January gets all the attention when it comes to financial resolutions. But September may actually be one of the best times to take a fresh look at your finances.
You have eight months of real-world information about how the year is going, but you’re not so close to December 31 that there’s no time left to make changes.
Think of it as financial spring cleaning, just a few months late.
Here are eight places to start.
1. Find the Accounts You’ve Left Behind
Changed jobs a few times? There’s a chance you’ve left a retirement account behind.
Make a list of previous employers and determine where those accounts are currently held. The Department of Labor even has a Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database designed to help people locate retirement plans associated with former private-sector employers.
Finding an old account doesn’t necessarily mean you should immediately move it. Depending on your situation, you may be able to leave money in the existing plan, roll it into a new employer plan, or roll it into an IRA. Each option can have different fees, investments, and tax considerations.
The important part is knowing where your money is.
2. Audit Your Recurring Expenses
Pull up the last few months of bank and credit card statements and look specifically for recurring charges.
Streaming services. Apps. Memberships. Software. Storage. Meal programs. Subscription boxes. Automatic renewals.
Then ask a very simple question:
Would I sign up for this again today?
If the answer is no, cancel it.
A $20 charge doesn’t feel significant in isolation. But $20 every month is $240 a year—and most of us have more than one recurring expense we’ve stopped noticing.
3. Check Your Beneficiaries
Beneficiary designations are one of those financial tasks that are easy to complete once and forget.
Review the beneficiaries listed on your retirement accounts and other financial accounts where beneficiary designations apply, particularly if you’ve experienced a major life change.
Marriage, divorce, births, deaths, and changes in family relationships can all be reasons to take another look.
And don’t assume your estate documents automatically take care of every account. Retirement accounts have their own beneficiary designation procedures and rules.
4. Pull Your Credit Reports
You don’t need to be applying for a mortgage to care what’s on your credit report.
Reviewing your reports periodically can help you spot accounts you don’t recognize, inaccurate information, or old issues you may have forgotten about.
Consider making it part of your annual financial maintenance routine rather than something you only check when you need credit.
5. Review Your Insurance
Insurance shouldn’t necessarily be a “set it and forget it” decision either.
Has your income changed? Bought or sold property? Started a business? Added another child? Accumulated significantly more assets?
Your life may look very different from when you originally purchased your policies.
Review what you currently have—including life, disability, homeowners or renters, auto, business, and umbrella coverage where applicable—and make sure you understand both your coverage and your deductibles.
This isn’t necessarily about buying more insurance. It’s about making sure the protection you have still matches the life you have.
6. Look at Your Automatic Transfers
Automation is one of the easiest ways to build good financial habits.
But automation can also make it easy to stop paying attention.
Look at what’s automatically moving into savings, retirement, brokerage accounts, college funds, or other financial goals.
Then ask:
Does this amount still make sense?
If your income has increased but your automatic savings hasn’t changed in three years, you may be saving based on an old version of your financial life.
7. Revisit the Goals You Made in January
Remember those?
Maybe you wanted to build your emergency fund, pay down a certain debt, invest more, save for a home, increase retirement contributions, or finally get serious about a business or investment goal.
Pull those goals back out and see where you stand.
You don’t need to be perfectly on track.
You just need to decide whether the goal still matters—and, if it does, what needs to happen over the next four months.
Sometimes the smartest financial decision isn’t working harder toward an old goal.
It’s realizing your priorities have changed and creating a new one.
8. Put Everything in One Place
Finally, create a simple financial inventory.
You don’t need a complicated spreadsheet. Start with a list of your:
Bank accounts • investment accounts • retirement plans • debts • insurance policies • major assets • recurring expenses • financial goals
Add where each account is held and make sure you can access it.
You may be surprised by how much easier financial planning becomes when you can actually see the entire picture.
A Reset Doesn’t Require Starting Over
Financial organization isn’t about having a perfect spreadsheet or obsessing over every dollar.
It’s about making sure the financial decisions you’ve accumulated over the years still make sense for the life you’re living today.
Set aside an hour this September. Cancel what you don’t need. Find what you’ve forgotten. Update what’s outdated. Automate what’s important.
Then decide where you want your money to take you next.
Sometimes the best money move isn’t adding another strategy.
It’s cleaning up the ones you already have.
Schedule a Strategy Consultation today to discuss proactive tax planning before year-end.
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