Each quarter, we will share three things that we are keeping Top of Mind. This quarter, we are sharing some personal finance topics and reminders

1.) Mortgage Refinance – As interest rates remain low, it is a good time to review all debt you may have (including your mortgage) and determine if refinancing would be beneficial. There are a wide variety of mortgage calculators available online to help you “do the math” (here’s one example, and another). Most banks will publish that day’s available rates – and there are also aggregator sites (like this one) that will pull from a variety of institutions.

Pay attention to refinance costs and other variables that can impact the decision – such as how long you plan to be in the home, your ability to prepay, the amount of monthly payment you can afford, and many others. It’s not an automatic decision – but may be one that can greatly improve your financial position is the fact pattern is there!

2.) Financial emergency “to go” bag – I found this recent article from Charles Schwab to be very insightful. How many of us are fully prepared for a financial emergency? One item they mention (that I did this summer) is to take videos of your home and belongings (and then store them in the cloud). In the event of a fire or theft, you have instant reminders of what you owned and can then begin to determine your loss exposure. Lots of other good ideas and worth the read!

3.) Open enrollment – It’s open enrollment season – which means it’s time to review your health care coverage and other benefits to determine if they still meet your needs. This article highlights some great things to remember. Don’t just automatically renew what you have – take a close look and adjust accordingly!