10 Financial To-Do's for Spring (You'll Feel Great When You Check Them Off)

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Many people start each new year by making adjustments to their personal finances. If you didn't do that in January, consider taking a look now that spring is springing.

If you've completed your 2025 tax returns and discovered you're getting a big refund, you might want to slightly reduce your W-2 withholding rates.

While it's always nice to get a big chunk of your tax payments back, it might be better for you to give less to Uncle Sam throughout the year.

Likewise, if you ended up owing taxes for the year, you might want to increase your withholding rates.

A tax professional can help figure out your "tax Goldilocks zone."

Did you get an end-of-year bonus or raise? Consider using some of it to increase your contributions to your 401(k) plan.

In 2026 , you can contribute up to $24,500 in regular contributions, plus up to $8,000 more in "catch-up contributions" if you're 50 or older.

Keep in mind that if you earn $150,000 or more per year from your current employer, all of your catch-up contributions must be after-tax Roth 401(k) contributions.

If your company doesn't have a 401(k) plan, consider making a contribution to an IRA. In 2026, you can contribute up to $7,500, plus up to $1,100 more if you're over age 50.

Take a close look at how your portfolio performed as a whole and the returns for each account.

Because the stock market did well last year, chances are that you may have more money invested in stocks (or stock funds) and less in bonds (or bond funds) than you originally intended.

If so, consider adjusting your stock and bond holdings to your targeted balance by selling some stocks and reinvesting the proceeds into bonds.

Now, this can be a very complicated task to do on your own, particularly in a taxable account where you're trying to minimize capital gains, which is why most people leave these decisions in the hands of an experienced investment adviser.

If you have a flexible savings account (FSA) at work and haven't depleted your previous-year funds, there may be hope.

Your employer may offer a grace period of up to 2½ months to use up leftover FSA balances from last year, or they may allow you to roll over a certain amount to be used for 2026 claims.

If you're struggling to find ways to use your leftover FSA funds, think about reducing your contributions during your next enrollment period.

It's always a good time to check your credit score and make sure that no one has opened any credit card accounts in your name without your knowledge, especially if you plan on applying for a mortgage or home equity loan.

All three of the main credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, allow you to request one free credit report per year.

Instead of asking for them all at once, consider staggering each individual request over the course of the year.

You can request these credit reports online at annualcreditreport.com.

It's important to keep in mind that if you close credit card accounts, this could impact your credit score. That's because some credit reporting bureaus give higher credit scores to consumers who have many credit cards open at the same time, even if they're not actively used.

As an alternative, you may want to ask these credit card issuers if they can place a freeze on your card to prevent unauthorized usage.

If you're counting on your college-age kids receiving financial aid for the upcoming academic year, complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application if they're looking for federally funded direct student loans, or their CSS/Financial Aid Profile application if they wish to be considered for scholarships.

It's important for people of all ages to make sure they've documented their wishes should they become medically incapacitated.

At the very least, assign someone you trust as a health care proxy who can make these decisions on your behalf and give someone financial power of attorney to handle your financial affairs.

Also, make sure that the beneficiaries for your retirement accounts and life insurance policies are up to date and that your will still reflects your wishes.

It's always good to review the beneficiaries for your investment and retirement accounts to make sure this money will go to the people you want to receive it.

If you don't designate beneficiaries for these accounts, these assets will go to your estate, where they could be held up in probate for months or years.

Designated beneficiaries will inherit assets these accounts even if your will specifies that heirs who aren't beneficiaries should inherit your wealth.

That's why it's particularly important to replace beneficiaries — such as an ex-spouse — you no longer wish to inherit these accounts.

Protect your online security by changing your online passwords to something that will be difficult for a hacker to figure out.

Preferably, each should be a combination of capital and lowercase letters and numbers and special characters.

Avoid reusing passwords. If you use the same password for multiple accounts, a hacker who steals a password on one site could use it to access other online accounts.

If you can't remember the last time you backed up your computer, now is the time to do it.

If you don't have the time or knowledge needed to do a full system backup, focus on saving your personal files to a flash drive, external hard drive or to the cloud.

If you have numerous photos and videos stored on your tablet or smartphone, back them up to the cloud or transfer them to your computer.

Obviously, there's a lot of work involved in completing many of these tasks. If you don't feel comfortable doing them on your own, ask for help and guidance from your financial adviser, accountant or attorney.

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.