50 Quick & Easy Money Tips

The end of summer, when job and school routines kick back in, is a great time to kick your financial life into gear, too. We’ve made it easy with our roster of quick financial tips designed to save you money, get you on track to reach a goal or simplify your life. The suggestions run the gamut from automating investments to setting up a budget to thwarting identity thieves. Each tip will take only 15 or 30 or—max—60 minutes.

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Investing

Size up your portfolio risk. 

After years of bull-market gains, you might have more of your assets in stocks than you should. Find out by visiting Personal Capital (www.personalcapital.com), an online advisory firm that will manage your portfolio for a fee but also provides free tools for do-it-your selfers. Link your investment, bank and credit accounts and the site will give you a broad view of your finances. Under the Planning tab, click on “Investment Checkup.” After you answer some simple questions about your investing goals, the site will suggest a target allocation, which you can compare with what you currently have.

Keep a lid on fund fees.

Once you’ve linked your accounts on Personal Capital, go back to the Investment Checkup tool and click “Costs.” You’ll see what you pay in fund fees as a percentage of assets, broken down by investment account (at any firm) or for your entire portfolio. For comparison, the average expense ratio for a typical diversified U.S. stock ETF is 0.38%, and it’s 1.10% for the typical actively managed diversified U.S. stock fund. 

Get paid like clockwork.

Dividend-paying companies often disburse payments every three months—which can lead to dry spells for income investors when different stocks pay out on the same schedule. Some brokerages, including E-Trade, Merrill Edge and Schwab, have a tool that maps out your next 12 months of dividends. Otherwise, go to www.nasdaq.com/quotes/ dividend-history.aspx and enter your stock holdings. If you want to add stocks that pay out in months that look sparse, see “The Kiplinger Dividend 15 Update” (Aug.) for ideas. You can check payout dates for most U.S. stocks at www.nasdaq.com/ dividend-stocks/dividendcalendar.aspx.

Invest your spare change.