Start 2024 Right - Take Control of Your Finances With Tiffany's Year End Financial Checklist | Ep. 284

• Tiffany explains that at the end of each year she reviews her business and personal budgets, books, and net worth to wrap up the year and plan for the next.

• She references her January 2023 series on setting financial goals and encourages listeners to assess whether they hit those goals.

• Go back and look at the financial goals you set for the year to assess progress.

Make sure that if you did meet any of your goals or you made significant progress towards them, celebrate your achievements and learn from the areas where you fell short.

• Analyze your spending for the year and identify top expenditures outside of essentials.

Most of the time I'm like, oh, I spent way too much in fast food. That's one that always gets me. It's either fast food or technology for my business.

• Use bank spending reports to see where you overspent or underspent and adjust accordingly for the new year.

• Consider any market trends or external factors that made the year favorable or unfavorable financially.

• Use this information to determine if you need to adjust your financial strategy moving forward.

• Examine your 401k contributions, health insurance, and flexible spending accounts to ensure they're working for your situation.

Look at if you used all that health insurance that you paid for, or if you can go to a lower plan with your company.

• Spend remaining FSA funds before year-end since they expire (unlike HSAs).

• Review your tax situation to see if you've contributed enough and identify any year-end actions that could improve your outcome.

What I see sometimes is people in their business will spend a little more because they realize, ooh, it's a little too much profit for my taxes.

• Always consult a tax professional for personalized advice.

• Look at your outstanding debts and how much you've paid off this year.

Even if, let's say you paid off $1,000 for the year, celebrate that small win because it'll motivate you to do even more next year.

• Tiffany offers debt payoff consultations and has helped clients pay off $10,000-$15,000 in credit card debt.

• If you track net worth, now is the time to update those numbers and analyze what contributed to any changes.

• This information helps inform your financial planning for the coming year.