The New Year is a good time to make money-wise resolutions that will boost your financial position. But the end of the year is an excellent time to be sure you are getting the most for your money. Financial advisors suggest six ways to help boost your net worth going into 2022.
- Check Health Insurance Deductibles – If you’ve met your annual deductible or are close, consider scheduling expensive medical procedures before the beginning of the new year, when your deductible resets and out-of-pocket expenses could be higher.
- Use or Lose Your FSA Balance – If your employer-sponsored retirement, insurance and health benefit programs include tax-advantaged health savings accounts such as a flexible spending account (FSA), check it now. If there’s a balance in the account by year-end, and there is no grace period, you may be forced to forfeit it.
- Prep Now for Tax Time – Start gathering together all the receipts and documents you will need when tax time is upon it. Gig economy earners should be aware of tax breaks and write-offs they qualify for, and have the receipts to back them up.
- Monitor Your Credit – At this time of the year, when fraud often seems to be on the uptick, download a free credit tracking app to check your credit history and report any errors or discrepancies to the credit bureaus.
- Review Your Retirement Goals – Check your retirement plan limits and see if you can kick your contributions up a notch or two, especially if you’ve had a bump in salary. Ask if your employer offers an automatic annual deferral increase to its 401(k). Often called an automatic escalation feature, this lets you increase your employee contribution by a set amount each year. And finally, determine whether you met your savings goal in 2021. If not, make definitive plans, like an automatic deduction from each paycheck, to help you stay on track in the new year.
