The new year -- what better time to look at your finances? But where do you even start?
Scottsdale financial advisor Michael Carlin from Wealth Management LLC suggests taking a look at what's going in and what's going out.
"January is a really nice opportunity to open and close things, because once you get though the holidays and finish a full 12 months of spending, now you'll know roughly what your budgets are," he said. "(Ask yourself) how much am I spending on gifts? How much am I spending on travel? If you have a year's worth of data, you can really do a nice forecast."
Next, he said, figure out how much you want to save, and establish a plan to meet your needs and your family's needs for 2016.
Carlin said it's vital to take the steps now because of the volatile start to the year on Wall Street. He recommends that you comb through your portfolio to make sure your money is where you want it, and where it's going to make more for you long term.
You don't want to start 2017 wishing you had.
