Financial End of Year Checklist

It is that time of the year to make a Financial End of Year Checklist.

It’s been an eventful year all around the world, and there is so much to take note of.
However, there are a few things to be intentional about, and your finances are one of them.

What is a financial end-of-year checklist?
A year-end checklist is a formalized list of goals you set yourself at the end of the financial, business, or calendar year.

You need to do at least 4 of the items listed below

1. Review Your Cash Flow
2. Pay off your debt.
3. Reassess your financial goals and financial plan.
4. Reassess your investments.
5. Don’t forget insurance.
6. Estate planning

 

1. Review Your Cash Flow

As boring as it sounds, this is a real eye-opener.  You want to review the changes in your income and expenses to make sure that things still balance out.
Here are a few aspects you want to look deeply into

• Make a list of all your sources of income (career & side-hustles)
• Take out time to track & organize all expenses, monthly and annually
• Have you considered taking a look at your discretionary expenses e.g Netflix, DSTV, Spotify, etc. – You can start saving up some cash on the ones you do not use regularly.
• Evaluate trends or expected changes to current income and expenses (child’s education, aging parent’s care, etc.)
• Identify any large expenses planned for next year
• Establish or tune up an emergency fund.

You can do more, check out a list of 12 most viewed end of year checklist

2. Pay off your debt.

A good rule of thumb is to begin paying off debt with the highest interest rate first, so you don’t pay a kobo more than necessary. High-interest debt can grow faster than your investment returns, so do not get caught up in the rat race.

3. Reassess your financial goals and financial plan.

12 months is a long time, and several things might have changed during this period.  Any change in your personal or professional life could have impacted your financial goals significantly. Hence, it is important to revisit your financial goals at the end of the year.
Consider what has changed in your life this year as well. Births, deaths, marriage, divorce, and retirement can all have an impact on both your personal finances and your strategic financial plan.

Financial planning tips

• Be honest with yourself. If money was tight or if you had a surplus, this is a good time to adjust your spending and priorities.
• Use a financial professional as a sounding board. An outside perspective is helpful when reviewing short- and long-term family financial goals. A financial professional might be able to make suggestions you haven’t thought about.

4. Reassess your investments.

At the start of the year 2022, you must have written out some goals for your investment, such as the number of assets you wanted to have, e.t.c.

It’s time to track your overall progress on the things you have written out. How did that go?

You may also want to look at your portfolio and start balancing it out. Check through your goals to see what worked and what did not, and align them properly.

While investing is a long-term activity, evaluating whether your allocations still meet your needs should be an annual event. If your asset allocation has shifted during the year, are certain assets underperforming or overperforming? This might leave your portfolio unbalanced.

Step back and review your risk tolerance. Does it still meet your timeline and your family’s financial goals? Are you getting close to retirement and considering a more conservative investing approach?

If you cannot do this by yourself, you may want to visit your investment or portfolio manager to get clarity.

For those with a really low appetite for risk, it is obvious that this year made a lot of sense with the use of a high-yield savings account. Check out this end-of-year checklist for investors 

5. Don’t forget insurance.

Insurance is the better-safe-than-sorry part of your financial strategy. Take some time at the end of the year to look at your existing policies and coverage. Do the original reasons for all your insurance policies still exist? If so, is your coverage sufficient for your needs?

As with so many other elements of a financial plan, make sure your insurance beneficiaries are up to date, especially if you went through a life event this year.

6. Estate planning

It is also a good time to reassess your assets

Take note of where your estate planning documents (wills, trusts, durable powers of attorney, etc.) are located
Review estate planning documents to make sure they are accurate and current.

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