I've set two big financial goals for myself as we go into the new year:
- Simplify my finances. There are two parts to this:
- Close old accounts. I want to do this as we roll into the new year, so I can deal with the extra tax forms (1099's) this year, rather than next year, by which time I may well have forgotten about all the accounts I might have had.
- Consolidate into a Wells Fargo PMA account. The Wells Fargo PMA account will let me consolidate many of my accounts into a single low-cost provider: IRA, brokerage, high-yield savings (using a money market fund).
- Maximize my returns by pursuing better deals. One of the main reasons I want to close my old accounts is so I can open up new ones! I can only keep track of so many things at once and closing those old accounts frees up some headroom to open new ones. These new accounts are all for the sake of getting better deals:
- Tax-exempt money market savings. I currently hold cash in an E-Trade Complete Savings account, currently yielding 5.05%. I've come to realize however that I'm much better off in a tax-exempt money market fund, given my tax situation.
- Fidelity checking. This will allow the floating balance in my checking account (about $1500) to actually work for me a little bit (3.5% yield, or higher if you move the money into a money market fund). There are higher-interest checking accounts out there, but this one has a few perks, like highly automated money movement features (automatic self-funded overdraft), and a 1.5% cash back credit card...
- Credit card rewards. My main credit card is currently a 1% cash back Citi Dividend Platinum Select. You can do a lot better than 1% these days. Not only do I plan on moving to the Fidelity 1.5% cash back card, but I am currently researching a good 3% cash back card like the Chase Freedom card.
That's it! I've been planning and researching these changes for a while now. Setting them all down here, I realize what a huge change these will amount to: a complete financial re-organization!
I plan on covering all of these steps in upcoming blog posts. Check back for more!
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