An 8-Point Financial Health Day Checklist

1.Check your bank account statements. It’s veryeasy to set subscription services and bill paymentsup for automatic deduction from our chequingaccounts, then just forget them entirely – hence thephrase, “set it and forget it!” That’s actually thepoint, you might think. Financial Health Day is theday to take a half hour and just review yourchequing account statements from the last coupleof months, line by line, looking for any subscriptionsyou no longer want or need. Then cancel them!Common ones include cable, app and magazine

subscriptions.

2.Check your mortgage interest rate. Justbecause today’s interest rates are lower doesn’tnecessarily mean that every homeowner with amortgage rate over 4 percent shouldrefinance! Refinancing your home loan can costmoney, and it definitely extends the life of yourmortgage (unless you make an intentional, strictplan to pay it off early). Talk with your financialplanner and mortgage professional to do themath and see whether you should considerrefinancing your home loan.

3.Check your PMI. If you put less than a 20percent down payment into your home whenyou bought it, you were likely required by yourlender to have Mortgage Insurance (PMI)policy. PMI insurance that protects your lenderin the event you default on your mortgage – isnot cheap. It can add hundreds of dollars to yourmonthly mortgage payment. Maybe consider alarger down payment if possible.

4.Check your insurance. Gather up your homeowner’s and other insurance statements, or call your agent(s) up and ask for a review. What you want to do is make sure that (a) you’re appropriately insured for your exposure, and (b) you aren’t paying more than you need to. Talk with your insurance agent and your financial planner, if you have one, to sort these matters out, and don’t be afraid to shop around.

5.Check your phone, cable and internet bills.

6.Check your savings. Do you have an automaticsavings plan in place? If not, Financial HealthDay is a great day to set that up with yourbank. If you do, it’s the right time to do a gutcheck: would it hurt you to save an extra $50,$100 or $200 a month? If you can afford to,tweak your savings on Financial Health Day.

7.Check your credit. Pull your own credit reportsfrom all the credit bureaus. Scan the reports for anyinaccuracies and any delinquencies that shouldhave aged off your report but have not (7 years formost, 10 years for bankruptcies). Then, initiatedisputes for any of these things you find. This cantake some time, but Financial Health Day is theperfect opportunity to assertively manage yourcredit before you’re in refinance or home buying

crunch-time.

8.Check your debt. Monitor all of your debt – from yourmortgage, to your consumer debt to your student andauto loans – and put a plan in place for getting rid of asmuch of it as you can, as soon as you can. Can you affordto make an extra payment toward your mortgage? Canyou pay that credit card off? As you’ve worked throughthe rest of your finances, you have likely ‘found’ money,which you’ll now be saving and can redirect toward thevery worthy aim of debt elimination. But if all you can dois make a modest extra payment toward these things onyour actual Financial Health Day itself, you’ll still end theday a little further ahead than you were when you gotstarted.

What are tips can you add to this list? Tell us below.

Randy BettInvestment Realtor/Author/Investor

Real Estate Professionals Inc.Better Group Real Estate 202-5403 Crowchild Trail NWCalgary, AB T3B 4Z1

Phone:403-774-7464 Ext:1Fax:403-208-0082Toll Free fax:888-711-6801

Randy Bettwww.BetterGroupRealEstate.ca