We’re a bit late for it this year, but I thought it would be good to start a new tradition where at the start of the New Year we remind you of some important financial housekeeping tasks.

Review 401(k) Limits: According to Kiplinger’s, the 2021 limit on 401Ks is $19,500 (up from $18,500 a few years ago). If you’re making regular contributions (such as having it taken directly out of your paycheck), make sure you’ve adjusted it accordingly if you want to max it out. (It’s best to do this at the beginning of the year so you only have to do it once — if you do it in the middle of the year you’re either not maxing it out or you’ll have to change your contribution again next January.)

{related: where to save (when you don’t know what you’re saving for)}

Review IRA Limits: There is no change in 2021. According to Investopedia, “[t]he 2021 combined annual contribution limit for Roth and traditional IRAs is $6,000 ($7,000 if you’re age 50 or older).”

Reassess your debt:If your mortgage or student loan payment amounts changed recently (my mortgage seems to change yearly, at least!), figure out how you can round the required amount UP to an even number, and make the change accordingly (paying the extra toward principal). Do what you can — every little bit helps with principal (this Dave Ramsey calculator helps you see how much), and knowing that a memorable round number is coming out of your bank account is helpful to know if you’ve got enough in your account.

{related: how to decide when to pay down debt — and when to save}

For example, if your mortgage payment is now $3,218, you could pay

• an extra $282 toward principal each month (total = $3,500 each month)
• an extra $82 toward principal each month (total = $3,300 each month)
• pay an extra $782 toward principal each month (total = $4,000 each month)
• or pay an extra $32 toward principal each month (total = $3250 each month).

In honor of this series’ original title, Tales from the Wallet… here’s a wallet we love!

This Comme des Garçons wallet is $163 at Nordstrom.

This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

If you have a 529 plan (or several), reassess your automatic contributions — each state occasionally changes the amount you can give to get a state income tax deduction; if you want to max it out, then assess.

{related: not sure what to do first/next in your personal finance journey? here’s our money roadmap}

Reassess your subscriptions and other repeating payments and make sure you’re not paying money for things you’re not using.

Automate what you can: Consider setting up automatic investing, or automatic saving to amortize big expenses. I have a small amount of money automatically moved from checking to Ally bank accounts for:

• Vacation fund
• Insurance fund (since those can be large-ish bills that we only pay once or twice a year)
• Depending on need, I’ve had automatic transfers set up to get the emergency fund back to where I want it to be, for health insurance deductibles (there were a few years there where we reliably maxed our deductible), separate accounts for little projects around Casa Griffin, etc.
• With my business I also do automatic transfers for the yearly amount I’ve needed for accounting/legal advice and a few other large but irregular bills.

What personal finance tasks would YOU do ASAP in a new year, readers?

What have you done already this year; what has this list inspired you to do?

{related: what was the best financial decision you made last year? (2018 discussion)}

Stock photo via Shutterstock / ESB Professional.

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