Suze Orman’s 16 wishes for how you can make the most of your money in 2016
As we turn the corner into a new year, my biggest hope is that peace and happiness is in great abundance for each and every one of you and all those you love.
There should be no bigger focus than building and nurturing that peace and happiness. But there is also always room to focus on the ways you can continue to build financial security in 2016. The progress you make on taking control of your money will, after all, bring even more happiness and peace into your life.
Suze Orman will guide you through the steps to financial freedom on this audio download.
This practical, systematic approach to financial freedom is divided into three parts. The first one takes us back to our most formative experiences with money. We do this in order to break free of financial worries and take control of our feelings about money. The next part contains the Must Dos, the Laws of Money. We’ll find out about trusts and wills, credit card debt, saving for retirement, the insurance we should and shouldn’t have, and much more. In the third part, we learn the true secrets of the money cycle and realize that we cannot measure our self-worth by our net worth.
Money Made Easy
Here are my 16 wishes for how you can make the most of your money in 2016:
- Focus on what you have, not what you don’t have.
- Recognize that every dollar you save today and every dollar of debt you pay down today is an important step to the future you deserve. As long as you are moving in the right direction, you are in control of your future. Be patient. You will get where you want to be.
- If you have credit card debt, pay off the highest rate debt first. And be sure to make at least the minimum payment due on all your credit cards.
- Check that there are no mistakes or instances of fraud on your credit report. The only place you should ever go to get a free credit report is annualcreditreport.com
- Sign up for email or text alerts for your checking accounts and all your credit card and debit accounts. It has never been easier to stay on top of your balances, or be able to spot fraud the moment it happens.
- If your employer offers you a company matching contribution to its retirement plan, be sure to contribute enough to earn the maximum match.
- If you have the option of a Roth 401(k), give it a long look. I think it is a fantastic deal.
- Say no out of love, rather than yes out of fear. Keep this in mind as people come to you for financial help throughout the year. You are never to loan someone money, or co-sign a loan unless you are certain it will actually help that person (not just enable more questionable behavior) and you can truly afford to offer help.
- If you are buying a car and need financing, make it your goal to purchase a car that you can afford with a three-year loan. (No leases!) Don’t take out a longer loan; it’s a ploy car companies use to get you to buy more expensive cars.
- Focus on the long-term. Even if you are in your 50s or older, you likely have decades more life ahead of you. Don’t be too conservative with your investments. Over the long term – decades – stocks have delivered the best inflation-beating gains.
- If you want to find the best financial advisor, look in the mirror. No one will ever care more about your money, and what you make of that money, than you. If you don’t yet feel like you are “good” with money, make it a priority to build your personal finance IQ in 2016.
- If you have a college-bound child, do not, I repeat, DO NOT take out any private loans for college. They are just too risky. Focus on federal loans.
- Check all your retirement plan and insurance beneficiaries. Can’t remember whom you named? That’s exactly my point! Make sure your money will go exactly where you want.
- Enough procrastinating. Please make this the year you once and for all get your Must Have Documents in place.
- Live below your means but within your needs. Follow this rule and you will always be powerful with money.
- You are never powerful in life until you are powerful over your own money. How you feel, think and act with it. May 2016 be your most powerful year yet.
About the Author
Suze Orman has been called “a force in the world of personal finance” and a “one-woman financial advice powerhouse” by USA Today. A two-time Emmy Award-winning television host, New York Times mega bestselling author, magazine and online columnist, writer/producer, and one of the top motivational speakers in the world today, Orman is undeniably America’s most recognized expert on personal finance.