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A Beginner's Checklist

Perhaps one of the best underused life hacks is to use checklists to automate your financial decisions. This is helpful because, as they say, the easiest person you can fool is yourself. Thus checklists can act as bulwarks against your own dumb limbic brain.

Here's a starter financial checklist I suggest you get started with:

[] Savings accounts for all adults
[] Term life insurance for family members
[] Health insurance with highest deductible you can handle (more on this later)
[] Nominees for each account
[] Wills for everyone >30 years old
[] Backup photocopies of important documents kept in a locker
[] Property taxes cleared
[] Emergency fund set up
[] Minimal budget created with 20% savings margin
[] Commitment to no debt except house mortgage (40% down, 15 years fixed rate)
[] Diversified investment strategy
[] Retirement strategy
[] Gift fund
[] Opportunity fund

It may take you a year or more to complete this checklist. But it'll be worth it!

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