10 ways to achieve financial success, even now

In scary times like these it’s all too easy to forget the financial basics. The other day, Patricia Q. Brennan, a certified financial planner and professor emerita at Rutgers University, who has been teaching women about personal finance for almost 40 years, gave a talk on the 10 essential things women need to do. We think her advice applies just as well to that other gender.

1. Set financial goals. Include specific dates and specific costs—and think of short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term goals. Measure your progress periodically.

2. Manage household cash flow. Try to increase household income, lower household expenses, or do both.

3. Automate your savings. Put money into retirement plans like 401(k)s, join mutual-fund automatic-savings programs.

4. Figure out your net worth. Add up all your assets (cash, investments, property) and subtract your debts (mortgages, loans, bills). Check your progress.

5. Use credit wisely. Have no more than two credit cards, avoid cash advances, try to pay more than the minimum.

6. Use insurance wisely. You need health, disability, and other types of insurance, but not credit life insurance, flight insurance, dread-disease policies, or life insurance on children.

7. Become an informed investor. Attend seminars, read financial publications, join investment clubs.

8. Understand risk—and accept it. All investments involve risk. If you own fixed-income investments, one risk is that interest rates will rise, making your bonds less valuable.

9. Use common sense. Buy what you know, diversify your portfolio, keep expenses under control, reinvest dividends and capital gains.

10. Take advantage of tax breaks. Consider tax-efficient index funds, put money into IRAs, and consider tax-exempt securities for taxable accounts. —Warren Boroson

Guest contributor Warren Boroson is the author of more than 20 books, including “How to Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffett” (J.K. Lasser).