Get your finances in order for the new year by looking back at all you accomplished in 2021 and identifying where you need to improve in 2022. With the help of our 2021 year-end financial checklists, your personal or small business finances will be in top shape in no time. Check out these top benefits of using these financial checklists and download the complete checklists for financial advice to help you better plan for the financial year ahead!
For Consumers
The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to review your personal finances to ensure your budget is tight, that tax time doesn’t catch you off guard, and you are not drowning in financial clutter for the year.
Be Financially Prepared – Start with preparing a 2022 budget plan using our three easy steps to determine what did and didn’t work last year. From there, reviewing insurance coverage and credit cards will become that much easier with a budgeted monthly payment, as well as the knowledge of which credit cards serve you best vs. what you plan to spend on them.
Tax Season is Fast Approaching – Many tax forms are sent out during January, so organizing your documents in one spot and checking your withholding amount with your employer are essential to minimizing any surprises in the Spring. In addition, this is an excellent time to review current retirement and investments that may be taxed and ensure current plans meet your long-term goals.
Reduce Financial Clutter – Keeping financial organization is essential to staying on top of things in the new year. The first step of financial organization is to go through account statements, tax documents, and records, keeping what you’ll need in the coming year. Consider digitizing any essential documents on your personal computer, as most financial institutions provide eStatements, eBills, and other digital banking services.
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For Small Business Owners
Ensure your small business is in top financial shape for the year ahead with proper preparedness of internal finances and plan for a smooth year ahead.
Be Financially Prepared – Aside from creating an annual budget, it’s essential to be financially prepared in other ways, such as knowing where your business stands credit-wise and making future plans. Check your credit report with the 3 top credit bureaus to review for accuracy and overall score to ensure you can acquire any funding needed throughout the year. In addition, check out your existing or available investment and retirement accounts to secure the future of the business and your employees.
Drive Costs Down – Every business is looking to drive their costs down in 2022, and by reviewing where money is going in terms of insurance and credit cards, you can save big. Review your existing insurance coverage and determine how it aligns with your current business needs. From there, you can assess your options for reworking insurance coverage to drive down payments. This is similar for business credit cards, as reviewing where the business and its employees use these cards, cutting out any unnecessary costs, and considering a cashback card that won’t leave anything on the table!
Stay Up to Date on Financial Data – Keep business information up to date by creating a backup of last year’s data as well as updating online account access. By having a reliable backup system for accounting data for the prior year in place, it will be much easier to create updated year-over-year reports in 2022 and make saving data at the end of the year much simpler. In addition to backing up this data, it is essential to make sure it’s accessible by updating any relevant online account access for the right employees. With the increase of online business activities via accounts, profiles, and passwords, it can be hard to remember all the details, so organization in this area is vital.
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Ready to create financial success in 2022? Download the full year-end checklists and reach out to Mechanics Investment Group for your financial planning needs! Contact us today to get started.
