Published: February 01, 2007 10:43 am         

Practical financial tips for 2007 shared

Most everyone can use help from time to time getting their financial affairs in order. There is no time like the present. The FDIC recommends the following strategies to simplify and organize family finances.

1. Simplify your life

2. Update your will and other legal documents

3. Organize and protect important documents

4. Take precautions with old accounts

1. Simplify your life: Have your income, Social Security benefits, pension payments or other income automatically deposited into your bank account each month. Direct deposits are safe, reliable and convenient. Also arrange with your bank to automatically pay your mortgage, utility bills, insurance premiums and other recurring charges. Doing so takes the hassle out of making scheduled payments and helps avoid late charges or service interruptions. You can also have automatic withdrawals from your bank account to routinely put a certain amount of money into a savings account, a certificate of deposit (CD), a mutual fund or a U.S. Savings Bond.

2. Update your will and other legal documents

Who will inherit your savings accounts and other property when you die? Who else should have access to checking accounts to pay bills if you are in the hospital? What kind of medical treatments do you want to receive—or avoid—if you become critically ill? These are the kinds of questions you should be asking yourself, preferably in consultation with family members and your lawyer or other experts. Your answers to these questions may require actions involving important legal documents and how you set up various bank accounts.

3. Organize and protect important documents

Make sure your bank and brokerage statements, insurance policies, social security, company pension records, and other personal and financial papers are in a safe place and easy to get to.

Victims of disasters have found that it is wise to take extra precautions with essential records. For the most important original documents, such as wills, passports, and birth certificates, seal them in airtight and waterproof containers to prevent water damage or keep them in a Safe Deposit Box. Make sure your executor, or someone you can trust, knows where to find your records in an emergency. OSU Fact Sheet # T4150, Getting Your Records in Order, provides a basic guide to organizing important documents and information. You can get this information by logging onto www.osuextra.org. Type the fact sheet number in the search box, or you can come by the Grady County OSU Extension Center at 828 West Choctaw in Chickasha and ask for it.

4. Take precautions with old accounts

For the benefits of your heirs, either dispose of proof of old bank and brokerage accounts, life insurance policies and other assets you no longer own or clearly mark them as being sold or cashed in.

Otherwise, loved ones who discover the information after your death could waste a lot of time and effort researching these mystery accounts when there is no money or property to be claimed. In most cases, after a certain number of years of being “unclaimed,” assets are transferred to the state government, where they still can be claimed by the rightful owners.

You can begin a search for assets of any sort that have been sent to a state by going to the Web site of the national Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (www.unclaimed.org).

Make 2007 your year to get your financial life in order. There are always excuses which can interfere, so don’t let them. For more information about financial fitness, contact the Grady County OSU Cooperative Extension Service at 224-2216.

Visit our website at http://agweb.okstate.edu/gradyext/index.html.