Once you’re all done with your taxes, it’s the season for spring cleaning. Organizing … decluttering your house … throwing out old furniture, money can work the same way, too.
Personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi gives us her recipe for a productive financial spring cleaning.
Automate your bills: “Automate your bills because that means less stress. It’s minimizing your financial burdens … Also, to make sure you’re always paying your bills, never getting behind.”
Go paperless: “This is something as a country we’re doing more and more of, but some of us are a little bit behind … That will help to declutter and give some piece of mind.”
Hold onto three (or six) years worth of tax documents: “If the IRS does come a knocking with an audit, they will want to see the last three years of your records, and all your supporting documents. The one exception, you have to answer this honestly, if you’ve been underreporting income and the IRS audits you for that reason, they can go back as far as six years. So if you’re somebody that takes a little bit of risk with your reporting, and pushes the envelope, make sure you have even more support and backup.”
Look ahead: “Spring is a time when we’re looking ahead. A lot of families perhaps are thinking about a home, people are buying cars, applying for loans for school, so this is a good time to get a firm understanding of where you stand credit wise. Go check your report at annualcreditreport.com (and that’s free!).”
What are your tips for financial spring cleaning? Share them in the comments, on Facebook, or on Twitter @LiveMoney.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
