Dog Days of Summer
Summer
doldrums!
I
don't know about you, but I'm ready for something new and different.
The dog days of Summer are settling in and I'm finding myself
in a rut.
I've
taken to organizing and filing my personal paperwork lately. It's
not that I am out of client work to do. I just need a sense of
personal accomplishment right now. You may have heard the story
about the plumber's wife always being the last to get a leaky faucet
repaired? Well my personal finances seem to take a back burner to
client work, at least on most days.
I'm
making progress on that score now. I set up new file folders for
each of our retirement accounts, so we have our statements organized
by account. By the way, be sure to carefully review your annual
retirement statements. If all transactions for the year show up
there, you can probably shred the monthly or quarterly reports to
eliminate some clutter. Keep the annual statements!
Another
little task I finally completed was to finish recording the serial
numbers on our Series EE US Savings Bonds, before putting them in the
safe deposit box. We accumulated quite a few of these over the
years, through payroll deductions.
I
used to think this was not a great investment, but considering market
losses in recent years, 4% tax-deferred interest (and tax-free for
state income tax purposes) sounds pretty good. Of course, you would
not want this to be your only type of investment.
If
you have savings bonds, you can download a nifty little software
program Savings Bond Wizard from
the US government to help you keep track of them, and even give you
current values for each bond. I love it!
I
may still be trudging along in my rut, but at least I am
accomplishing a few seemingly trivial, but ultimately valuable tasks
this summer.
Here's
hoping you will make profitable use of your time before we get back
into the excitement of Fall, school and other busy days.
Keep
on keeping on!
~
Jean
