If you have not responded and wish to there is still time.  The address again is:

If you did not get the email and would like a copy, please let me know via my contact page.

What about your finances?  When is the last time you cleans some things in that area?  Spring is a great time for a financial cleanup too.  Here are some areas that need attention.

1. Get Back To Keeping a Check Register – I wrote about this in the last week or so and you can find that post here.  Allow this spring time period to get back in balance with your checking/debit account and make sure you track and balance from this point on.  Stay intentional with your account(s) balance(s).
2. Review Your W4 Withholdings – Did you owe or get a big refund? Now is the time to review and make sure you are withholding the correct amounts for you.  Bring the right amount home from each paycheck and avoid writing a big check or getting a big refund. Make changes now!
3. Dust Off the Budget – You may have strayed from managing to a monthly budget.  Now is the time to get back on track.  Clean off the cobwebs and layout your monthly plan.  Re-employ the tools that help you be successful. Find and fix the areas you are overspending in.
4. Re-Evaluate Your Insurance Coverages – Life, Home, Auto, Disability, etc.  - Are you adequately covered?  Do you know what you have?  Do you know what you are missing?  Get with your insurance company to review.  Shop the costs that you are currently paying.
5. Review the Status of Your Investments – You may not have what you would call an investment money or you may not have put money into your account in some time, but most of us have some sort of retirement account.  Whether a 401(k), 403(b), a SEP, an IRA or Roth IRA – look at where you are invested and make sure you are where you want to be.  If you use an investment advisor, contact he or she for a review.

I never said that spring cleaning is an easy task.  But it sure is good to come home to a clean house – even a good, clean financial house.

How do you spring clean your finances?

New cars…

Vacations…

Houses to impress…

Clothes to impress…

Wants of children…

In ability to say “no”… and so many more.

What is your excuse or what are you doing to make sure you are going to retire with money?

I am reading another great book by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley - Stop Acting Rich. This should be a mandatory read by every child in high school. Eye-opening breakdown of who the rich are and who those are who think they are.

It is almost every day that I hear people say, “no, I do not keep a checkbook register because I only use my debt card.”  These are often the same people who have trouble managing their cash flow and find themselves overdrawn on that same account.  The reason for a check register is to simply manage the money you have in the account.

I recently read a newspaper article about a man who bought a $4 coffee that wound up costing him well over $200 when all the over-draft charges were totaled.  One big piece of his problem was not managing his cash flow with his check register.  What he thought he had in his account was not there.

Many people, when I use the words “check register”, immediately think of the paper document that was given to them when they opened their account. While that is definitely what I mean, today that paper product has been joined by Quicken, iBank, phone apps, etc.  It is not just a paper journal any more.  Your check register is a place where you are tracking, on your own and not from a bank download, the transactions you have made from your account.  These transactions include deposits, checks written, bank charges (are you really paying those??), debit cards usage, ATM, etc. -EVERY transaction in that account needs to be recorded.

You need to know what is in your account BEFORE you spend from it.  Many I meet have cash flow management and non-sufficient fund (NSF) issues.  Both are also found because the person not using some form of a check register.  My children each opened a checking account when they were fourteen years old.  I remember one of them crying because they did not want to “open an account”.  You would have thought I was making them go off to do most miserable thing you could imagine.  What I shared with them that was as long as they lived in my house they were going to know you can not spend money from an account that is not there.

If I met you today and asked, “what is your checking account balance”, how would you answer?  What does that answer consist of?  Are you telling me what the bank tells you the balance is, what you think it is, what it is with the outstanding transactions you have made, or what it will be (you hope) when your next deposit goes in?

Successful financial people, while they may have to look at the paper register or their phone app, can tell you what the CORRECT balance is.  That is huge.  Knowing your balance(s) will allow you to stay on top of what you have and save money.  Keeping accurate, timely updates in your register will position you to better manage your finances.

Did you know that managing your check balance will actually save you money?  Sure will.  You are much less prone to getting any NSF or over-draft fees charged to you when you know what is there.

So many of you do balance your account. In the the Reply section below, tell others what you use to keep your account balanced.  Do your prefer paper ot technology?  Make sure to click on Post Comment.

This year did you get a refund or did you owe? In 2012 is was estimated that over 143,000,000 tax returns were filed and some 80% of filers received some amount of a refund.  That is 112,000,000 refunds!  Getting money back from what you paid in is always a nice feeling, but what about the amount that you received.  I did not go real deep in my research, but I know that many people I meet who get a refund typically get a big refund.  My definition of “big” is $2,000 or more.  If that was you, could you have done a better job withholding?

Likewise, for those that are getting a refund, there is a smaller amount who are actually required to add a little more to what they have already paid in. That may be you.  Unlike the refund, paying more is much less attractive.  A small amount would be ok, but any large amount is painful!

If you received a large refund or you owed a large amount, take some time to do a review as to why.  What could you have done better to lessen the impact?  Yes, there is an impact to the large refund too.  You could have had most of that divided over all the months last year.

Use the IRS Withholding Estimator (click here to access) to better withhold what you will owe.  While not perfect, this tool will allow you to bring home what would have been a refund over the course of the year.  Likewise, you can make sure you are withholding enough to cover what you do owe.  Either way, you can run this same tool through the year at appropriate checkpoints and make sure you are still on track.

Each state will be different in how they offer such a tool.  I encourage you to reach out to your state’s revenue office and see what they can do.  In my state of Georgia, it is a simple form to download to attack with a pencil and calculator.

Do it today to make sure you best use the remaining months of this year to withhold what is truly needed.

Most of us saw the president lay out claims of what was going to happen and how all of us would feel the pain in many areas.  As it turns out so far, the real pain has only been inflicted by an administration that is trying to make you feel some pain.

When you look at the sequester it is a 2.76% reduction in government spending this year.  Don’t worry about what the additional years hold, the “biggest” impact is this year.  It is said that the government will have to cut $85.4 BILLION dollars from spending this year. That is a huge amount of money.  However, the government “budget” (it is hard calling it a budget), is $3.08 TRILLION.  Another estimate shows government spending to be $3.55  TRILLION which would lessen the impact to be 2.39% this year. Really, that’s it?  That’s all they could come up with.  Remember, we are getting closer to being $17 TRILLION in DEBT.

And then here comes the president telling you how bad the cuts will be and just to show you how bad they stop the tours of the White House? To truly show the problem with the government’s sequestration, is to point out the that cuts are not across the board but hit our defense very hard and then lesser amounts to other areas.

Ask yourself, what would a 3% reduction (lets round it off) in your monthly spending be and what would the impact be?  For someone spending $4,000 each month they would have to find $120 to cut – YES, $120 per month.  Could you do it?  What would the pain be?  A few less soft drinks, going out to eat a little less often, fewer movies to watch, a reduction to your Christmas budget?  For most people it could be done with little impact.

The real problem is that it is not enough to get you or the government on track.  The problem is the overall financial situation warrants more than a sequester can do.  There has to be some serious financial surgery to stop the hemorrhaging. Something serious has to be done.

Does something need to be done in your financial plan? What are you doing?  Have you tried other things that are not working and you think a personal sequestration might help?

Take the time today to pull your credit report – not your score.  You can have your report written to a PDF and stored, securely, on your computer to review and/or print.

It is wise to have your spouse review their report as well.

Did you know you can do it for free?  While you are allowed to obtain your credit report once a year (once each from all three bureaus), in some states you can get it more than once and still for free!  What is your excuse now?

Where can you go to get it for free – only one place – and you can click here to go there.

What have you found from your credit report – this time and even in the past?

This couple told me that it was the homemade version of something they like from as restaruant change.  It just so happened, that my wife would be interested in this for one of our meals this weeks.

We had it last night – it was wonderful, simple, and a change.  I am not sure how healthy it was, but it was good!

I began to ask myself what others, you, may be doing for your recipes and what you do to meet your grocery budget each month. While others are struggling much of the time financially, many more are now struggling with the rise in fuels prices and food prices.  Additionally, others are looking for things to get out of the dolldrums.

What are you doing that you can share with others?  Reply to this post and share with others.

As I speak with people to learn more about their situation, I quickly learn that most people are not bankrupt.  While there are some legitimate needs, most do not fall into the legitimate or necessary need category.  Most people just need to make some tough but serious changes, bite the bullet while they feel the pain, and do things differently than they have in the past.  Most, I have learned, find that bankruptcy is too easy and that is the route that they prefer.

Gone, it would appear, is the stigma that was once associated with the word bankruptcy.  Along with that, understanding that the credit report impact is only for, depending on the filing, 7 to 10 years – people choose what they feel is the easier route to get them back on their feet.  While those two may be correct, what are the other drawbacks?

First, what if your employment is affected by a bankruptcy filing?  Depending on your position it may.  Even beyond that, what about prospective employment you may pursue over the rest of your career and what if years from now, even after that 10 year credit reporting window, you are asked on an application, “Have you ever declared bankruptcy?”

Finally, what about your management of your finances during and after bankruptcy?  What I have learned from many is that once bankrutpcy has been done it is likely to be repeated.  People often do not learn because they never felt the pain.  Remember, your mother did not teach you to not touch the hot burner – you did when you touched it even after she told you not to.

I have had, and currently have, clients who are or have been bankrupt.  Almost everyone will tell you, “bankruptcy is too easy…”

What about you – is bankruptcy too easy?

For many, it may be their job.  For others, their money. Still others, their specific abilities.

For all of us it is TIME.  Time is the single one thing that can never be replaced.  We may think we have all the time in the world, but your time is limited and you have no idea how much you have used and how much is left.

Time has an impact in every other area of our life.  You may try to find one that is not impacted, but you have just wasted time doing that.  In our marriages and families, time is the most valuable asset we have.  In the decisions of our spiritual lives, time is the most valuable asset we have and we must consider that we do not have an unlimited supply of time.

In building wealth, time is one of the greatest components to watching it grow regardless of the amount.

Gold is a wonderful asset if you own some.  Did you know that as hard as gold is too find people still find gold.  Those same people, and all of the rest of us, can never find more time.

What are you doing with your time?  How are you managing it to utilize your greatest asset?