Is Your Financial House in Order?

December 23, 2010

Being the holiday season and my wife and I being the festive people we are, we were taking part in the age old tradition of trimming our tree to make it as decorative as possible.  Everything seemed the same as prior years – same size tree, some friends over to help, holiday tunes playing, and my wife lovingly asking why I don’t put more lights on.  There was one thing different though and that was the fact that all the ornaments were in special containers which made it very easy to decorate the tree but more importantly, easy to put away.  Every ornament in its rightful spot, nice!

That got me thinking about efficiency in handling different accounts and what people can do to make their lives simpler.  I’m a big fan of three ring binders which list not only where we have accounts but also any important paperwork we have as well, i.e. Powers of Attorneys, wills, etc.

I also have this information available to me on my home computer because that is where I check balances and download information to a financial software program.  By having information available in one place, I can efficiently review our financial picture and make decisions whether it is a tax decision or an investment decision.  It also makes life easier for our loved ones in the event something bad were to happen to either my wife or me.

So give yourself a gift that you will enjoy forever, the gift of organization.  Maybe you’ll even find a place for your holiday decorations too!