Sometimes you can feel a little stuck in your current financial situation. Often it’s tough to get visibility or to know where you stand. Even with a budget it can be tough. Are you in a good financial position? Are you doing ‘enough’ to improve your financial standing? Are there things you are forgetting? Aside from paying a professional way it can be tough to know! Here’s are a few suggestions to help you take stock of where you stand.

Ensure that you’re not paying any bank fees

The average American pays $159/year in bank fees. That number is money thrown down the drain and you should not be paying anything on your bank fees. Whether it’s ATM fees for using non-bank ATM fees or overdraft fees, make sure you are avoiding those. It’s not that difficult to pay $0 in annual bank fees. If you find that it’s difficult to avoid fees, consider switching to a bank like Capital One or Ally bank. They’ve both got good service, higher interest rates and no annual fees.

Ensure that you are getting a good return on your credit card purchases

Ok, so maybe I’m a little addicted to credit cards and the points I get from them, but it’s because I get a lot of rewards that help me travel a lot. With a good credit card, you can get as high as 2% back if you do it right. If you’re just rocking a bank credit card with a fancy tagline like “1…2…3” or “double points on some categories”, you should probably reconsider the card you carry. The YMF go-to recommended card is the Quiksilver, from Capital One. It’s no annual fee, 1.5% cash back and truly ‘no hassle’ make it a great card.

Evaluate your eating out habits

Eating out is one of the biggest ways to blow a hole in your budget. Whether it’s going out for lunch, grabbing take out on the way home (so tempting though) or going out for dinner, those purchases really add up. Now it’s certainly not reasonable to cut out all eating out, but learn to cut back some. Head to the grocery store on the weekends, buy a loaf of bread along with some lunch meat and eat that for lunch. Meal plan or overcook on Sunday night to have meals to eat during the week so you’re not tempted to stop for Chinese takeout. When going out for dinners, avoid extra sides and alcohol. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to improve your monthly expenses, try cutting out the number of times you eat out!

Ensure you’re saving

A good barometer of your financial standing is whether or not you are saving. It doesn’t matter how much or how little, just if you are saving. Even the simple act of saving can indicate good financial standing. Saving means that you’re in control of your budget, controlling your expenses and that you are looking to improve your own situation.

Check on your retirement account

Trick question – to check on your retirement account, you first have to have one. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to work for the rest of my life. I don’t have a pension available to me and I can’t just rely on Social Security from the Government to help me retire. I’m contributing 15% (the recommended amount by most financial professionals) to my retirement account. Even if you can’t contribute 15%, saving something for retirement is better than nothing. One of the hallmarks of our generation is that we are just focused on the present, which means we’re not thinking of retirement. However, more than ever, you must set aside money for retirement. If your work doesn’t offer a 401(k) to participate in, go to your bank and inquire about opening an IRA. You don’t have to have a lot of money put aside or put it in complex investments to save!

Although not a comprehensive checklist, doing a quick assessment based on the previous 5 questions will give you a quick gauge or your overall financial health!