Hey Reader,

Now that you've had a chance to breathe in the new year... are you ready to think about making 2025 a better money year?

I know there are a lot of factors out of our control that make a "great money year" seem unlikely, so I'm just asking you to do your best.

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I'm very much not a New Year's Resolution person anymore. I used to be, but never living up to my resolutions got discouraging.

Now, I find a word to focus on for my personal & business lives and try to incorporate it into everything I do. For 2025, my word is actually a phrase - baby steps - to keep me going with my new fitness goals and business plans without overwhelm.

Anyway, January is also a great time for goal setting & making plans because of that "new start" feeling. Carve out 15 minutes from your busy day to download my free New Year Financial Checklist to polish up your personal finances.

👉 read more: New Year Smart Financial Goal Setting​

It's also time to start thinking about taxes, for business & personal. January is not panic time, it's "calmly gather your documents" time.

Start organizing your paperwork now to help you hold on to that calm feeling.

1. if you don't already have your physical papers in a single to-be-file pile, make one. Go through your house, gathering up paper from the usual hidey holes, and make a single big pile.
2. turn on a good show and start to sort through the stack, making piles for:
   1. tax-related documents (Tax Prep Pack coming soon!)
   2. important to-keep documents
   3. keep-for-the-kids documents
   4. trash/recycle documents
   5. shred documents
3. on another day (or days), sit down again & sort through those piles again, putting things in more detailed physical folders as needed. Bare minimum, you need folders for:
   1. each tax year
   2. each family member
   3. important non-tax documents
   4. to do
4. as new paper comes in, put it in the appropriate folder right away - the touch it once principle
5. for digital documents, make a list of where they're hiding right now:
   1. email accounts
   2. Dropbox
   3. Google Drive
   4. desktop or hard drive storage on your computer(s)
   5. your phone(s)
6. pick a place to store them, such as Dropbox or Google Drive
7. create a few basic folders, such as
   1. family
      1. one folder per family member
      2. medical
   2. household
      1. finances
      2. home maintenance
      3. vehicles
   3. Misc
8. go down that list of locations & start looking for documents. Start with the most recent first, since those files are more likely to be relevant still. Download & save to the appropriate folders as needed
9. go back to this task as time allows - instead of scrolling social media after the kids are in bed or while in the school pick-up line, commit to 15 minutes of digital filing each night

The most important reminder for filing physical or digital documents: ask yourself, "do I really need this?"... and answer honestly. It's ok to throw things away. When in doubt, scan it in or take a picture, and store it digitally.

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​Harness the new year energy, whenever it strikes, and make some changes to your money!

Before you go, let's be friends! Find me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest (all @ balancedfi)

Enjoy,

P.S. Watch your inbox for my new Tax Prep Pack to help you gather your tax docs & get ready for filing - for personal AND business!

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