Oh, I forgot to fill out a bracket!
"Prioritizing your Final Four financial goals for the year" by Michelle Singletary | Washington Post, March 24, 2013
Let me walk you through the categories in this March Madness game....
As part of the fun, about 300 financial experts ranked their top financial priorities for Americans to focus on in 2013/ Based on their picks, the Financial Planning Association came up with a Final Four. The winners?
■ Live within your means. I agree that this should make it to the Final Four. Actually, I would retitle this “live below your means.” You only have a limited amount of money. To meet your goals, you have to reduce your expenses so that you get to keep some of what you make for savings.
Which reminds me, I really need to stop buying a Boston Globe every morning.
■ Protect yourself with adequate insurance. Thirty-nine percent of US adults do not have life insurance, according to a survey released last year by InsuranceQuotes.com. If you put this in your winning bracket, don’t just focus on life insurance. Determine what other insurance you might need. For instance, if you rent, do you have renter’s insurance? Only 34 percent of renters have renter’s insurance, InsuranceQuotes found in another survey.
■ Tackle debt. Stop promising yourself to get out of debt and, instead, do it. I suggest you list your debts starting with the lowest balance and knock that debt off first. Often getting rid of some debt quickly motivates people to continue on their quest to be debt-free.
Yeah, be sure to pay off those bankers.
■ Build an emergency savings account. If you live below your means, you’ll likely have the money to start an emergency fund. You tax refund is a great emergency starter amount. So far this year, the average refund is about $2,900.
Where do these people think that's coming from, and if I deposit it the mouthpiece media will then blame me for not spending and spurring growth in the economy. They have done it in past years.
What do you mean this isn't being written for me?
My Final Four were “manage food costs” (our eating out has gotten crazy), “pull credit reports” (haven’t done that yet this year), “track spending,” and “calculate retirement” (I’ve done this before but I need to update some numbers based on the recent uptick in the stock market).
So what would your Sweet 16 be? What about your Elite Eight financial goals or your Final Four picks?
Once you finish the bracket, you can go to www.smartaboutmoney.org, which is a program of the National Endowment for Financial Education. On the site you can look for more information to meet your goals.
While you’re watching the basketball games or during breaks, fill out this bracket. You can’t lose.
I already did the moment I plunked down by $2 for a Globe.
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