Have you ever been in a situation where you thought something was taken care of, only to realize later that it wasn’t? You may have felt embarrassed and stressed if you had to rush to fix it. Well, that happened to me a few years ago with the annual renewal of my auto registration. I was confident that I had renewed it, and then one day a friendly police officer alerted me to the fact that I was driving around with an expired license plate. I was appalled, and I couldn’t believe this annual obligation was somehow missed.

As you may recall, we are big believers in systemizing finances as much as possible. This framework includes having a Savings-to-Spend account, and setting up other cash flows so that you are saving money unconsciously, and spending money more consciously. With technology, it is easy now to set up all your routine bills to be paid automatically. The benefit here is having cash flow that is smooth and predictable. But there are some events where having a financial calendar is helpful, such as the following:

To Schedule Out Expected Monthly Charges

In addition to my old school paper calendar, I use an electronic spreadsheet by month to document my expected monthly charges. Because I have automated so many expenses, I found it most helpful to use PlanFirst! to capture the transactions, followed by a spreadsheet to help me monitor for unusual activity. For example, recently I noticed that my charge for SiriusXM radio doubled from what I had scheduled on the spreadsheet. Luckily, after reviewing my paper calendar from last year, I had documented that we had originally signed up for an introductory offer that was going to expire after one year. So, instead of thinking there was an error that I needed to sort out, I realized that I was now being charged the normal rate. The audit trail I created on my financial calendar saved me from jumping through hoops to figure out what was going on.

The spreadsheet is a good option, but you could do the same thing on a paper calendar if you aren’t adept at using a spreadsheet. The idea here is to map out the charges you expect to see routinely, either on a credit card or a bank account.

To Document Unusual Transactions

You may use your financial calendar to document unusual financial events. For example, I had a major garage door repair recently for over $400. This was not a company I routinely do business with. Luckily, I had scratched a note on my calendar that day. When my credit card bill came, I was able to quickly identify the charge, even though the name on my statement was nothing like the name of the company that performed the work. I’ve noticed this happens often, as small businesses routinely use outside vendors to process their credit card transactions.

I also like to use my financial calendar to document returns on mail order merchandise, and the amount expected to be credited to the account. 

To Prepare for Known Future Financial Events

I started using an old school paper calendar to make note of the unusual financial events that come once a year, and a few that happen quarterly. You may find this helpful as well, especially if you have certain times of the year when major bills come due. For example, it seems that I have numerous annual expenses that fall into April, such as insurance. For this year, I noted the exact date when my auto insurance was due for renewal. By working off a calendar, I was able to spend time shopping for quotes ahead of time, without feeling rushed when the renewal invoice showed up. 

Another example might be “put together package for tax preparer” for the month of January, and then in February “send tax information to CPA.” These are examples of events that happen every year, but by using your financial calendar, it reduces stress because you can map out your financial moves ahead of time.

To Plan Out Strategic Financial Moves Over the Next 12 Months

You can use your financial calendar to plan for significant changes that you want to make in the year ahead. For example, you may want to update your estate plan, move your main checking account, or change one of your credit cards. With the help of some sticky notes, you can simply review the year in advance and target a move that you would like to make in a specific month.

To Document Review of Free Credit Report

You can use your financial calendar to document when you have reviewed one of your 3 free credit reports. As a reminder, you can go to www.annualcreditreport.com and request a report from one of the major credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). You are permitted one free credit report from each company each year. One tactic I’ve used is to go about every 4 months and download one of the three reports. It works out well—especially when you have documented the ones you have already used. (I tend to go in alphabetical order.)

Increase Your Sense of Control 

By combining the PlanFirst! system of managing your accounts and tracking transactions with a financial calendar (electronic or paper), it will give you a sense of control over the year, and help you spot bad charges or possibly fraud. You can start small and adapt a financial calendar to your needs. In the long run, you may find yourself motivated to improve your financial framework, and even having fun discovering ways to make managing your finances easier. 

Kristina Bolhouse, CPA/PFS, CFP®

Vice President/Shareholder

© 2024 Kristina Bolhouse and The Arkansas Financial Group, Inc., All rights reserved.

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