Taking Your Financial Temperature—The 4 Numbers Worth Paying Attention To

Taking Your Financial Temperature?The 4 Numbers Worth Paying Attention To

As the year comes to a close, and you begin to prepare yourself for the holidays, it is a great time to look back and evaluate your financial standing. It is easy to get distracted by the various transactions that you undertake during the course of the year. The ups and downs of your portfolio, the successes and setbacks of your business, and the unexpected revenues you?ve received and surprise payments you?ve had to make. Taking the time to look at the numbers as a whole will give you a more general, and realistic, view of your financial health.

The 4 numbers that are especially worth paying attention to, according to a really insightful article in Money, are:

• Credit Score
• Retirement Savings Rate
• Emergency Fund
• Net Worth

Your credit score is a big one. Having a good credit score helps you secure favorable terms for loans. However, a high FICO score will also help you rent the kind of apartment you want and can also be used as a factor in getting the next job you apply for. You should make it a priority to keep track of your credit score, for it will tell you a great deal about your financial health.

Your retirement savings rate is also another important thing to review. You should be cognizant of how much of your salary or incoming revenue that you put aside for retirement. Some experts say %15 is a good number. However, you might have different plans and a different number in mind. Whatever your standard, taking the time to see what you?ve actually saved over the year is a good way of knowing what changes and adjustments you might need to make in 2015.

You can find the other advice offered by the article here. Taking a moment to do a self-checkup of your financial health is time well spent. Even as you pursue the daily grind of making money and building your success, it?s important to keep the big picture in mind; and in order to do that you must know exactly what it looks like.