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Financial Advice

Morningstar's Get It Done Week

Tackle those nagging financial tasks once and for all.

What nagging financial task is on your to-do list? Is it rolling over an old 401(k)? Updating your will? Organizing your financial paperwork? All of the above?

Helping you tackle some of these jobs, so you can cross them off your checklist once and for all, was the focus of Morningstar.com's Get It Done Week. During the week, we coached investors on completing some of those tasks that they tend to defer the most.

Step 1: Get Organized Because everyone can think more clearly with a clean desk, we'll kick off the week with a discussion of how to organize your financial life. We'll cover how to transition to a nearly paperless home office, as well as which documents to save and which you can safely shred. (Hint: There are a lot more shreddables than there are documents worth hanging on to.) We'll also share one of our favorite tools for keeping track of your various financial holdings: a master directory where you can enumerate your various financial accounts and intermediaries.

  • How to Create a Master Directory
  • Do's and Don'ts for Organizing Your Financial Life
  • How to Organize Your Financial Documents
  • How to Secure Your Financial Accounts from Cyber Thievery

Step 2: Review Your Retirement Plan If funding an IRA, rolling over an old 401(k), or checking your retirement plan's progress is on your to-do list, Day 2 is for you. We'll provide worksheets for crafting an investment policy statement and, for retirees, a retirement policy statement. We'll also coach you on maximizing your investments in your company retirement plan and IRAs.

  • What Kind of IRA Is Right for You?
  • How to Create an Investment Policy Statement
  • How to Create a Retirement Policy Statement
  • 9 Questions You Need to Answer About Your 401(k) Plan
  • How to Roll Over an Old 401(k)

Step 3: Evaluate Your Estate Plan and Long-Term Care Options On Day 3 we'll focus on what has to be the single-most procrastinated set of financial tasks: estate- and long-term-care planning. We'll cover the basics of crafting a sensible estate plan for your physical, financial, and digital assets, and discuss the merits of setting up trusts. And because long-term care planning often goes hand in hand with estate planning, we'll also share some must-knows about long-term care.

  • Get Your Estate Plan in Gear
  • Do You Have a Plan for Your Digital 'Estate'?
  • A Crash Course in Long-Term Care
  • Do You Need a Trust?

Step 4: Effectively Manage Your Cash Effective cash management is the focus of Day 4. Of course, cash yields are so low that many investors might be tempted to jettison their cash holdings altogether. But a baseline cash stake is a key ingredient in every financial plan, and most "cash alternatives," whether ultrashort bonds or bank loans, are actually too volatile to substitute for cash. We'll discuss right-sizing your emergency fund as well as setting aside the right amount of cash reserves during retirement.

  • How Retirees Should Assess Their Liquid Assets
  • Does Your Cash Alternative Pass Muster?
  • 4 Steps to Setting Up an Emergency Fund
  • How Big Should Your Emergency Fund Be?

Step 5: Tackle the Stragglers On Day 5, we'll cover the remaining, disparate financial to-dos that hang over many investors' heads--including college funding, beneficiary designations, and budgeting, among other topics.

  • A Guide to College-Saving Options
  • How to Create a Budget You Can Live With
  • 100 Ways to Cut Your Day-to-Day Expenses
  • How to Handle Beneficiary Designations

The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar’s editorial policies.

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