When it comes to finance, many accountant Boca Raton clients start out with a real jumble of documents receipts and bills. Here is some straightforward advice on cleaning up the financial mess. Gather all of your financial documents, receipts, and folders together in one place and get to work tidying up your financial life.
Your Credit Rating – check your credit ratings at the major credit bureaus and take action to correct any errors or omissions. Consider purchasing your FICO credit score, which is often used by banks as an indicator of your creditworthiness. If you have a good score, you may be able to negotiate better interest rates on your credit cards. If you have a poor credit rating or poor FICO score, develop a plan with your accountant Boca Raton to improve your credit rating.
Your Documents – keep a minimum of three years supporting documents for federal tax purposes and six years of supporting documents if you are self-employed or have multiple sources of income. Adjust this holding time period if you have state requirements that are different from the federal requirements. Keep all your tax documents together in one file, with separate sub-files for each tax year.
Organize Your Banking -consolidate your accounts, sign up for automatic bill pay, and shred old documents that go beyond the need to document your tax returns or capital purchases/sales. Also sign up for electronic statements to reduce your financial paperwork.
Organize Important Life Documents – collect your important life documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, degree certificates, social security cards, passports, and wills) and put them in a portable water and fire resistant home safe or a lock box at your bank.
Buy a Shredder and put any old financial paperwork that you want to throw out through a cross-cut paper shredder to avoid identity theft.
Estate Planning and Insurance –talk to your accountant Boca Raton about your will, trust, and life insurance policies, particularly if you have experienced a major life event like the birth of a child, marriage, or divorce
Review your investments with your accountant Boca Raton or investment advisor. In this time of great financial change, check your portfolios for a proper balance of return versus risk. Follow closely recent tax law changes, as you may wish to consider account rollovers or capital gain and loss strategies as well.