Simplify Your Finances Welcome and thank you for attending Simplify Your Finances Presented by GreenPath Financial Wellness

How do you feel about your finances? Let’s take a second and think about how we currently feel re: our finances. How do you feel about your finances? What are you hoping to learn today? Take a second and chat in your replies.

Create a system When will you review your finances? Where will you store your statements? Passwords? How will you manage spending? Step 1 is to create a system. If you schedule time you are precommiting to making the time to complete the work on your finances. This is important, knowing what to do and when provides your brain with the steps to follow for success. Understanding what you hope to accomplish is key. Start with when. Pull out your calendar and schedule time to review your finances. Next take financial inventory – figure out where you will keep your information, determine your passwords and figure out where you will save them. Understand what system you’ll use for tracking your spending.

Minimize Your Accounts Take an inventory of your current accounts Review the benefits and decide on 1-2 accounts It’s not uncommon for people to have several accounts, but most people can get by withone or . This is my preferred method of banking. I use an online account for higher interest rates, and a local bank or credit union when I need access to a physical branch.

Repeat for Credit Cards Obtain your credit report at www.annualcreditreport.com Review your credit card benefits and decide on 1-2 accounts Access to easy credit can be convenient, but it can cause problems for some people. Reducing the number of credit cards you keep can reduce the amount of mail you receive and make it easier to manage your money. Just keep in mind canceling a credit card can affect your credit score. You should probably leave the oldest card open and make sure canceling any credit cards won’t make your credit utilization too high (amount of credit used vs. the amount of available credit).

Repeat for Investment Accounts Review your investments Rollover accounts Many people have multiple investment accounts. This makes managing your investments much more cumbersome when you balance your investment portfolio and when you do your taxes. Combine investment accounts whenever possible by using one brokerage or investment company. That move allows you to log into one online account, receive one statement, and to deal with one institution when you have questions. You can move 401(k)s from previous employers by doing a tax-free rollover into an IRA  or into a retirement plan at your new workplace. IRAs can also be transferred to one brokerage account for easier tracking. Your investments will be much easier to monitor when they’re in one place.

Streamline Streamlining makes it easier to follow your system. Sign up for a Do Not Call List – you can do this online and although it won’t stop everything it’ll reduce the noise.

Sign up for E-statements Eliminates the risk of your mailed statement being lost or stolen Gives you easy access to statements Saves you time Keeps you organized Create an email for your finances. Don’t use it for anything else. Whenever possible, opt to receive electronic statements, which has multiple benefits, including less mail to process and a lower environmental impact. Some companies, like Vanguard, will also waive fees if you go paperless. Most financial institutions, credit card companies, utility companies, and service providers offer to deliver your mail electronically. They help protect you from identity theft, reduce the amount of paper you have to process or shred, and allow you to centralize all your incoming financial documents. You can go online to view older documents or print them out if needed. If you prefer paper statements, get a document scanner so you can scan the document for your records. Then shred it; reducing clutter at home.

Spending Carry 1 Credit Card or Debit Card Shop at fewer locations to make it easier to track spending Pay your expenses on payday Automate spending and bill pay The average American carries 6 credit cards – by reducing the number of cc’s you have you’re also reducing the number you carry which means all of your expenses will be on one. You can also shop at fewer locations making it easier to track your spending. And finally pay your expenses on payday, this makes it easy for you to see how much money you have leftover.

Debt One payment Payoff timeframe Several options Balance transfer Consolidation loan Debt management plan One way to do cut down your bills is by consolidating your debt. If you are making multiple credit card and other payments each month, you might consider reducing the number of bills you receive and need to pay each month.

Automate Where Possible  You can end your money worries, feelings of overwhelm, and the frustration of sifting through the mountains of financial information. And you don't have to spend years studying compound interest charts or weeks trying to find the latest hot stocks to get there. All that's required of you is a willingness to think about money in a different way than you're probably used to.

Set Up Direct Deposit Spending Payments/Bills Savings Create direct deposit and schedule money to go into your three separate accounts. Direct deposit into savings, spending and your ongoing expenses. For expenses that come yearly, add add’l monthly funds to your payments account so you are prepared for those quarterly or annually occurring expenses. Spending Payments/Bills Savings

Automate Your Expenses Create bill pay and automate your payments to go out on payday this helps you make sure everything is paid on time and when you have money available in your accounts. It also reduces the number of accounts you need to monitor since everything will come out of one account versus several.

Questions? Questions?

CONTACT US 877-337-3399 We’d love to chat more! www.greenpathref.org GreenPath Financial Wellness is a nationwide non-profit that provides financial education and tools for people to lead financially healthy lives. I know we’ve talked about quite a bit– does anyone have any questions? Please feel free to check out our website www.greenpath.org for more information about us and our financial education material and tools. You’re also welcome to schedule a free phone or in person assessment to meet with one of our financial experts. If you’re ready to dive into the home buying process, we offer an online course that goes into much greater detail. We also offer a one on one session to discuss how what we presented on today applies to your situation and goals. Again thank you for your time and I hope this information is helpful. Thank you! 877-337-3399 www.greenpathref.org