of

How To Get Financially Organized

. Also each month reconcile your spending, your cheque book and your budget. Tip #3: Have a financial goal. Whether you are just starting out in your first job or are established in your career it is important to have a financial goal. How much do you want to save each year? How much do you want to donate if anything? Take a good hard look at all of your expenses and come up with a plan. If you find this overwhelming give me a call and I will help you organize all of this. This tip alone will be very empowering if done correctly even if you do not make the kind of money you would like to be making at this moment in time. Tip #4: Clear out the old. Once a year clear out all of your old bills, investment statements and any other papers that happen to make their way into your files. That can happenJ Tip #5: Talk. It is important to talk to your kids early on in life about money and finances. Get them to set up a short term and long term savings account. Talk to your partner about your financial goals. Do you have the same values around money, saving and spending? P.S.>> Click here to listen to my Guest spot on BlogTalkRadio. It was so much fun! A great short story to end with. Shared by one of my readers. Thank you The Magic Bank Account Imagine that you had won the following *PRIZE* in a contest: Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400 in your private account for your use. However, this prize has rules: The set of rules: 1. Everything that you didn’t spend during each day would be taken away from you. 2. You may not simply transfer money into some other account. 3. You may only spend it. 4. Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400 for that day. 5. The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say, “Game Over!”. It can close the account and you will not receive a new one. What would you personally do? You would buy anything and everything you wanted right? Not only for yourself, but for all the people you love and care for. Even for people you don’t know, because you couldn’t possibly spend it all on yourself, right? You would try to spend every penny, and use it all, because you knew it would be replenished in the morning, right? ACTUALLY, This GAME is REAL … Shocked??? YES! Each of us is already a winner of this *PRIZE*. We just can’t seem to see it. The PRIZE is *TIME*

Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life.
And when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is not credited to us.
What we haven’t used up that day is forever lost.
Yesterday is forever gone
Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time WITHOUT WARNING…

SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400 seconds? Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars. Think about it and remember to enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you think. So take care of yourself, be happy, love deeply and enjoy life! Here’s wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day. Start “spending”….

DON’T COMPLAIN ABOUT GROWING OLD…!

SOME PEOPLE DON’T GET THE PRIVILEGE!

By Rowena List|2020-06-07T20:52:38+00:00April 21st, 2015|Media Appearances, Organizer, Organizing Finances, Time Management|0 Comments

How To Get Financially Organized Part 1

Do you panic when it comes to tax time?

Do you dream of having all of your important papers ready at any given moment for the bank?

Like when you are going for a loan or mortgage.

If your house was on fire what would you grab?

The interesting thing is almost everyone interviewed says their photos. No one ever says their important documents. In fact both are very hard to replace if not almost impossible.

Why not set up a system that is easy to grab? Yes for the most part things will be on your computer however I have found that people still like to have a paper trail. I think it is because we feel more in control if we have that important document in our hands and then we can file it. We can see it at a quick glance and more importantly we can touch it. What do you think? Please leave it in the comment box below.

We are still not a paperless society. There are certain things that we need handy in paper format like a power of attorney or a will.

In order to get financially fit I would suggest watching this quick video (Part One) and then follow these simple Getting It Together’s Top 5 tips on how to get financially organized.

Tip #1: Set up a small and I mean small file cabinet or portable file box. The reason you want to keep it small is so you will toss out the outdated information as the new information comes in.

Create File Folders for:

Savings Account
Chequing account
Credit Card accounts (I suggest having two credit cards especially if you travel)
Retirement accounts
Mortgage
Investment accounts
Insurance: life, critical illness, disability, home and car
Loans
Will and power of attorney
Tax return from past yr and current yr.
Miscellaneous

I personally have all these important documents in a binder. My executor knows exactly where it is and what is in it. This will make her job easier when the time comes for her to deal with my affairs. Being this organized with your important papers is a gift you give to the people who are left to deal with your affairs. There is nothing worse than trying to find all the important papers while grieving.

Tip #2: Set up online banking and telephone banking. Like it or not sooner than later we will have to do 90% of our banking online and why not? It is a great way to save time. You can do all of your banking while the kids sleep or on your coffee break at work.

Tip #3: Set up automatic bill payments. The best thing I ever did to get financially organized was setting up all of my bills to be pre-authorized to go on my visa. Then once a month my Visa gets paid automatically from my account. Yes it is important to check your credit card statement to make sure that all of the purchases are yours. You can do that online before it gets paid. If you set up this system it is important to pay your credit card off in full each month. The last thing you want is to be paying interest on your phone bill etc. The best part is you get extra travel miles if you collect those.

If you are not comfortable with automatic bill payments then set yourself up a little area in your home where you pay bills. Is it in the kitchen or do you have a small office area? Make sure you have the supplies required.

Stamps
Envelopes
Pens
Paper
Return address labels
Shredder
Recycle bin.

Once the bill is paid file it until the next months bill comes in at which point you can shred the last months bill. There is no need to keep a life time of phone bills. Even if you are in business for yourself you only have to keep 7 years worth. All major companies keep a record of our bills should you ever need an old statement.

Tip #4: Reduce banking fees. Check with your bank to see how you can reduce monthly banking fees. If I keep a balance of $1000.00 or more in my account I avoid all fees. If you are a senior you might be able to avoid fees. Each bank has different policies. Shop around to get the best deal for you.

Tip #5: Use your 1to31 system. Don’t have one yet? Check it out at www.1to31.com

If you are still getting paper bills file them under the date in which they need to be paid. The 1to31 is the best place to keep track of them.

By Rowena List|2020-06-07T20:52:38+00:00April 14th, 2015|Organizer, Organizing Finances, Tax Organization|0 Comments