3 pretty-yet-practical planners for 2021

While the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on many parts of life this past year, it has also prompted record low mortgage rates, making this a prime time to refinance and lower your monthly payments. As for student loan refinancing, federal student loans are in forbearance until Jan. 31, meaning interest is suspended and payments are not required. However, this does not apply to private student loans and you may want to consider refinancing these types of loans to lock in lower rates.

If you have credit card debt, consider making it a goal to pay it off. There are a few approaches you can take, but two common strategies are:

• Paying off your highest debt first (the debt avalanche method)
• Paying off your smallest amount of debt first (the debt snowball method).

One of the easiest ways to build your savings is automating your contributions. Most employers allow you to divide your paycheck into different accounts. If not, you can likely set up automatic transfers with your bank.

In general, experts recommend saving three to six months of living expenses. Start by opening a separate and dedicated high-yield savings account. After that, consider these four tips:

• Evaluate your spending and look for areas where you can save.
• Set a savings goal.
• Set up automatic contributions.
• Increase contributions over time.

Saving for retirement is one of the most important aspects of sound financial planning.

“Use 2021 to boost or maximize contributions to 401(k)s or HSAs, plot out holistic retirement goals and, no matter your age or life stage, take meaningful steps to boost your financial wellness,” says Lorna Sabbia, head of retirement and personal wealth solutions at Bank of America.

Don’t limit your investing to retirement contributions. If you already have an emergency savings account, consider setting up another account to invest for goals with specific time horizons, like early retirement or saving for a house.

If you’re just getting started, you may want to look into a robo-adviser, which will do the investing for you after taking your risk tolerance and ideal earnings into consideration.

Your credit score plays a critical role in determining whether you get financial services you need. It can influence your car insurance rates in some states, as well as how much you pay in interest when you get a loan.

Visit annualcreditreport.com to get a free copy of your credit report. You’re typically able to access only one free report a year, but it’s been increased to once a month until April 2021 as a result of COVID-19.

This may be something you’ve already begun to do with many restaurants around the U.S. being limited to takeout.

Keep it going into 2021. You can make it fun (and easy) with meal subscription services that deliver perfectly measured ingredients straight to your door.

Have you experienced a life-changing situation recently? If you have, your beneficiaries might be out of date.

This includes your retirement and bank accounts, insurance policy and other financial accounts to make sure your beneficiaries are accurate.

“People are realizing that self-employment is not inherently more risky than traditional employment because there’s built-in income diversification when you have multiple clients or customers,” says Laura Gariepy, business coach and founder of Before You Go Freelance, a blog that offers advice for aspiring freelancers.

There’s a variety of ways you can diversify your revenue streams. Freelance work is great for those who have a specific skill to offer others.