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| Finance (Photo credit: Tax Credits) |
The good news is that a single lunch hour or a Saturday morning can be enough time to get your finances in significantly better order. Make headway by taking these actions, each of which only requires one to three hours.
IF YOU'VE GOT AN HOUR
Nine out of 10 married people avoid talking to their partner about money, according to an American Express poll published in June 2010. Sound familiar? Dodging discussions may help you avoid fights in the present, but you'll pay in the long run, warns Mary Claire Allvine, co-author of The Family CFO: The Couple's Business Plan for Love and Money. Says Allvine: "Research shows that couples who regularly look at their balance sheets together do better financially." She recommends scheduling one-hour "dollar dates" to get on the same page.
Date 1. Crack open a bottle of wine to loosen the nerves, then bring out the laptop and register on money-management site Mint.com. Take just 15 minutes to upload your accounts and you'll get a balance sheet (how much you've got and what you owe) and a look at your cash flow (what's coming in and what's going out). For the rest of the date, divvy up a pack of index cards and separately write down your money-related goals (say, paying off debt or taking a cruise). Then come together to prioritize your top three.
Date 2. Spend the first 20 minutes figuring out how much cash each of your three goals will require. Next, determine when you want to accomplish each of them and how much you need to save per month to do so. Finally, program the goals into Mint, and the site will track your progress toward them.
This tried-and-true method is the best way to cover allotted expenses if you don't trust yourself with a debit or credit card. Put budgeted amounts of cash into separate envelopes for each category. If you reach into your grocery envelope and nothing's there, eat from the pantry until the next payday, or pull cash from an envelope that can spare it.
Shrink Your Bills
As of March 2012, the average wireless customer is paying $1,776 annually and cable customers shell out around $900 per year, according to BillShrink.com. The site can help you reduce those costs. Fill out a quick worksheet—your address, how much you pay, favorite channels and so on—and directly upload data from your phone account. The site will identify lower-cost providers based on your current usage and show you exactly how much you could save in the course of two years. Use the rest of the hour to cancel your current accounts and switch to a new carrier.
Get Disaster-Ready
"The majority of Americans haven't included financial documents in their disaster plan," says Jim Judge of the American Red Cross's Scientific Advisory Council. To prepare for an emergency, store your important documents on two CDs, one to keep at home and the other to tuck away in a safe-deposit box. On each CD, scan the following paperwork:
Using credit and debit cards is the simplest way to keep track of most of your purchases. Mint.com is a free online program that automatically updates information from your accounts and sorts transactions into categories. Check in for a complete picture of your spending. If you're going over budget in any category, you'll receive an e-mail warning.
- Driver's license and passport
- Social Security card
- Social Security card
- Health insurance card
- Insurance policies
- Mortgage and other loan papers
- Property deeds
- Car title and registration
- Marriage license
- Your will
- Last year's tax return
- Bank and brokerage account numbers
IF YOU'VE GOT TWO TO THREE HOURS
Protect Your Legacy
Who wants to spend an afternoon thinking about mortality? No one, which is why 55% of Americans don't have a will, according to FindLaw.com research from December 2010. "But without one, you could be leaving disposition of your assets and the guardianship of your minor children to a court," says New Jersey attorney Gerard Brew. If you have young kids and/or significant assets, you should really consult a lawyer. For now, however, download Quicken's WillMaker Plus from Nolo.com. The program takes only 30 minutes to complete. But count on the discussion with your spouse over whether his mother or your brother would make a better guardian to add some time.
Get on Recruiters' Radars
Today, 89% of firms use social media to find candidates, according to Jobvite. Not seeking work? "The best time to create a digital footprint is before you're looking," says Miriam Salpeter, author of Social Networking for Career Success. That way your next move can find you. The information contained herein represents the opinions of a third party and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Mercer HR Services, LLC or MMC Securities Corp. and are unaffiliated with any of the entities referenced above.
How to do it.
If you're not yet on LinkedIn, the site most companies use to recruit, start by uploading your résumé. Include your entire job history, since profiles with multiple jobs are 12 times more likely to be viewed than those with one. Add a photo, and your click-through rate increases sevenfold. In your summary, be sure to use keywords that are important in your industry (hint: check job ads to find them) so that you'll come up in searches.
Adapted from the December, 2011 issue of Real Simple. © 2012 Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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