Sure, you’ve maxed out your retirement fund and are sticking to your budget – but is that enough to enter 2027 with a clean bill of financial health? Meggan Ciaccia, CPA, president of Ciaccia CPA, gave us 5 questions we all should be asking ourselves right now.
1. Did you withhold enough this year?
Yes, tax season is months away. But just like you take proactive steps to avoid getting sick, you want to take early steps – as in, right now – to make sure tax day doesn’t throw you a curve ball.
“There’s nothing worse than getting a bill a week after tax day for penalties and interest,” Ciaccia says. “It’s bad enough writing that first check to the IRS, but having to then write another…”
Now is the time to check your pay stubs if you’re a full-time employee, or your books if you own a business, to make sure you’ve sent enough money to the IRS this year.
If you haven’t, you could end up with a surprise bill of penalties and interest for not paying enough tax through the year.
2. Is there money in you FSA account?
If you don’t have a Flexible Spending Account, you’re missing out. And if you do have one, but are letting the money sit year after year, you’re really missing out.
An FSA is made up of pre-taxed income that is set aside to be used for certain health purchases. And it’s a use-it-or-lose-it situation, says Ciaccia, so the funds don’t roll over to the next year. “If you enroll and don’t use it, you’re losing money,” she says.
Ciaccia has seen people able to use it for gaming chairs, gym memberships, sunscreen and more, so she urges her clients to take full advantage and do the research into what they can put that FSA money towards.
3. What’s your net worth?
You don’t have to be famous to know your net worth. And it’s actually more important to know your own net worth than the net worth of Jalen Hurts (who knew).
Ciaccia recommends that everyone take the time to calculate their net worth: Add up your assets, add up your debts, then subtract your debts from your assets. Because knowledge is power. “The more we know about our personal situation or business situation, the better we can make decisions,” she says.
And if you calculate your net worth and find yourself in a bad situation, Ciaccia says that’s ok too. “Anything is fixable,” she says. “But you need to know what has to be fixed, so do the calculations sooner rather than later.”
4. When was the last time you looked at your credit report?
The idea that “you don’t know what you don’t know” also applies to your credit.
Instead of waiting until you’re buying a house or getting a business loan to see what your credit report digs up, Ciaccia urges people to stay on top of the information. Especially because sometimes, it can surprise you.
“If you wait until you’re trying to get the loan or buy the house, it can be too late to fix,” she says. “Identity theft happens, and you could have no idea. I’ve even had people with common names have someone else’s credit put on their account by mistake, and they would have had no idea if they didn’t check regularly.”
5. Do you have a financial advisor?
These may be guidelines to live by, but that doesn’t mean every person’s financial journey will look the same. In fact, it’s pretty much the opposite, says Ciaccia, which is why having a financial advisor is the real key to making the best decisions for your money.
“These are extremely personal decisions and experiences,” Ciaccia says. “Everybody’s income is different, everybody’s assets are different, everybody’s tax planning is different. And there’s so much to know when it comes to finances, like which college loans are out there or what tax codes apply to you, it’s easy to miss something. It’s our job to stay on top of that and keep your finances at their best.”
