Everyday Money Habits · Worksheet

Your next dollar has an address.

The order isn’t a matter of taste — each move earns more than the one below it. Walk the five money moves from the top, tick what’s already true, and the first unchecked box is where your next dollar belongs. It’s almost always one log-in away.

Beginner
First job

Name

Date

Audience: For anyone deciding where extra money goes
Time: About 15 minutes
Materials: Your latest account balances · a pen

Objective

Walk the five money moves in order, tick what’s already true, and find the first unchecked box — where your next dollar belongs.

Use this when

There’s money left over each month and you’re not sure whether it should go to debt, savings, or investing.

1 · Climb the ladder

Work top to bottom and tick every box that’s already true today. Be honest — a half-funded rung is an unchecked box. (The detailed map is nine steps; this is the practical five-rung version.)

1The match
Get the full 401(k) match. Free money — a 50–100% return the day you sign up. No 401(k) or no match at your job? Treat this rung as checked and move down.
I’m contributing enough to collect the full employer match
2The safety net
Cash for your biggest deductible, then any debt at about 7% or higher, then 3–6 months of expenses.
Cash on hand covers my biggest insurance deductible (this one comes even before the match if you have neither)
Debt at roughly 7% or higher is paid off — or has a written payoff plan
Three to six months of essentials sit in high-yield savings
3Roth IRA + HSA
Roth IRA every year. Fund (and invest) an HSA — a health savings account — if your health plan is a high-deductible one.
My Roth IRA is funded this year ($7,500 for most people) — and the money is invested, not parked
If my health plan is high-deductible: the HSA is funded and invested
4More into the 401(k)
Raise what you put in until you hit the yearly limit (or your plan caps you earlier).
I’m at the yearly 401(k) limit
5Everything else
A regular brokerage account, a 529 (a college-savings account), extra mortgage payments, more giving. Choose by your goals.
No box here — this rung has no finish line. You only reach it once everything above is checked.

Why this order: the match pays 50–100% the day you claim it, paying off a 22% card is the same as earning a guaranteed 22%, and the market averages about 7% a year after inflation — each rung out-earns the one below it.

2 · Your spot on the map

Find the first unchecked box from the top. That’s the address. One rung at a time — it’s a sequence, not a list you work all at once.

My next dollar belongs incopy the first unchecked line in your own words

The one log-in that moves itbenefits portal, bank transfer page, brokerage — name it

I’ll do it bya date this week beats a perfect date next month

After any major life change — new job, marriage, a baby, a move — walk the list again from the top.

3 · Reflection

The rung you expected to have checked, but don’t — and what got in the way:

What checking your current rung would let you stop worrying about:

Based on the Where the next dollar goes lesson.