Mariel Segarra

Let's move into the tasks you're going to do a handful of times a year.

Here's a big one.

Get a credit report.

A credit report lists information about the money you owe or have owed in the past.

It'll say whether you missed a payment on a credit card or closed an account, for instance.

And you want to make sure that it's accurate because this is one of the main things lenders look at when they decide whether to loan you money.

Every year you can get a free report from each of the credit bureaus.

Those are Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian.

You can go to annualcreditreport.com to request those.

Brent suggests that every four months you request one from a different bureau.

By the way, on the topic of loans and debt.

Figure out if you need to make any changes.

Maybe you should be paying more towards one bill or trying to consolidate your loans or refinance.

All right, back to taxes for a moment.

If you get a paycheck from an employer, it's a good idea to check on your tax withholding during the year.

That's how much money your employer is taking out of your paycheck and sending to the government on your behalf.

If they take out too little, you might get a big bill when you file your taxes.

An accountant or a tax planner can do this math for you, but also the IRS website has a calculator you can use.

It'll give you an estimate of what your employer should be withholding.

You just need to have your last pay stub handy.