Thirty-Five Minutes to Riches

Find out your credit score

Time it takes: 7 minutes

Know how lenders see you. Take seven minutes to download a free credit report at annualcreditreport.com. (For year-round monitoring, get a report from one of the three major credit bureaus every four months.) If you spot an error, notify the bureau (online, by phone or by mail) and the creditor (call and also send a letter). You won't find your credit score here, so when you request a report from Equifax, pay $7.95 for your FICO score, the most commonly used score. The range is 300 to 850 - 700 and above is good.

Raise your credit score

Time it takes: 8 minutes

It takes time to recover from major credit lapses, but you can do two things fast that will improve your credit score. Both will lower the size of your outstanding debt as a percentage of your total borrowing power.

1. Pay down a balance. 2. Call your issuer and ask for a higher credit limit. And don't spend it.

Triple the return on savings

Time it takes: 10 minutes

Do you have cash going nowhere in a checking or savings account? Bank money-market accounts typically pay less than 1%. You can open a savings account with HSBC Direct that recently paid 5.05%. No minimum balance is required.

With your driver's license and Social Security number handy, visit hsbcdirect.com and click on Sign Me Up. You'll be walked through screens to enter personal information. Want to fund your account immediately? Have a check with your bank account number and routing code handy to authorize an electronic transfer.

Stop junk mail

Time it takes: 5 minutes

Call 888-5OPTOUT to remove your name from credit issuers' mailing lists. The result of that five-minute talk with a computer? Fewer temptations and a mailbox filled with letters, not offers for pre-approved cards.

Most important, you'll cut the risk of an identity thief raiding your mailbox or garbage can and applying for credit in your name. Stolen paper mail accounts for 9% of identity fraud cases, according to Javelin Strategy & Research.

Note: Because we're talking credit bureaus, you'll have to provide your Social Security number. It's okay.

Freeze your credit

Time it takes: 25 minutes

Doing this prevents anyone from issuing credit in your name. (You, of course, can temporarily lift the freeze when you need a loan.) Nearly 30 states allow freezes even if you haven't been an ID theft victim. In some states you'll pay about $30 to place or remove-temporarily or permanently- the freeze. Go to consumersunion.org/securityfreeze.htm for instructions.

Haggle down your credit rate

Time it takes: 8 minutes

Dial your issuer and ask for a lower rate. If your credit score tops 720, do not be satisfied until your rate is less than 10%, says Curtis Arnold of CardRatings.com. Your biggest weapon: Make it clear that you'll stop using the card if the issuer refuses. Our reporter, helped by the fact that she's been a good customer for seven years, got the rate on her Discover card cut by four percentage points.

Upgrade to a better card

Time it takes: 30 minutes

Rewards, rates and fees change often. So search CardTrak.com to make sure you have the best deal. Among the lowest-rate cards on the site recently: Simmons First National Bank in Arkansas (800-636-5151) offers a fixed rate as low as 7.25% with no annual fee to consumers who have excellent credit.

Add to your 401(k)

Time it takes: 3 minutes

You signed up for your plan right after you found the office vending machines. Now do more: Raise your contribution by a point. Save 10% of a $50,000 salary in your 401(k) and you'll have $1.4 million in 35 years, assuming 8% returns and 4% annual raises. Ramp that up to 11% and you'll earn around $140,000 more.

Call your plan or visit your 401(k)'s website. At 401(k)s administered by Fidelity, for example, raising your contribution takes all of three minutes.

Manage like a pro

Time it takes: 4 minutes

If you have a diversified portfolio, a run-up in one asset class can throw your mix out of line, increasing risk and eroding returns. An unrebalanced $10,000 portfolio of 80% stocks and 20% bonds would have grown to $21,620 over the past 10 years.

If you'd rebalanced annually, you'd have $22,213, or $593 more - and taken less risk to get there. Retooling a 401(k) is easy: With a big plan administrator like Fidelity or Hewitt, rebalancing online takes minutes. In a taxable account, simply direct new money into the lagging fund categories.

Buy a forever portfolio

Time it takes: 25 minutes

Putting together a complete fund portfolio was once a time consuming chore. Nowadays target-date funds, which adjust the stock and bond allocation to smooth returns as you near a "target" retirement year, do it for you in minutes. Many 401(k)s offer them.

For direct investments, use the low-cost options from Vanguard (800-851-4999) or T. Rowe Price (800-638-5660). At vanguard.com, click on the tab labeled Research Funds and Stocks. Find the fund that corresponds to your planned retirement year, then download and look over the prospectus. Next click on the Buy This Fund link and follow the instructions. Have your checkbook ready to deposit funds electronically.

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5