Your Fall Financial Check-Up
Podcast Transcription
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Hey everyone welcome to another episode of PFCU's Money Talk Podcast, I'm your host Maddy. I have some important questions for you. Are you an apple or a pumpkin fan? Which is superior- Halloween or Thanksgiving? Are you all about spooky or cozy? Hunting for pumpkins or getting lost in a corn maze? For many, fall time is the best time of the year, no matter how you prefer to enjoy it. But through all of the pumpkin spice lattes, fallen leaves and hayrides, there are a few things you can do to get your finances in tip-top shape.
So, I came across this list on AARP and thought it was too good not to share.I think a lot of times we think about looking over our finances in the summer time, at the end of the year, the beginning of the year but I thought it was really interesting to think about what we can do in the fall.
And the first thing is before winter hits you want to prepare your home. This could be making sure your doors and windows are sealed properly, cleaning gutters and finishing up outdoor tasks. And I found this statistic, according to the US Department of Energy, that about 30% of a home’s heating and cooling energy is lost through windows. Which is crazy!
Another small thing that you can do also is to make sure any ceiling fans you have are spinning clockwise so they’re pulling warm air down from the ceiling which can save you on heating costs.
And an added tip just from me is to get your Christmas lights and outdoor decorations up sooner rather than later. It’s not really money related but honestly, it's so much better hanging lights in 50 degree weather rather than 20 degrees and snow.
Now would also be a good time to check for subscriptions that you might not be using. Start fresh in 2027 by cleaning out all those charges that are not necessary. I don’t know about you but we have pretty much every streaming service under the sun. Do we use them all? A few of them I would say we definitely don't use them enough to make them worth the cost, which, by the way, keeps going up! It’s really just a matter of sitting down, taking the few minutes to look through all of your subscriptions and actually closing those accounts. And whether we keep paying for these things that we're not using because we’re busy, forgetful or maybe this is just me but also a little bit lazy, it’s time to do it.
And I also say this all the time, start holiday shopping early! If you start now, you can watch for sales, I know Amazon Prime days is coming up in just a few days from now. I already got a great deal on one of my kid’s Christmas gifts, it was an early Prime Day deal. So, start looking now. And I did look up a price history of the item and it was marked pretty close to its all-time lowest price so I figured I better scoop it up now. Plus, this allows you to shop without the pressure or the time constraints that can lead to regrets later and maybe not even getting what you want because it’s sold out. There are sites and apps that can track prices. Like I said, I honeslty just looked up the lowest price of this item and a lot of sites pulled up that told me what the lowest price is. And I know that there's apps out there that track pricing as well. And search for coupons, you can save money with very little effort. So set your budget and start shopping.
Have you reached or are you close to reaching your health insurance deductible? Do you have a surgery or a procedure you need to schedule? If you answered yes to both of these questions, it might be a good time to get that done before 2027 is here and your deductible resets. Kind of in the same vein as your deductible is your flexible spending account funds if you have one. You don’t want to forfeit that money at the end of the year so plan what you will spend it on. You can find a whole list of eligible items and expenses online and that includes things like glasses, contacts and dental treatment which are really pricey things. I remember a couple of years ago, we actually had quite a bit of money left to spend in our FSA and Amazon has a category that shows all of FSA eligible items and we were able to buy a lot of items off that list. I mean it can be everyday use items like band aids, sunscreen, heating pads, medication, skin care or bigger ticket items like LED face masks, foot or back massagers and Oura rings. Don’t let that money go to waste!
Now might be a good time to review your estate plan, prepare for open enrollment for health insurance coverage and take a look at your retirement contributions to see if you would like to make any adjustments. Also plan for paid time off if you have any left. Whether or not your company let's you roll any over, if they pay you out in your paycheck or if you just lose any unused time, you want to make sure that you plan for those hours. And if you are going to lose it, get some time away from work.
I hope this helps with getting some things taken care of before the year wraps up and you can enter 2027 feeling ready to take on whatever the new year brings!
Thanks for listening everyone and I'll see you next time.
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