The New York Times work on an interesting piece on How to Self-Diagnose Your Financial Health by Tara Siegel Bernard that has some good points and resources to help.
Equating a financial checkup to a medical checkup, the case is made that we need to do this on a regular basis. I agree and I'm doing this myself.
Understanding debt, cash flow, assets and where we want to be is critical in planning for what we want out of life, how we're going to finance it and what needs to available when we retire or need to adjust to current economic reality.
Questions asked in the article center on:
- Is your net worth growing?
- How are your ratios?
- Are you spending more than you earn?
- What has changed in your life in the last year?
- Are you still adequately insured?
- Do you need to make any changes to your estate plan?
- How are you sleeping? Does your portfolio require any maintenance?
- Have your outlook or goals changed? Are you happy?
When it really comes down to the bottom line, Dan Serra, a financial planner in Plano, TX summed it up:
“We encourage people to ask themselves what they can do to be happier and better off a year from now, whether that is saving more money, paying off debt, changing careers or doing more charitable work. It’s a mix of evaluating life and money.”
Head over to the New York Times for the article.
