Now that you have your budget in order, made sure your credit report is correct, done everything you can to reduce your taxes, and updated your will, it is time to get serious about your retirement.

Hopefully, you are saving for your retirement through a 401k, 403b, or IRA account. If not, please start. If you have been saving through one of these plans, it is time for some review and updating. Here are some points to consider:

When was the last time you increased your contribution?
When did you last rebalance your portfolio?
Do you have a primary & contingent beneficiary listed?

Many people get regular raises, if you get a 3% raise, consider increasing your contributions by 1%.

It is ok to take some of those gains off the table. Re-balancing your portfolio allocation forces you to analyze your investments and re-allocation the cash.

Have you gotten married, divorced, has there been a death? These are all primary reasons to check your beneficiary designations. Often this gets overlooked when there are life changes. Many people have not named a contingent beneficiary to their retirement plans. This is just as important as naming your primary beneficiary. You never know what might happen.

If you need help with these checklist items, or have other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at nancy@financialgroup.com

Happy 2014!

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