Mariel Segarra

You can also get a W-4 on the IRS website and then submit it to your employer.

That was Akiva Ellis, by the way.

She's a certified financial planner, and I talked to her for one of our tax episodes.

So that's if you have an employer who withholds taxes from your paycheck.

If you're self-employed or you're an independent contractor, your cadence is going to be different.

We also have an episode on how to handle your finances when you're a freelancer.

One tip from that episode from Paco de Leon, a financial coach and bookkeeper.

All right, moving on to the monthly stuff.

This is just basic financial housekeeping.

You want to be paying your bills on time.

Brent pays all of his bills on the first of the month.

You might set your bills to auto pay whenever possible.

Whatever you do, Soledad says it's a good idea to keep a buffer in your checking account so that you don't overdraft and then get hit with fees.

And then a couple times a month, so every two weeks, look over your accounts for fraud.

Like maybe you'll see a charge from a shoe store, but you didn't buy any shoes.

Call your credit card company or report that as fraud online.

So they can freeze the old card and send you a new one.

Soledad says every month we should also check on our income and career goals.

That might mean updating your LinkedIn or applying for a new job or making a new contact in your industry or just adding to your brag bank.

Next, remember those annual financial goals that you set?