Do these 6 financial things while stuck at home because of coronavirus

Investments and saving

1. Increase your 401k contribution to 20% (ideally), or at least 10%, or max it out at $19,500 (2020 limit) if you can. Stocks have gotten a lot cheaper, so load up!

Because you’ll save taxes, your take-home pay won’t decrease by nearly that much, and you can also reverse this later if you feel like it’s too much.

2. Review your current investments: I recommend keeping things simple and using only two investment choices for short or long-term savings.

3. Beneficiaries checkup

While you’re reviewing your investments, make sure the beneficiaries on your retirement, and any other investment accounts, are updated. (Usually under ‘my profile/Account Maintenance’ or some such title.)

Simplify your financial life

4. Consolidate your financial accounts into one place: roll over any former employer retirement plans like 401ks/403bs into an IRA. I recommend Vanguard for their low-cost investment options, but Fidelity is also fine.

If you happen to have non-employer investment accounts like any Roth/Traditional IRAs, or just plain ‘ol taxable investment accounts, roll those over too.

5. If you have any old Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), consider rolling them over to no-fee + great investment choices at Lively.
Banking & Budgeting

6. If your bank sucks (most do!), or you want to use my highly recommended no-budgeting budgeting system to spend more consciously, set up Capital One 360, or Ally Bank, for free after you read this.

 

Most importantly, DON’T PANIC! If you don’t need cash, no need to sell any stocks (I’ve been buying more as the market has declined with bonds & cash that I don’t need within the next 3-5 years.)

 

Author: Ward Williams

Ward is an independent financial advisor at Better Tomorrow Financial. He started working as an independent investment advisor in 2009.

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