14 Mar 2024 Spring Cleaning Your Finances

You are likely well aware already that Spring is coming – if it wasn’t the recent time change that did it, it may have been the 70 degree days or pollen already in the air that tipped you off. The first official day of Spring is next week – March 19th. I love this time of year for the weather, more daylight in the evening, and sports (you can’t beat March Madness followed by Opening Day in the MLB).

This time of the year is also a good point to pause for a spring cleaning. While many people have adopted this practice, it likely began as a Jewish custom marking the beginning of Passover where a deep cleaning would take place prior to the religious observances. As you may remember, I do love my consistent rhythms throughout the year. It is normal during the holiday and winter season to let things physically (and mentally) build up. This pause to clean and declutter can be a helpful way to reset for the rest of the year. In light of this idea that can transcend your physical cleaning, find below a few practical thoughts on spring cleaning your personal finances.

Financial Accounts

Most people tend to not adjust their financial accounts (checking, savings, etc.) once they have settled on a bank they like. There is nothing wrong with sticking with what is working for you. It could be a good time though to look and make sure you are still getting enough benefit from your accounts. With so many options out there, be aware if you are being charged for features others offer for free or that you are receiving a reasonable interest rate on any cash.

For checking accounts, make sure you aren’t being charged unreasonable monthly fees or charges for normal activities. For savings accounts, assess if you are earning a high enough yield on your emergency fund. Ally and Capital One both offer over 4% on their savings accounts – if you are a Beacon client we have options for you as well. Also be aware of FDIC insurance limits if you are approaching $250,000 in a single account.

Insurance

You may have noticed a few articles in the Beacon Friday email about insurance premiums skyrocketing over the last year. Per the WSJ, auto insurance premiums are up nearly 39% relative to December 2019. While people in certain regions or coasts may be more susceptible to increases in premiums, the impact has been felt by most everyone at this point.

If you have received a recent insurance renewal with a large jump in premium, it may make sense to look at quotes for new coverage. Oftentimes you can save money by changing carriers because they tend to give the best rates to new customers. Instead of calling multiple carriers, you could use an insurance broker who can take your information and get quotes from multiple carriers at once.

Subscriptions

One of the easiest ways to save money in your day-to-day spending is by evaluating your subscriptions. It seems everything has become a subscription at this point. While it is convenient to not think about a monthly payment, the small subscriptions across multiple services can quickly add up. In fact, 46% of people were off by over $200 per month when they had to guess how much they spent monthly on subscriptions (per WSJ).

While there are services that will locate your subscriptions and cancel them for you, like Rocket Money (do you need a subscription for your subscriptions?), a better plan may be to look through your recent credit card statements and note any subscriptions that you don’t use anymore. Most services you can quickly cancel through an online account and get them out of your mind and off your budget.

Unclaimed Property / Cash

Every state has a website dedicated to unclaimed property / cash. For North Carolina, you can find that here, but every state will have a similar website you can find. It is likely you won’t find anything on the site, but there may be something of yours out there – as of last year North Carolina had $1.3 billion in unclaimed property. Typically, this happens when bank accounts, utility deposits, and other sources of cash are forgotten and the company that holds the property can no longer contact the owner for whatever reason. They are legally required to turn the funds over to the state. Maybe you will find a forgotten treasure!

There are many more spring cleaning items that come to mind, but this list will give you a good start at freshening a few things up. If you are a Beacon client, this is also a reminder of why we meet on a regular basis. Many of these items we are consistently looking at for you and your family. Life happens and things build up over time – that is why we are here to be a reminder of things that you need to do and help you to get back on track towards the goals you have.

The content above is for informational and educational purposes only. The links and graphs are being provided as a convenience; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Beacon Wealthcare, nor does Beacon guarantee the accuracy of the information.