Make a List You Can't Miss

¿ If you have credit card or student loan debt, develop a plan to aggressively rid yourself of that burden. If you can't do it yourself, contact a consumer credit counseling agency. To find one in your area, call the National Foundation for Credit Counseling at 800-388-2227 or go to http://www.debtadvice.org.

¿ Get a will prepared or update the one you have. If you don't have the money to hire an attorney, then at the very least go to any office-supply store or go online and order a no-frills will kit. Nolo.com sells basic wills online.

¿ While you are gathering all the information for your will, prepare a "letter of instruction." This letter includes whom should be contacted in the event of your death and the whereabouts of all your essential documents, such as your will, bank statements, insurance polices, checking accounts and mutual fund statements. If you write the letter on a computer, remember to print a copy or save it to a CD in case your computer can't be accessed.

¿ If you haven't already, get copies of your credit reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Everyone is entitled to a copy of his or her credit report from each bureau every 12 months. For more information on the free reports, go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com. This is the official Web site to get the free reports.

¿ Review all your insurance policies -- home, car and life. You always want to be sure your coverage is adequate.

For example, if you have received some pricey gifts for the holidays, call your insurance company to make sure they are covered under your current policy. You might also consider raising your deductibles to cut your insurance costs.

¿ Open your retirement statements or go online and make sure your retirement accounts are well diversified. Here's a site with some general guidance on asset allocation: http://www.401khelpcenter.com/allocation.html.