What’s your financial health? Do a financial physical

’Tis the season for New Year’s resolutions: exercise more, reduce intake of carbs or eat more fruits and vegetables. Also, ’tis the season for financial literacy: America Saves Week is coming up Feb. 27-March 3, Money Smart Week is April 22-29, and April is Financial Literacy Month, accompanied by the dreaded tax deadline.
    Your financial health is of great importance to your wellbeing, too. With the beginning of 2017, it is time to go through your own financial physical. Once you know your financial health, it is a great time to learn more about how you can use your money more wisely in order to plan for a satisfying future. Many programs are offered by financial institutions that provide ongoing education in numerous areas of finance.
    Start your 2017 financial planning by first doing a basic analysis, or recap, of the past financial year to help you detect problems with your financial health. There are primary areas of assessment that can show you how or what to improve within your financial situation. These improvements will provide a more stable future and more financial freedom.
    Realizing that New Year’s resolutions or goals are hard to keep for any extended period of time, get an overall view of your financial situation and pick only one area to concentrate on for the year. Starting even in one small area can have long lasting effects for your financial future.
    Reviewing your spending, determining your debt ratio and net worth, and analyzing your savings are the areas to consider for the life of your finances.
    One very simple, fairly pain-free exercise you can do to improve your financial health is to do a spending analysis for a year. If you are wondering where your money goes each month, not having much to save or money to enjoy after covering expenses, this could shed some light on your financial troubles.
    You can use bank statements and receipts to analyze exactly what you spend money on each day, week and month. By knowing where your money is going, you will see what gaps or black holes exist that take your money each month and leave you possibly increasing your debt by using credit.
  

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