Spring is the perfect time for more than just a closet refresh—your finances deserve a reset too!
In this practical, action-driven episode of Women’s Money Wisdom, Melissa Joy, CFP® shares 20 powerful strategies to reinvigorate your financial life with the same fresh energy that spring cleaning brings to your home.
From reviewing your budget in today’s uncertain economy to automating savings and tackling debt in a high-interest environment, each suggestion is designed to be practical, manageable, and highly effective. Whether you’re ready to revamp your beneficiary designations, audit your insurance coverage, consolidate accounts, or simply schedule regular “money dates,” these steps are all about reducing financial stress and building momentum toward your goals.
Melissa draws on real-world client experiences to offer tips that are proven to deliver results—without overwhelming you with complexity. Every recommendation includes ideas for how and when to take action, helping you make meaningful progress without feeling stuck.
Key Topics Covered:
- How to prioritize small financial wins for big impact
- Why reviewing your beneficiary designations is crucial
- The value of an insurance audit to protect your financial future
- Smart ways to tackle debt and manage rising interest rates
- The benefits of automating savings and financial organization
- How to maximize unused loyalty rewards
- Tips for setting consistent money dates for accountability and partnership
- Why financial spring cleaning is about progress, not perfection
Download the full checklist mentioned in this episode at pearlplan.com and track your progress as you bring clarity, confidence, and momentum to your financial life.
The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only. No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING’s investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https:...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast.
I'm Melissa Joy, a certifiedfinancial planner and the
founder of Pearl Planning.
My goal is to help youstreamline and organize your
finances, navigate big moneydecisions with confidence and be
strategic in order to grow yourwealth.
As a woman, you work hard foryour money and I'm here to help
(00:21):
you make the most of it.
Now let's get into the show.
And I'm here to help you makethe most of it.
Now let's get into the show.
Just a quick note before wedive in.
The information that we shareis meant to educate and inspire,
not serve as personalizedfinancial advice.
Everyone's situation is unique,so be sure to consult with your
own financial professional forguidance that fits your life.
And just so you know, theopinions shared in this podcast
(00:44):
are my own and those of myguests, and they don't
necessarily represent those ofany organizations that I'm
affiliated with.
For more important disclosures,please go to our webpage at
pearlplancom.
Now let's get started.
Welcome back to the Women'sMoney Wisdom Podcast.
(01:06):
Today we have a quick hitepisode, but when you listen to
it, there are so many greatideas that you can incorporate
into your financial goals forthe next few months.
So I hope you enjoy it becausewe're going to talk about spring
cleaning your finances, yourfinances and I have a list of 20
(01:30):
smart financial tips that youcan use to improve your money
situation.
I wrote an accompanying blogfor this episode and we have a
link in show notes so you'll beable to go and download the list
and, you know, kind of checkoff the things that you thought
might be a good idea if youenjoy what you listen to.
But without further ado, let'sget started.
I feel like springtime is sucha great, you know, moment for
(01:53):
regrowth, renewal and, living inMichigan, certainly I almost
recorded this episode outdoors,because it is such a breath of
fresh air to have wonderful,warmer season after a long
winter.
And when it comes to your money, the themes for spring cleaning
are get organized, do better,get your to-do list into action
(02:15):
mode and be incremental, so youdon't need to do everything all
at once.
But if you could take one, twoor three ideas from this episode
and incorporate them into yourlife, I think that's a win.
So you don't need to conquerthe world, just make continual
improvements.
And incremental improvementsare great, but be action
(02:36):
oriented and, you know, takesomething off the shelf and get
it done.
That you is taking up headspaceis stressing you out because
you haven't gotten around to it.
That's a win as far as I'mconcerned and, I'll be honest,
I'm much better at springcleaning when it comes to my
money than to my house or mygarden.
So you know, lean in where youare good independently and ask
(02:56):
for help when you need it.
So it's okay to you knowschedule a financial review with
your financial planners orsomething like that.
Okay, so here comes the list.
Let's start with number onereview your budget, especially
in 2025, so many people areconcerned that maybe prices are
changing, maybe our economicsituation is deteriorating or
(03:19):
there may be instability interms of your job security, and
knowing what you spend and whatis a necessity and what is a
maybe or nice to have that canbe really critical.
I'm not someone who would shameyou if you don't know your
exact budget.
I get it.
That's kind of my life as wellbut it's so helpful if you can
edit and audit whenever possibleI think, like once or twice a
(03:43):
year, just going through all thestatements where you spend
money.
Make sure, if you are usingcredit cards for points, that
you're looking through all thedetails, not just the bottom
line of what you spent that lastmonth, as well as all your bank
accounts and anywhere else youhave regular payments coming out
and assess.
Are some of the things that yousigned up for, just not what
(04:03):
you're actually using?
It may make sense to pitch them, get rid of them, and you may
want to lean into certain areasthat are more important to you,
and rearranging your budget canallow you to do that.
Some great tools that can helpyou.
I know that a lot of superbudget-oriented people love YNAB
and we also use Monarch Moneywith our clients, so that's
(04:25):
another great resource if youwant to digitize your budget
setting.
Number two recommendation updateyour financial goals.
I'd also make a note herecelebrate the wins.
If you were really working hardto, for example, get an
emergency reserve and you haveit now, great.
Acknowledge your achievementand then reset your goals for
what's next.
(04:45):
You can always revisit and say,hey, this goal felt like it was
a long way away in the past,but now we really want to work
on it.
You can adjust timelines, giveyourself incremental you know
kind of pit stop numbers.
That would be great to knowthat you're on the right track
and also assess for any recentlife changes, to see if you need
to make any updates.
(05:08):
Number three check your creditreport.
So we have access all UScitizens to free annual credit
reports, and if you go to thosecredit reports or also if you
use a service that tracks yourincome and fees in general, then
this is a great time to do it,maybe twice a year, because you
(05:30):
have access to three reports.
You could use one this time ofyear and one six months later,
but just double check and makesure that everything's getting
paid, you don't have any fraudor anything that you're not
aware of.
This is a great time to do that.
Put it on your calendar thenfor the next time you should
check.
Number four rebalance yourinvestment portfolio.
(05:51):
This especially in a year likethis.
I never tell people, as marketsare down, at least at the
moment that I'm recording thisto completely bail on your
investment strategy, but ifyou've been neglectful and
haven't been rebalancing yourinvestments and they're kind of
on a journey of their own thatdoesn't have a lot of attention
(06:11):
to it, you should absolutelyrebalance and diversify your
portfolio, Make sure that it hasthe right mix of stocks and
bonds and, if you're not surewhere to start get some help.
You can find online resources.
If it's for your retirementaccount, you may have access to
information through your plan,and if you work with a financial
(06:32):
planner like me, it might be agood time to reach out and just
make sure everything is in shipshape for the way you want it to
be.
Right now, like I said, I don'trecommend a full scale change
if you have a well tendedinvestment strategy, but
sometimes there's just thoseaccounts that you forget about
and you don't look at for a longtime, and those may need to be
(06:55):
revisited.
Number five this is a good one,so important.
Increase your retirementcontributions at least once a
year, if not twice, and I thinka good time is right after you
filed your taxes.
Another great time if you getsalary adjustments or inflation
COLA adjustments in your salarytoward the end of the year.
(07:16):
Those are both ideal.
Bump up, nudge up your 401ksavings.
Put some money into your IRA orRoth IRA.
Nudge up your health savingsaccount contributions.
All of these help protect youin the long term, and every year
, the amount you're allowed toput in is inflation adjusted.
So you may have been maxing,but now you need to review and
(07:40):
update, or also just if youstart somewhere and plan to
increase it over time, havingthat regular time where you
remember to increase and say,hey, can I afford to do one or
2% more.
That can be really critical toeasing into a successful
long-term plan.
Number six organize yourfinancial documents.
(08:00):
Scan the things that you needto shred statements documents.
Scan the things that you needto shred statements.
Turn them on to receiving themdigitally instead of getting a
bunch of junk in the mail.
Organize your receipts.
If you're using a healthsavings account, keep track of
healthcare-related receipts,even if you don't ask for the
funds back right now, and justmake sure that you have, you
(08:21):
know kind of full control overinformation.
If there's an account statementthat you used to get and you
haven't seen it for a while,maybe it's time to log in and
reorganize those accounts orfind that lost password or make
a phone call if you can't get in.
So I actually have an accountthat was sold from one company
to another and I need to make aphone call.
(08:43):
So I'm putting that on mypersonal to-do list.
The financial planner can dotheir own spring cleaning.
Number seven consolidateaccounts.
I find so often people end upcollecting accounts along the
way, and sometimes it's bydesign because they really feel
like, oh, I'll be a little bitsafer if I just spread things
out all over the place.
But it kind of becomes ascavenger hunt when you need to
(09:06):
get organized.
There's so many differentchallenges if you just start to
collect account after account,and so my kind of rule of thumb
is don't have too many accounts.
Every account should have areason and a purpose, and you
know we could debate this on anepisode, but I really feel like
fewer custodians or locationscan also be really critical, and
(09:27):
so if you have old employerplans, you could think about
putting them into your currentretirement plan or rolling over
to an IRA.
If you have a bunch ofdifferent accounts, you're not
sure why.
Maybe fewer is better.
It's so much easier then tomake sure that you have the
right beneficiary designations,the right account titling, the
(09:49):
right mix of stocks and bonds.
When things are a little moreconsolidated because of multiple
logins, tracking things allover the place, especially if
you're doing it yourself, can bereally challenging.
My rule of thumb is whenthere's not a reason to be more
complex, keep it simple, andthen you can devote more time
and energy to the few parts ofyour overall financial life that
really need the increasing kindof degree of difficulty.
(10:12):
Don't make things moredifficult right off the bat by
having things all over the placeor not being organized.
Number eight audit yourinsurance coverage.
So whether we're talking abouthome and auto, which is a biggie
for everybody, or your renter'sinsurance, or your health
insurance, for your plans forenrollment, or even considering
(10:34):
long-term care insurance, it'simportant to give refreshes
along the way.
I didn't even mention lifeinsurance, and I've been having
a lot of conversations withyoung families who need term
life insurance because theydon't have adequate coverage to
replace one or the other familymember's income if something
were to happen to them and theypassed away.
(10:54):
But then also there's certaininstances where you may be
overpaying for insurance youdon't need if you've been able
to you know kind of grow youroverall estate and net worth
outside of your life insurance.
And then generally, propertyinsurance is getting more and
more expensive.
Some of this might bejustifiable because property
(11:17):
values are higher, there's moreintense storms and there's more
intense, unfortunately, propertydamage.
We know big examples.
We've had clients and friendswho lost things in fires, floods
, hurricanes, etc.
And so insurance can getexpensive.
You need to know two things Areyou overpaying and are you
(11:38):
underinsured?
And a review or audit can becritical in order to assess that
.
If you're really comfortablewith the insurance agent that
you work with today, then havesome to do an assessment and
make sure that you're adequatelycovered and there's no
opportunities to save.
And if you don't have thatstrong connection with the
insurance agent, you know one ofthe things that we do for our
clients is make a recommendationfor an independent broker who
(12:01):
can assess your overallinsurance needs.
And then when you just think,where do I even start with life
insurance?
That's a great area too, whereyou need to be careful and not
be oversold insurances that youdon't necessarily need.
We're not huge fans in mostcases of things like whole life
insurance if you're a youngstarting out family, but simple
(12:24):
term life insurance is somethingthat financial planners can
recommend or insurance agents.
Number nine evaluate youremergency fund.
Everybody needs to remember notto just like kind of fix it and
set it aside.
When it comes to your emergencyreserves, your lifestyle may
have expanded and your oldamount that you keep kind of in
(12:44):
your three to six month warchest may be smaller than it
needs to be smaller than itneeds to be.
That said, I also work with alot of families that end up kind
of having more and more cashbuilding up and maybe they've
kind of topped off the emergencyreserve and have some excess
funds that could go to moreretirement savings, additional
(13:05):
investments outside of theirretirement accounts, etc.
And so assessing and saying dowe have the right amount?
Do we need to work on gettingmore?
Do we need some options so thatwe can make sure that we don't
have too much cash building up?
Now I will say people alwayscome to me and they're like oh
my God, I'm so embarrassed, Ihave so much cash.
This is not something to beembarrassed about at all and
(13:27):
there's not judgment.
There's also not one rule ofthumb.
Some people feel a lot morecomfortable with a lot of cash
and that's okay by me.
Number 10, plan for your bigexpenses.
So maybe you know you need toreplace a vehicle, or perhaps
you are planning for a bigremodel or the kids are going
off to college.
(13:47):
If you have a big cost that'scoming up, you might as well
start now in making a game planfor where that money is going to
come from.
You may need to sock somethingaway, you may need to prepay for
vacation it just depends onwhat's coming up.
But do plan ahead.
You can't fully predict anyunanticipated costs, but you can
(14:08):
certainly start to get yourducks in a row for that bill
that you know will be coming.
So, again, that like goes backwith refreshing your goals, but
the big expenses for the nextsix to 12 months should
definitely be assessed, andthat's when you need the
realistic like.
This is exactly how it's goingto be happening, not just like
an ethereal like oh, I think Ihave enough, we'll see when we
(14:32):
get there.
Number 11, this is a biggieUpdate your beneficiaries.
I see so many cases wherepeople neglect their beneficiary
designation.
This goes back to that likesimplify and don't have too many
accounts, because if you have20 accounts to keep track of for
your beneficiary designations,you're much more likely to screw
(14:52):
one up than if you just haveone.
There's one retirement providerthat we work a lot with and it
feels like when you go to updateyour beneficiaries that you've
updated it across all theaccounts.
It's a university employer, sothey happen to have like more
plans than just one, and we seeso many times that the clients
haven't updated every singleaccount.
(15:14):
So, like, if you have acustodian and you have a lot of
different plans under the samecustodian, like Schwab or
Fidelity you probably need to gointo every single account and
update your beneficiaries.
And you can also providebeneficiary designations on
accounts that aren't retirementaccounts.
So remember, you also needbeneficiary designations for
your life insurance.
(15:34):
You need it for, sometimes,your house, the deed to your
house, and your bank accountsand your investment accounts
that are not retirement accounts.
A lot of these are payable ondeath or transfer on death.
Beneficiary designation that'skind of the nomenclature or
language that you would hearfrom the bank or custodian.
But there's a lot of differentthings that you may need to
(15:58):
update and certainly talking toan estate planning attorney or
your financial planner to makesure that you're adapting and
covering all of your bases canbe really important.
Some no-nos like, let's say,you have a most responsible
family member who you're likeI'm just going to name you as
beneficiary and then you canfigure it out.
(16:20):
Or maybe you have minorchildren and you're like oh,
it's my sister who would takecare of them if something
happened to me, so I'll justhave this other family member be
the beneficiary.
No, do not do that.
You really need to go in, havea thorough plan, and if things
are complex, that's where theattorney comes in to assist you.
Don't assume that somebody willjust dole it up, because they
(16:43):
have tax consequences that youdon't get to.
You know, bill other people for.
So that's really important toconsider.
Number 12, look at your debt andinterest rates and make sure
that everything is in alignment.
We all know that interest rateshave gone higher over the last
few years and they really are amuch bigger factor in terms of
(17:06):
the cost of your house, yourautomobile, your credit cards,
personal lines of credit,student loans, even.
Credit cards, personal lines ofcredit, student loans, even.
And so do, look, be paying offthe highest interest debt if you
can.
First Don't if you're introuble with credit card debt,
you know make a game plan to getout of that debt and really
(17:28):
just make sure that you're not,you know, kind of addicted to
borrowing, because it was soeasy when interest rates were
two, three or 4% to say, oh,I'll just pay it off later and
we'll figure it out and let'sjust get what we need.
But that is not the case todaythe interest rates are seven,
eight, 20, 30 when it comes tocredit cards.
(17:48):
So this is like real money,real difficult to get out of
when you get in a hole, and soit's important to plan for and
if you need that to be your mainpriority for this spring
cleaning, get right to it andmake that a top priority.
Number 13, I love this oneMaximize your rewards.
If you're participating incredit card programs, loyalty
(18:10):
programs, your bank account hasrewards programs, loyalty
programs, your bank account hasrewards, et cetera.
You don't get rewards or awardsfor you know, just having the
most.
At the end you actually reallyneed to spend those because
there's often kind of rewardinflation where you're, the
value of your awards goes downover time.
So having a solid strategywhere you're going to capitalize
(18:33):
on those loyalty programs thatyou're using and you know, maybe
you defer some costs or reducesome costs for things you're
planning to do this summer bycashing in some of your miles or
awards, that all makes it worththe time and expense because in
many cases you're paying a feefor the programs.
(18:54):
Make sure that.
Number 14, automate your savings.
Also, automate your investments.
So whether you're trying to addto an emergency reserve, you're
boosting in a high yieldsavings or you're increasing
debt repayments, automate it sothat we'll have it paid off
(19:20):
earlier.
I felt like there maybe therewas room in the budget.
You would always turn it downlater.
Maybe you decided that yourcash account was too high, but
the market's so bumpy You'relike I'm not sure what exactly
the right time is to put more in.
Well then, why don't you make agame plan where you can bump
things?
You bump things up and juststart a thousand dollars a month
(19:43):
and then nudge it to two orsomething like that.
So automating is always helpful, just like simplifying or
reducing.
The number of counts is Number15, review your tax withholdings
.
You just did your taxes.
If you're with the majority ofAmericans and I know more and
more people are also delaying orextending their tax returns
that's okay too.
(20:03):
But if you had a huge tax bill,then maybe it's time to adjust
your withholdings higher andalso plan to make estimated
payments.
And perhaps you're on theconverse side, where you get a
bunch of money back, but youcould have used that money
during the year.
I understand that there aresome people who are like no,
this is how I pay off my creditcards and more power to you,
(20:24):
that's great, but otherwise, ifyou're just not hitting the
target and estimating your taxesappropriately, then it may be
time to review and assesswhether you're making the right
withholdings and nudge it up ordown depending on your
circumstance.
Number 16, refresh your estateplan.
I cannot emphasize enough howthis is like a laborious chore
(20:45):
that I know everyone hates, orat least most people do, but is
so critical, so important tohave your affairs in order.
People don't think about itbecause they think, oh, I'll get
around to it when it becomesimportant.
But all of us need a plan, adocument that says who can make
medical decisions for you,something that says who can be a
power of attorney and, ofcourse, those end-of-life
(21:08):
instructions that are oftenincorporated into will or trust.
But sometimes you've alreadydrafted your estate plan, but
it's just not relevant for yourlife today.
Perhaps you've gotten divorced,perhaps now you have children,
perhaps your minor children areresponsible adults and that
times have changed since youoriginally drafted your plan.
(21:29):
Well, all of this needs to beincorporated into periodic
refreshes.
It doesn't have to be everyyear, but if now is the right
year to do an update, then reachout to an attorney.
Now, this will be in a debatewith my attorney friends, who I
love having as listeners.
But if you're never going toreach out to an attorney Now,
this will be in a debate with myattorney friends, who I love
having as listeners.
But if you're never going toreach out to that attorney
because you don't want to paytheir bill, well, first I'll
(21:50):
tell you I strongly recommendthat that cost is going to be so
beneficial over time.
A well-planned estate can helpyou while you're alive and also,
after you pass away, will helpyour heirs and the people that
you love.
But if you're just never goingto get around to it or you're
waiting until you move and youwant to do it in a different
state, then there are resourceslike Trust and Will, or we use a
(22:13):
service called Wealthcom thatcan draft digitally estate plans
with knowledge and informationthat's relevant to your state.
Again, I would always start byrecommending working with an
attorney, but if you're like no,I would rather like chat GPT
estate planning documents,please.
There are better ways to dothis at a reasonable cost.
(22:35):
Number 17, track your net worth.
I don't think you have to knowexactly how many dollars you
have every single day, but youcan see that your financial
condition and financial healthhelp if you track your net worth
once or twice a year.
Add up all of your accounts,both your taxable investment
accounts, your savings andchecking your retirement
(22:58):
accounts and then make a list ofthe value of your home, for
example, or any other personalproperty that you may have that
has a value, and then make alist of the value of your home,
for example, or any otherpersonal property that you may
have that has a value, and thenmake a list of your liabilities
or debt as well and subtractthose from your bottom line and
see if that's growing over time.
Of course, the stock market'sdown this year so far.
That's OK.
You might be surprised at howmuch better your accounts are
(23:21):
doing than you think, but it'sso healthy to be able to know
all of the things that you haveand this can be really helpful
with organizing.
Number 18, evaluate charitablegiving.
I think charitable giving is sovaluable.
It leaves a legacy, it tells astory of what's important to you
, and not everyone's going tofeel that it's appropriate right
(23:41):
now to do charitable giving,but if you have philanthropic
goals that are important to you,if you feel like you'd like
your money to be going to aplace that makes a difference.
Perhaps now would be a greattime to consider either a
recurring gift or, if you'reclose to itemizing on your tax
returns, you might want to makea bigger gift with something
like a donor advised fund, whereyou could get a tax break now
(24:03):
and then dole out the proceedsof your gift over time to
deserving nonprofits.
Tourable planning can be reallyempowering, a lot of fun, and
it also can be smart money smart.
If you have that as a personalfinancial goal, so put it on
your list if it feels importantto you.
You don't have to wait till theend of the year.
(24:25):
Number 19, set a money date.
So if you're someone who makesjoint financial decisions with
your partner then or spouse,then now's a great time to say
hey, we should check in.
Do you have any things on yourto-do list?
Here's some things on my to-dolist.
Or let's read this blog and seeif there's any great ideas for
things that we should dotogether.
(24:45):
You can send them a text withthis episode and then say I want
to make a money date where wespend 30 minutes or an hour
going over our finances andseeing where we think we have
either weaknesses oropportunities.
We can also congratulate eachother on how we're doing well.
If you're single or someone whodoesn't make joint financial
decisions, you might want tomake a money date or have an
(25:08):
accountability partner with atrusted friend.
I know that that's one way thata lot of women I work with love
to kind of focus on their money, just like a book group, but
instead with a financialaccountability partner.
So let me know, by the way, ifyou're trying this out, because
I'd love to hear some storiesand feedback about how it goes.
(25:28):
And then, finally, number 20,check on your financial plan
with your financial team.
If you're someone who'sinvested in a financial plan by
hiring professionals like myselfto either handle investing or
financial planning or, in ourcase, we really look at both and
or you're working with a taxprofessional or a state planner,
(25:50):
it's always great to be able tocollaborate, to check in, to
make sure that everyone is beingproactive and not neglecting
reviewing opportunities, and soit's always good to have a
check-in and this is a greattime of year to plan.
You've got your tax return,which is critical information as
far as I'm concerned, and youhave a lot of runway for the
(26:14):
rest of the year, so if you wantto really get things done,
pulling together a list ofaction items or to-dos can be
really good right now.
I hope you liked this quick hitof actionable ideas and do be
sure to download our blog whereyou can print out the list and
check some off and let us hearhow it's going.
(26:37):
We love your feedback and wealso appreciate if you like the
podcast, follow it and provideus with a review.
Have a great week and we'll seeyou next week.
Thank you for listening to theWomen's Money Wisdom Podcast.
(27:02):
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support the podcast is toforward an episode to a friend
or leave a review.
Go to pearlplancom and thepodcast link to get all the
resources and links mentioned.
Welcome to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast.
I'm Melissa Joy, a certifiedfinancial planner and the
founder of Pearl Planning.
My goal is to help youstreamline and organize your
finances, navigate big moneydecisions with confidence and be
strategic in order to grow yourwealth.
As a woman, you work hard foryour money and I'm here to help
(00:21):
you make the most of it.
Now let's get into the show.
And I'm here to help you makethe most of it.
Now let's get into the show.
Just a quick note before wedive in.
The information that we shareis meant to educate and inspire,
not serve as personalizedfinancial advice.
Everyone's situation is unique,so be sure to consult with your
own financial professional forguidance that fits your life.
And just so you know, theopinions shared in this podcast
(00:44):
are my own and those of myguests, and they don't
necessarily represent those ofany organizations that I'm
affiliated with.
For more important disclosures,please go to our webpage at
pearlplancom.
Now let's get started.
Welcome back to the Women'sMoney Wisdom Podcast.
(01:06):
Today we have a quick hitepisode, but when you listen to
it, there are so many greatideas that you can incorporate
into your financial goals forthe next few months.
So I hope you enjoy it becausewe're going to talk about spring
cleaning your finances, yourfinances and I have a list of 20
(01:30):
smart financial tips that youcan use to improve your money
situation.
I wrote an accompanying blogfor this episode and we have a
link in show notes so you'll beable to go and download the list
and, you know, kind of checkoff the things that you thought
might be a good idea if youenjoy what you listen to.
But without further ado, let'sget started.
I feel like springtime is sucha great, you know, moment for
(01:53):
regrowth, renewal and, living inMichigan, certainly I almost
recorded this episode outdoors,because it is such a breath of
fresh air to have wonderful,warmer season after a long
winter.
And when it comes to your money, the themes for spring cleaning
are get organized, do better,get your to-do list into action
(02:15):
mode and be incremental, so youdon't need to do everything all
at once.
But if you could take one, twoor three ideas from this episode
and incorporate them into yourlife, I think that's a win.
So you don't need to conquerthe world, just make continual
improvements.
And incremental improvementsare great, but be action
(02:36):
oriented and, you know, takesomething off the shelf and get
it done.
That you is taking up headspaceis stressing you out because
you haven't gotten around to it.
That's a win as far as I'mconcerned and, I'll be honest,
I'm much better at springcleaning when it comes to my
money than to my house or mygarden.
So you know, lean in where youare good independently and ask
(02:56):
for help when you need it.
So it's okay to you knowschedule a financial review with
your financial planners orsomething like that.
Okay, so here comes the list.
Let's start with number onereview your budget, especially
in 2025, so many people areconcerned that maybe prices are
changing, maybe our economicsituation is deteriorating or
(03:19):
there may be instability interms of your job security, and
knowing what you spend and whatis a necessity and what is a
maybe or nice to have that canbe really critical.
I'm not someone who would shameyou if you don't know your
exact budget.
I get it.
That's kind of my life as wellbut it's so helpful if you can
edit and audit whenever possibleI think, like once or twice a
(03:43):
year, just going through all thestatements where you spend
money.
Make sure, if you are usingcredit cards for points, that
you're looking through all thedetails, not just the bottom
line of what you spent that lastmonth, as well as all your bank
accounts and anywhere else youhave regular payments coming out
and assess.
Are some of the things that yousigned up for, just not what
(04:03):
you're actually using?
It may make sense to pitch them, get rid of them, and you may
want to lean into certain areasthat are more important to you,
and rearranging your budget canallow you to do that.
Some great tools that can helpyou.
I know that a lot of superbudget-oriented people love YNAB
and we also use Monarch Moneywith our clients, so that's
(04:25):
another great resource if youwant to digitize your budget
setting.
Number two recommendation updateyour financial goals.
I'd also make a note herecelebrate the wins.
If you were really working hardto, for example, get an
emergency reserve and you haveit now, great.
Acknowledge your achievementand then reset your goals for
what's next.
(04:45):
You can always revisit and say,hey, this goal felt like it was
a long way away in the past,but now we really want to work
on it.
You can adjust timelines, giveyourself incremental you know
kind of pit stop numbers.
That would be great to knowthat you're on the right track
and also assess for any recentlife changes, to see if you need
to make any updates.
(05:08):
Number three check your creditreport.
So we have access all UScitizens to free annual credit
reports, and if you go to thosecredit reports or also if you
use a service that tracks yourincome and fees in general, then
this is a great time to do it,maybe twice a year, because you
(05:30):
have access to three reports.
You could use one this time ofyear and one six months later,
but just double check and makesure that everything's getting
paid, you don't have any fraudor anything that you're not
aware of.
This is a great time to do that.
Put it on your calendar thenfor the next time you should
check.
Number four rebalance yourinvestment portfolio.
(05:51):
This especially in a year likethis.
I never tell people, as marketsare down, at least at the
moment that I'm recording thisto completely bail on your
investment strategy, but ifyou've been neglectful and
haven't been rebalancing yourinvestments and they're kind of
on a journey of their own thatdoesn't have a lot of attention
(06:11):
to it, you should absolutelyrebalance and diversify your
portfolio, Make sure that it hasthe right mix of stocks and
bonds and, if you're not surewhere to start get some help.
You can find online resources.
If it's for your retirementaccount, you may have access to
information through your plan,and if you work with a financial
(06:32):
planner like me, it might be agood time to reach out and just
make sure everything is in shipshape for the way you want it to
be.
Right now, like I said, I don'trecommend a full scale change
if you have a well tendedinvestment strategy, but
sometimes there's just thoseaccounts that you forget about
and you don't look at for a longtime, and those may need to be
(06:55):
revisited.
Number five this is a good one,so important.
Increase your retirementcontributions at least once a
year, if not twice, and I thinka good time is right after you
filed your taxes.
Another great time if you getsalary adjustments or inflation
COLA adjustments in your salarytoward the end of the year.
(07:16):
Those are both ideal.
Bump up, nudge up your 401ksavings.
Put some money into your IRA orRoth IRA.
Nudge up your health savingsaccount contributions.
All of these help protect youin the long term, and every year
, the amount you're allowed toput in is inflation adjusted.
So you may have been maxing,but now you need to review and
(07:40):
update, or also just if youstart somewhere and plan to
increase it over time, havingthat regular time where you
remember to increase and say,hey, can I afford to do one or
2% more.
That can be really critical toeasing into a successful
long-term plan.
Number six organize yourfinancial documents.
(08:00):
Scan the things that you needto shred statements documents.
Scan the things that you needto shred statements.
Turn them on to receiving themdigitally instead of getting a
bunch of junk in the mail.
Organize your receipts.
If you're using a healthsavings account, keep track of
healthcare-related receipts,even if you don't ask for the
funds back right now, and justmake sure that you have, you
(08:21):
know kind of full control overinformation.
If there's an account statementthat you used to get and you
haven't seen it for a while,maybe it's time to log in and
reorganize those accounts orfind that lost password or make
a phone call if you can't get in.
So I actually have an accountthat was sold from one company
to another and I need to make aphone call.
(08:43):
So I'm putting that on mypersonal to-do list.
The financial planner can dotheir own spring cleaning.
Number seven consolidateaccounts.
I find so often people end upcollecting accounts along the
way, and sometimes it's bydesign because they really feel
like, oh, I'll be a little bitsafer if I just spread things
out all over the place.
But it kind of becomes ascavenger hunt when you need to
(09:06):
get organized.
There's so many differentchallenges if you just start to
collect account after account,and so my kind of rule of thumb
is don't have too many accounts.
Every account should have areason and a purpose, and you
know we could debate this on anepisode, but I really feel like
fewer custodians or locationscan also be really critical, and
(09:27):
so if you have old employerplans, you could think about
putting them into your currentretirement plan or rolling over
to an IRA.
If you have a bunch ofdifferent accounts, you're not
sure why.
Maybe fewer is better.
It's so much easier then tomake sure that you have the
right beneficiary designations,the right account titling, the
(09:49):
right mix of stocks and bonds.
When things are a little moreconsolidated because of multiple
logins, tracking things allover the place, especially if
you're doing it yourself, can bereally challenging.
My rule of thumb is whenthere's not a reason to be more
complex, keep it simple, andthen you can devote more time
and energy to the few parts ofyour overall financial life that
really need the increasing kindof degree of difficulty.
(10:12):
Don't make things moredifficult right off the bat by
having things all over the placeor not being organized.
Number eight audit yourinsurance coverage.
So whether we're talking abouthome and auto, which is a biggie
for everybody, or your renter'sinsurance, or your health
insurance, for your plans forenrollment, or even considering
(10:34):
long-term care insurance, it'simportant to give refreshes
along the way.
I didn't even mention lifeinsurance, and I've been having
a lot of conversations withyoung families who need term
life insurance because theydon't have adequate coverage to
replace one or the other familymember's income if something
were to happen to them and theypassed away.
(10:54):
But then also there's certaininstances where you may be
overpaying for insurance youdon't need if you've been able
to you know kind of grow youroverall estate and net worth
outside of your life insurance.
And then generally, propertyinsurance is getting more and
more expensive.
Some of this might bejustifiable because property
(11:17):
values are higher, there's moreintense storms and there's more
intense, unfortunately, propertydamage.
We know big examples.
We've had clients and friendswho lost things in fires, floods
, hurricanes, etc.
And so insurance can getexpensive.
You need to know two things Areyou overpaying and are you
(11:38):
underinsured?
And a review or audit can becritical in order to assess that
.
If you're really comfortablewith the insurance agent that
you work with today, then havesome to do an assessment and
make sure that you're adequatelycovered and there's no
opportunities to save.
And if you don't have thatstrong connection with the
insurance agent, you know one ofthe things that we do for our
clients is make a recommendationfor an independent broker who
(12:01):
can assess your overallinsurance needs.
And then when you just think,where do I even start with life
insurance?
That's a great area too, whereyou need to be careful and not
be oversold insurances that youdon't necessarily need.
We're not huge fans in mostcases of things like whole life
insurance if you're a youngstarting out family, but simple
(12:24):
term life insurance is somethingthat financial planners can
recommend or insurance agents.
Number nine evaluate youremergency fund.
Everybody needs to remember notto just like kind of fix it and
set it aside.
When it comes to your emergencyreserves, your lifestyle may
have expanded and your oldamount that you keep kind of in
(12:44):
your three to six month warchest may be smaller than it
needs to be smaller than itneeds to be.
That said, I also work with alot of families that end up kind
of having more and more cashbuilding up and maybe they've
kind of topped off the emergencyreserve and have some excess
funds that could go to moreretirement savings, additional
(13:05):
investments outside of theirretirement accounts, etc.
And so assessing and saying dowe have the right amount?
Do we need to work on gettingmore?
Do we need some options so thatwe can make sure that we don't
have too much cash building up?
Now I will say people alwayscome to me and they're like oh
my God, I'm so embarrassed, Ihave so much cash.
This is not something to beembarrassed about at all and
(13:27):
there's not judgment.
There's also not one rule ofthumb.
Some people feel a lot morecomfortable with a lot of cash
and that's okay by me.
Number 10, plan for your bigexpenses.
So maybe you know you need toreplace a vehicle, or perhaps
you are planning for a bigremodel or the kids are going
off to college.
(13:47):
If you have a big cost that'scoming up, you might as well
start now in making a game planfor where that money is going to
come from.
You may need to sock somethingaway, you may need to prepay for
vacation it just depends onwhat's coming up.
But do plan ahead.
You can't fully predict anyunanticipated costs, but you can
(14:08):
certainly start to get yourducks in a row for that bill
that you know will be coming.
So, again, that like goes backwith refreshing your goals, but
the big expenses for the nextsix to 12 months should
definitely be assessed, andthat's when you need the
realistic like.
This is exactly how it's goingto be happening, not just like
an ethereal like oh, I think Ihave enough, we'll see when we
(14:32):
get there.
Number 11, this is a biggieUpdate your beneficiaries.
I see so many cases wherepeople neglect their beneficiary
designation.
This goes back to that likesimplify and don't have too many
accounts, because if you have20 accounts to keep track of for
your beneficiary designations,you're much more likely to screw
(14:52):
one up than if you just haveone.
There's one retirement providerthat we work a lot with and it
feels like when you go to updateyour beneficiaries that you've
updated it across all theaccounts.
It's a university employer, sothey happen to have like more
plans than just one, and we seeso many times that the clients
haven't updated every singleaccount.
(15:14):
So, like, if you have acustodian and you have a lot of
different plans under the samecustodian, like Schwab or
Fidelity you probably need to gointo every single account and
update your beneficiaries.
And you can also providebeneficiary designations on
accounts that aren't retirementaccounts.
So remember, you also needbeneficiary designations for
your life insurance.
(15:34):
You need it for, sometimes,your house, the deed to your
house, and your bank accountsand your investment accounts
that are not retirement accounts.
A lot of these are payable ondeath or transfer on death.
Beneficiary designation that'skind of the nomenclature or
language that you would hearfrom the bank or custodian.
But there's a lot of differentthings that you may need to
(15:58):
update and certainly talking toan estate planning attorney or
your financial planner to makesure that you're adapting and
covering all of your bases canbe really important.
Some no-nos like, let's say,you have a most responsible
family member who you're likeI'm just going to name you as
beneficiary and then you canfigure it out.
(16:20):
Or maybe you have minorchildren and you're like oh,
it's my sister who would takecare of them if something
happened to me, so I'll justhave this other family member be
the beneficiary.
No, do not do that.
You really need to go in, havea thorough plan, and if things
are complex, that's where theattorney comes in to assist you.
Don't assume that somebody willjust dole it up, because they
(16:43):
have tax consequences that youdon't get to.
You know, bill other people for.
So that's really important toconsider.
Number 12, look at your debt andinterest rates and make sure
that everything is in alignment.
We all know that interest rateshave gone higher over the last
few years and they really are amuch bigger factor in terms of
(17:06):
the cost of your house, yourautomobile, your credit cards,
personal lines of credit,student loans, even.
Credit cards, personal lines ofcredit, student loans, even.
And so do, look, be paying offthe highest interest debt if you
can.
First Don't if you're introuble with credit card debt,
you know make a game plan to getout of that debt and really
(17:28):
just make sure that you're not,you know, kind of addicted to
borrowing, because it was soeasy when interest rates were
two, three or 4% to say, oh,I'll just pay it off later and
we'll figure it out and let'sjust get what we need.
But that is not the case todaythe interest rates are seven,
eight, 20, 30 when it comes tocredit cards.
(17:48):
So this is like real money,real difficult to get out of
when you get in a hole, and soit's important to plan for and
if you need that to be your mainpriority for this spring
cleaning, get right to it andmake that a top priority.
Number 13, I love this oneMaximize your rewards.
If you're participating incredit card programs, loyalty
(18:10):
programs, your bank account hasrewards programs, loyalty
programs, your bank account hasrewards, et cetera.
You don't get rewards or awardsfor you know, just having the
most.
At the end you actually reallyneed to spend those because
there's often kind of rewardinflation where you're, the
value of your awards goes downover time.
So having a solid strategywhere you're going to capitalize
(18:33):
on those loyalty programs thatyou're using and you know, maybe
you defer some costs or reducesome costs for things you're
planning to do this summer bycashing in some of your miles or
awards, that all makes it worththe time and expense because in
many cases you're paying a feefor the programs.
(18:54):
Make sure that.
Number 14, automate your savings.
Also, automate your investments.
So whether you're trying to addto an emergency reserve, you're
boosting in a high yieldsavings or you're increasing
debt repayments, automate it sothat we'll have it paid off
(19:20):
earlier.
I felt like there maybe therewas room in the budget.
You would always turn it downlater.
Maybe you decided that yourcash account was too high, but
the market's so bumpy You'relike I'm not sure what exactly
the right time is to put more in.
Well then, why don't you make agame plan where you can bump
things?
You bump things up and juststart a thousand dollars a month
(19:43):
and then nudge it to two orsomething like that.
So automating is always helpful, just like simplifying or
reducing.
The number of counts is Number15, review your tax withholdings
.
You just did your taxes.
If you're with the majority ofAmericans and I know more and
more people are also delaying orextending their tax returns
that's okay too.
(20:03):
But if you had a huge tax bill,then maybe it's time to adjust
your withholdings higher andalso plan to make estimated
payments.
And perhaps you're on theconverse side, where you get a
bunch of money back, but youcould have used that money
during the year.
I understand that there aresome people who are like no,
this is how I pay off my creditcards and more power to you,
(20:24):
that's great, but otherwise, ifyou're just not hitting the
target and estimating your taxesappropriately, then it may be
time to review and assesswhether you're making the right
withholdings and nudge it up ordown depending on your
circumstance.
Number 16, refresh your estateplan.
I cannot emphasize enough howthis is like a laborious chore
(20:45):
that I know everyone hates, orat least most people do, but is
so critical, so important tohave your affairs in order.
People don't think about itbecause they think, oh, I'll get
around to it when it becomesimportant.
But all of us need a plan, adocument that says who can make
medical decisions for you,something that says who can be a
power of attorney and, ofcourse, those end-of-life
(21:08):
instructions that are oftenincorporated into will or trust.
But sometimes you've alreadydrafted your estate plan, but
it's just not relevant for yourlife today.
Perhaps you've gotten divorced,perhaps now you have children,
perhaps your minor children areresponsible adults and that
times have changed since youoriginally drafted your plan.
(21:29):
Well, all of this needs to beincorporated into periodic
refreshes.
It doesn't have to be everyyear, but if now is the right
year to do an update, then reachout to an attorney.
Now, this will be in a debatewith my attorney friends, who I
love having as listeners.
But if you're never going toreach out to an attorney Now,
this will be in a debate with myattorney friends, who I love
having as listeners.
But if you're never going toreach out to that attorney
because you don't want to paytheir bill, well, first I'll
(21:50):
tell you I strongly recommendthat that cost is going to be so
beneficial over time.
A well-planned estate can helpyou while you're alive and also,
after you pass away, will helpyour heirs and the people that
you love.
But if you're just never goingto get around to it or you're
waiting until you move and youwant to do it in a different
state, then there are resourceslike Trust and Will, or we use a
(22:13):
service called Wealthcom thatcan draft digitally estate plans
with knowledge and informationthat's relevant to your state.
Again, I would always start byrecommending working with an
attorney, but if you're like no,I would rather like chat GPT
estate planning documents,please.
There are better ways to dothis at a reasonable cost.
(22:35):
Number 17, track your net worth.
I don't think you have to knowexactly how many dollars you
have every single day, but youcan see that your financial
condition and financial healthhelp if you track your net worth
once or twice a year.
Add up all of your accounts,both your taxable investment
accounts, your savings andchecking your retirement
(22:58):
accounts and then make a list ofthe value of your home, for
example, or any other personalproperty that you may have that
has a value, and then make alist of the value of your home,
for example, or any otherpersonal property that you may
have that has a value, and thenmake a list of your liabilities
or debt as well and subtractthose from your bottom line and
see if that's growing over time.
Of course, the stock market'sdown this year so far.
That's OK.
You might be surprised at howmuch better your accounts are
(23:21):
doing than you think, but it'sso healthy to be able to know
all of the things that you haveand this can be really helpful
with organizing.
Number 18, evaluate charitablegiving.
I think charitable giving is sovaluable.
It leaves a legacy, it tells astory of what's important to you
, and not everyone's going tofeel that it's appropriate right
(23:41):
now to do charitable giving,but if you have philanthropic
goals that are important to you,if you feel like you'd like
your money to be going to aplace that makes a difference.
Perhaps now would be a greattime to consider either a
recurring gift or, if you'reclose to itemizing on your tax
returns, you might want to makea bigger gift with something
like a donor advised fund, whereyou could get a tax break now
(24:03):
and then dole out the proceedsof your gift over time to
deserving nonprofits.
Tourable planning can be reallyempowering, a lot of fun, and
it also can be smart money smart.
If you have that as a personalfinancial goal, so put it on
your list if it feels importantto you.
You don't have to wait till theend of the year.
(24:25):
Number 19, set a money date.
So if you're someone who makesjoint financial decisions with
your partner then or spouse,then now's a great time to say
hey, we should check in.
Do you have any things on yourto-do list?
Here's some things on my to-dolist.
Or let's read this blog and seeif there's any great ideas for
things that we should dotogether.
(24:45):
You can send them a text withthis episode and then say I want
to make a money date where wespend 30 minutes or an hour
going over our finances andseeing where we think we have
either weaknesses oropportunities.
We can also congratulate eachother on how we're doing well.
If you're single or someone whodoesn't make joint financial
decisions, you might want tomake a money date or have an
(25:08):
accountability partner with atrusted friend.
I know that that's one way thata lot of women I work with love
to kind of focus on their money, just like a book group, but
instead with a financialaccountability partner.
So let me know, by the way, ifyou're trying this out, because
I'd love to hear some storiesand feedback about how it goes.
(25:28):
And then, finally, number 20,check on your financial plan
with your financial team.
If you're someone who'sinvested in a financial plan by
hiring professionals like myselfto either handle investing or
financial planning or, in ourcase, we really look at both and
or you're working with a taxprofessional or a state planner,
(25:50):
it's always great to be able tocollaborate, to check in, to
make sure that everyone is beingproactive and not neglecting
reviewing opportunities, and soit's always good to have a
check-in and this is a greattime of year to plan.
You've got your tax return,which is critical information as
far as I'm concerned, and youhave a lot of runway for the
(26:14):
rest of the year, so if you wantto really get things done,
pulling together a list ofaction items or to-dos can be
really good right now.
I hope you liked this quick hitof actionable ideas and do be
sure to download our blog whereyou can print out the list and
check some off and let us hearhow it's going.
(26:37):
We love your feedback and wealso appreciate if you like the
podcast, follow it and provideus with a review.
Have a great week and we'll seeyou next week.
Thank you for listening to theWomen's Money Wisdom Podcast.
(27:02):
If you found value in thisepisode, the best way you can
support the podcast is toforward an episode to a friend
or leave a review.
Go to pearlplancom and thepodcast link to get all the
resources and links mentioned.
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