Quarantined at home this summer? A midyear financial checkup is just what the doctor ordered!

With many summer vacations canceled due to COVID-19, you may find you have some spare time at home. This is the perfect time to do a financial goal checkup. It can help ease your mind reviewing your finances, retirement goals, savings for children’s education, or a house investment. Here are some tips for your midyear review:

1. Goals: Make sure you are saving enough for retirement or could you increase your paycheck deduction? Have you checked college tuition fees lately to calculate if you are saving enough? Interested in saving for a new house? Make sure and check the latest real estate market. Are your beneficiaries up-to-date? It is important to update these goals for 2020.

2. Taxes: Make sure you are benefiting from a tax break. For example, are you on a high deductible health plan and contributing to a health savings account? Are you contributing to your company’s 401K enough that your employer is matching the amount or should you increase your contribution? Have you revisited your decision about whether to make Traditional or Roth contributions to your IRA and company retirement plan? If you received a big tax refund or wrote a sizable check for taxes due with your 2019 return, or experienced any life changes, you should evaluate whether you’re having too much or too little in taxes withheld from your pay. 

3. Insurance: Evaluate your insurance needs annually to make sure you have the right amount and type of insurance for unforseen circumstances that might arise. A good place to start is life insurance. Life insurance is used to replace income. If you have a growing family you might want to increase your life insurance. If you are getting older with less years of income, then you might want to decrease life insurance and use that money towards retiree health care savings. Checking out disability insurance in case anything prevents you from earning a paycheck is also a good idea.

4. Estate planning: Review this important paperwork to make sure you are covered legally in a will, health care proxy, and power of attorney. Marriage, divorce, birth, and death are 4 big events that can affect estate plans.
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While a mid-year financial checkup might not be a beach vacation, it is well worth the effort to make sure your finances are organized and will put your mind at peace. Plus it is not too early to start dreaming of those 2021 vacations!

​If you have any questions while you are evaluating your midyear review, please don't hesitate to reach out to TWA at 979-694-9100 or Brien@TraditionsWealthAdvisors.com 

Source: “Mid-Year $ CheckUp: 5 Things to Review Now.” Fidelity Viewpoints, 14 July 2020, https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/personal-finance/midyear-checkup?ccsource=email_weekly