With the crisp fall air used to come the promise of a new school year, and even now as an adult I like to look at fall as a time to clean up paperwork and start over. If spring cleaning is about purging and creating a clutter free home, fall cleaning is about tackling all of those loose ends that never seem to get checked off our to-do lists.
Why is fall such a great time to tackle this list? Because crossing off all these nagging to-do’s is like turning to a fresh page in a notebook and we’re already accustomed to doing that in the fall. And, because heading into the holiday season is not the time you want anything hanging over your head.
SO, WHAT’S ON MY LIST THIS FALL?
- Making doctor’s appointments and checking the status of health savings accounts. I want to maximize all possible preventative appointments and make sure not to leave anything behind in health savings accounts. Tip: have FSA money you need to burn before the end of the year and no medical expenses to speak of? Buy sunscreen.
- Make sure all bills that are on auto-pay are on up to date cards. Getting hit with a fee for a credit card that has expired is the worst, so I’ll be proactive to make sure sure it doesn’t happen. Those bills that aren’t on auto-pay? Setting them up ASAP.
- Consolidate my retirement accounts. Embarrassing confession: all of the retirement accounts I have are still held in the same place they were opened. I haven’t consolidated a single one. Ugh, I know. And, once I do consolidate them, I am going to have my accounts analyzed by Blooom.
WHAT’S BLOOOM?
Blooom is a financial start-up designed for helping people invest, regardless of how much money they have to play with. They offer affordable 401k advice that lets you rest easy knowing that your money is working to its fullest — without you having to monitor it constantly.
Bloom’s financial advisors are available at $10 a month to make sure your money is properly invested for where you currently are in life, and so that you can be on the right track to retirement. It’s a low stress way to make sure that your finances are in order — and an essential part of my fall clean up this year.
