Okay Boomers, it's that time of year. Get out that shoebox full of receipts from 2008 and put together your Where'd It Go? report for 2008. It's especially important to do this now because you may need to make some serious adjustments in your spending this year to prepare for our deteriorating economy (and the hit that your 401(k)s took in the last few months). So get out your books, turn to page 27 and get to work. Don't have the book? Go to the "Buy the Book" tab above and order one now. You can even buy an e-book version of it, to get you started right away. No excuses! Now, just a little review of what you need to do.

In order to create your report, you need to gather up all of your credit card statements, checkbook and other financial statements that will list your EXPENSES during 2008. Enter these into your Quicken program or spreadsheet by category so that you can easily get a tally. The categories are shown on page 31, but you will most definitely want to tally taxes, insurance, and medical (the big categories) plus other large expenditures like mortgage or rent, utilities and food. There are 19 other categories that you should track as well.

Once you have tallied them, then do a comparison from the previous year 2007 if you have those totals. This will help you identify the areas that have increased so that you can figure out if there are some adjustments you can make for 2009, such as selecting a higher deductible for health insurance, doing energy conservation to lower utility costs, or considering downsizing to lower your mortgage or rent. Even if your numbers haven't increased from the previous year, take a look at your prospective budget for 2009 compared to what you spent in 2008. Are there categories of expenses that you will need to cut back in order to maintain your budget for the year?

This annual report is a useful tool not only for a long-term look at your longevity cost, but it's also helpful to use it for annual budgeting and tax planning. Doing this every year will help you make adjustments as you go so that you can stay on course for your long-term longevity plan.