You should have received your 1^st quarter report on your retirement or investment account. Do you read the entire report or just look at the new balance and file it away?

These reports are an opportunity to improve your financial literacy and understand your investment portfolio. Here are 4 easy steps:

1. Make sure deposits you made into this account are correct for the first quarter.

2. If you are lucky enough to have an employer who matches some percentage of your deposits in your retirement account, next step is to determine that correct matching funds have been deposited. Don’t become alarmed if there is no matching this quarter. Many employers only deposit matching funds once a year.

3. Has your account balance increased or decreased? Investment markets go up and down, so don’t get hung up on quarterly changes in your account.  You should be aware of short-term changes in your account, but focus your efforts on long-term investment results.

4. Why has your account gone up or down? You need to compare your results against a market benchmark. Does your investment result follow the benchmark results?

Some quarterly investment reports give you a benchmark to compare your investment choices. Some do not, so it is up to you to find out if you have chosen well and if those choices are doing well against their benchmark.

An easy way to do this is to track a few investment benchmarks. If your investments are invested in equities, track the S&P 500, the DJIA, Nasdaq, Russell 2000 and FTSE.

If you are invested in fixed income investments, track the 5, 10 and 30 year Treasuries.

Tracking a few indexes on Yahoo Finance, Motley Fool, or other websites or apps like CNBC and Bloomberg will give you some basic knowledge about what is happening in the markets.

If you want to get more specific to match up your funds against their appropriate benchmark, you can usually acquire that info from the fund’s investment company website. Or Russell has indexes for all sorts of benchmarks.

Stay informed about the financial markets. Those markets impact many aspects of our lives.

Kowalczyk comments: Good Financial Cents, Get Rich Slowly are websites you might find helpful.

Kowalczyk request: If you like this blog, please like it on Facebook. Please send it out to any of your friends who may need some help with their financial literacy.

Does someone depend on your income for his or her living expenses?  If yes, you need to know something about life insurance.

Term insurance is the most common way to protect your family members from loss of income if you die.  Yes, I know we are all going to live forever, but term insurance is an inexpensive way to protect your loved ones if you don’t life forever.

Term insurance pays out a lump sum if you die during the term on the policy.  It has no investment component.  A rule of thumb is your policy coverage should equal ten times your annual gross income.  Lifehappens.org and aarp.org offer calculators to determine the amount of insurance coverage you need.

Term insurance is often offered as part of your employee benefit package.  You can usually buy additional coverage through this group policy.

If you don’t have this employee benefit, there are many online insurance company sites to help you buy this coverage.  Or you can contact an insurance agent who can help you buy this coverage.

What if you are injured and you cannot go back to work and you have no income?  Many employers will pay your salary for a short-term disability, but you may be out of luck if you have an injury that takes you out of the job for a long time or forever.  You may need disability insurance that replaces some percentage of your income if you become unable to work for a long period of time.  You can work with an insurance agent to see if you need this coverage.

Whole life insurance is another category of insurance.  There is no term on this policy.   Universal life offers coverage for your entire life plus the ability to build cash value on a tax-deferred basis.  Variable universal life has an equity investment component that builds cash value.  You can borrow against that cash value at stated interest rates.  If you think you need this type of coverage, you should talk to an insurance agent.

Make sure you reassess your life insurance when your life situation changes.  Did you get married?  Have you had another child?  Are you helping to take care of a parent or sibling?  Has your income significantly increased?  All of these events may impact the type of life insurance you hold and the coverage.

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Kowalczyk question:  Did your parents or grandparents buy you a life insurance policy when you were born?  If yes, you should determine if you should continue to hold this policy or not now that you are an adult.