RaeLipskie’s 6 Step End-Of-Year Checklist: Setting Yourself Up For Financial Success
As we head into the final months of 2022, now is an important time to reflect on your financial year and take stock of your financial goals. The new year is a perfect time to put your best foot forward, prioritizing new and exciting investments, saving and financial goals and strategies. But setting yourself up for success in 2023, starts now!
This month, The RaeLipskie Partnership is sharing our End-of-Year Financial Checklist to help you reflect on your year in investments, and prepare for a new year of exciting financial growth and investing success!
- Review Your Spending
The first step is to review your financial year. Take note of your financial situation, carefully considering the ways you spent, saved and invested your money. This year’s spending habits provide helpful information and insight on the ways you can put your best financial foot forward in the new year. Once you have evaluated where your money went in 2022, you can develop financial goals and strategies for curbing unnecessary spending, increasing or decreasing investments and identifying financial obstacles. With this information, you can develop a monthly or even quarterly budget to keep yourself on track and achieve your financial goals in 2023.
- Debt Audit
The RaeLipskie Partnership recommends looking into your current debts owed as the second step on your end-of-year checklist. Before you can start investing, it is important to understand what your total debt accrued is, and develop a reasonable and timely debt repayment plan. While paying down your debt may require temporarily reining in your spending or investing, decreasing your debt owed in the short term, creates financial freedom and stability in the future. As we wrap up 2022, consider prioritizing paying your debt off, or committing yourself to a targeted payment plan in the new year.
- Prioritize Tax Free Savings
Tax free savings accounts are a great way to save and invest money without taxation. The RaeLipskie Partnership recommends contributing to your TFSA as the year winds down, taking advantage of the tax-free growth your investment can accrue during the last weeks of the year. If you haven’t already opened a TFSA, consider adding this task to your checklist before the end of the year. This way you can contribute now, and recontribute as soon as the new year starts!
- RRSP and RESP Contributions
2022’s RRSP contribution limit is 18% of the income you earned in the previous year. Consider maximizing your contributions before the end of the year, simultaneously planning for retirement, and lowering your taxes because this kind of investment is tax advantaged.
RESPs are Registered Education Savings Plans which can be contributed to to save for your child’s education! The RaeLipskie Partnership recommends maximizing your annual contribution of $2500 per child to receive the Canadian Education Savings Grant of $500 from the Canadian government. Contributing to RESPs is not only a smart investment in your children’s future, but is also an easy way to grow investments as RESP contributions are tax deferred. Consider contributing to RESPs before the years end to maximize your investment potential. You can learn more about RESP contributions from our recent blog post here.
- Analyze Investment Portfolios
End of year provides the perfect opportunity to reevaluate your investment portfolios. The professional financial experts at The RaeLipskie Partnership believe in the importance of regularly checking in on your investments and keeping a diversified and balanced portfolio, to maximize potential returns. A financial RaeLipskie advisor can help you manage your portfolio to ensure it is in keeping with your financial goals, spending and investment habits and circumstances.
- Plan Ahead
Now that you have an understanding of your current financial situation, you can look ahead to the new year with renewed financial objectives. Developing goals for the new year and beyond is key in achieving your financial goals and embarking in smart investment and saving plans. This year, when developing your New Year’s resolutions, consider your current financial situation and the financial and investment strides you want to make by this time next year. Developing specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely goals for your finances and investments will set you up for success in the new year! The RaeLipskie blog post: Setting the Right Financial Goals for Each Stage of Life provides insight into goal setting and financial planning. Read our blog post here to learn more.
If you are interested in developing new and targeted strategies for your finances, now is a good time to start. Contact a RaeLipskie financial advisor today to help you get on your way!
While the end of the year is a busy time, reviewing your financial situation and your investment goals for the new year is an important end of year task. Start early by using The RaeLipskie Partnerships End-Of-Year checklist to ensure you are setting yourself up for success in 2023.
If you are interested in learning more about RaeLipskie’s services, and setting yourself up for success before the new year, book an appointment with one of our advisors today! Contact The RaeLipskie Partnership here.
