3 Good Money Moves to Make in 2020

1. Do stay safe. If you are retired and living on Social Security and your savings and investments, try to keep enough money in cash-like accounts (bank and money market accounts and CDs, for example) to cover, alongside your guaranteed income, one to two years of living expenses. (Even more is better.) That way, even if the value of your 401(k) suddenly plunges, you won't have to sell anything under pressure to pay bills or meet mandatory withdrawal requirements. You won't even have to look at your retirement account on bad days.

2. Do play the rate card. Given current low rates and the chance that lenders will extend less credit in a downturn, this is a good time to upgrade your credit card. Great deals are still out there, but bankers are tamping down some of their top deals, says Gannesh Bharadhwaj of Credit Karma. Your best bet now depends on your credit habits. If you don't carry balances, lock in a new card that has a generous cash rewards program and a sign-up bonus. But if you carry balances, shop for a low-rate card. And if you are carrying a big balance, move it to a 0 percent balance transfer card while that type of offer is still around. Then do all you can to pay it off before the introductory rate expires.

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3. Do rethink your bank. In a low-rate election year, one trend likely to continue is near-zero interest paid on bank savings accounts. That makes 2020 a good year to look for an online-only bank, now offering as much as 2 percent interest on savings. (Find them at Bankrate.com and NerdWallet.com, and, yes, they are FDIC-insured.) It may pay you to consolidate accounts, too, since fees on smaller accounts make it costly to keep little amounts of money all over the place.

Don't invest based on how you think the election will turn out, or how it eventually does. Making political contributions is fine, but don't mess with your retirement portfolio. Don't put extra money in windmill farms or defense contractors because you like a particular candidate. And don't pour extra money into — or pull extra money out of — stocks or bonds or any other type of investment because you fear a particular candidate. Your accounts, broadly diversified going into 2020, should stay that way. Gordon Achtermann, a Fairfax, Virginia, financial adviser, likes to remind clients that on the night Donald Trump was elected, the Dow Jones Industrial Average signaled an impending 900-point drop, but actually rose 257 points the next day. Politics causes big short-term moves in the market, he says, but not a quick, permanent change. Stick with your same old diversified mix of investments and savings, and you'll win in 2020.