Organization, efficiency, and discipline are the three primary steps of financial planning. Organization is knowing where your money comes and goes. An efficient portfolio means a better chance of profits, and discipline keeps you on the right track.

Statistics tell us that the average credit card debt per person - including all people who pay off their cards each month - is over $5,500. Folks don’t have a handle on the big picture of their personal financial world.

If you are one of these folks, you should know what the steps of financial planning are and get started today, either on your own, using resources on the Internet, or by hiring a financial planner.

The first and most important step of financial planning is organization. You can be a lot closer to your financial goals in life by organizing your finances and understanding money flows, both inflows (like your paycheck) and outflows (bills).

If your financial life isn’t terribly complicated, an Excel spreadsheet may suit your needs perfectly. However, using something a little more sophisticated, such as Mint, Quicken or other online budgeting tools may become necessary, as you and your financial life continue to evolve.

There are a million ways to approach organization, but the “how?” is nowhere near as important as “when?” Of course, the answer to when to start organizing is now.

Whatever method you choose, once you set up the system you should enter historic information as far back as 12 months (if you have it). This requires digging out the old bank, investment and credit card statements. It’s not as intimidating as it sounds. In today’s connected world, you can simply download the transaction history from your bank, investment or credit card companies, and import it directly into your Mint or Quicken file. You still need to go through things, but much of the data entry is done for you.

If you don’t have the time, the facility or the patience to enter this historic information, don’t give up. Tracking your information from today forward is valuable as well. Think about it: In a year, you’ll have 12 months’ worth of history in your system.

As you generate this history (or review the old history), patterns of your spending habits emerge. Perhaps you spend much more on golfing than you realized, or maybe your home decorating expenses were greater than your mortgage payments over the last year. Each of these patterns helps you to understand where your money goes. Once you know that, you can begin to control it.

Quicken or Mint.com also organizes your investments, which takes us to the next step: efficiency.

If you have a couple of old 401(k)s from former employers, you can look at all investment accounts from a top-down perspective, using these tools. For many folks, it may be the first time you see all your investments in one place.

This is when you adjust your allocation for a more efficient portfolio. You might think your investments were diverse enough but find that you bought the same investments in multiple accounts. An efficient allocation is about spreading your money across many different broad asset classes.

Now we’re into the place where the rubber meets the road. After you organize everything in an efficient manner, you need to maintain this organization over time. This requires discipline.

You need to balance your checkbook at the end of the month and keep your information up-to-date when you receive the credit card and investment statements. The automated tools help a lot, but you can’t just let it go on autopilot. You need to sort through the information to understand what’s going on with your cash flow and investments. You might need to change your spending habits or rebalance your investments if they get out of line.

But what takes the most discipline is maintaining your investment allocation as planned when the market is very volatile. You might be tempted to pull out of the market after a big loss or start buying in when the market has a huge run-up. Keeping you disciplined is quite often the major benefit of having a financial advisor, who can help you maintain the proper long-term perspective of your investment allocation and not let emotions rule the actions.

Like most businesses, CrossFit box owners providing health care benefits to employees find their budgets strained by spiraling medical insurance premiums. One solution, the Health Savings Account (HSA), which was created as part of the 2003 Medicare Act, is a relatively affordable—and tax efficient—alternative to traditional managed-care group plans.

The HSA is the more flexible successor to the Archer Medical Savings Account, which was introduced several years ago to help employees of small businesses get health coverage. Available since January 1, 2004, HSAs are being offered by a growing number of banks and insurance companies. While experiences among employers vary, early adopters of HSAs have generally found the plans to be effective in lowering or arresting health benefit costs.

An HSA may be opened by anyone who has a qualified health insurance policy with an annual deductible of not less than $1,300 for individuals, or $2,600 for families. A box owner may choose to offer a high deductible health plan (HDHP) to coaches and staff, or employees can be encouraged to sign up for policies on their own. Employers are permitted to contribute to the accounts of individual employees or may offer staff incentives to put money in themselves.

Since HSA funds are intended to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by insurance, participants are permitted to make tax-exempt yearly contributions equivalent to the annual deductible of the insurance policy, up to a maximum of $3,450 for individuals and $6,900 for families in 2018. HSA enrollees age 55 or older may make additional contributions of up to $1,000 a year. The accounts are owned by the individual and are fully portable from job to job.

The tax advantages of the HSA are substantial. Contributions to and withdrawals from an HSA are tax-free, provided the funds are used to pay for qualified medical expenses. The investment earnings within the account also grow tax-free.

Any funds left over in an HSA at the end of the year can remain in the account, and the participant may start all over with contributions the following year. Enrollees who use little of the money in the account while continuing to make deposits could end up with substantial savings in retirement. Prior to age 65, non-medical distributions are taxed as part of gross income and are subject to a 10% penalty. After age 65, however, account holders are permitted to withdraw funds from an HSA for non-medical reasons by simply paying the income tax due.

Like any insurance plan, HSAs may not be the best choice for everyone. Lower income employees may find it difficult to contribute the funds necessary to cover the insurance deductible. And employees who use medical services frequently, such as young families or people with chronic health conditions, would derive little benefit from the tax advantages associated with the HSA. For these types of employees, traditional managed-care plans may be preferable. To meet the varying needs of coaches and staff, box owners may want to provide several health insurance options.

When launching an HSA plan as a benefit offering, it is essential that practice managers explain to employees how the accounts work. Some employees may initially balk at the high insurance deductibles associated with HSAs, but may be persuaded to sign up if the box owner(s) assumes part of the cost. Higher earning staff, in particular, may be drawn to the considerable tax breaks provided by the HSA. Over time, employees should come to appreciate the advantages of having greater control over their health care spending, and possibly seeing their account balances grow through regular saving.

If you’re like most taxpayers, you have no clue about the most effective tax strategies for these financial vehicles - especially if you lack access to expensive accountants and attorneys. Here’s some guidance.

Here are two common situations and innovative solutions that might help.

1.     You are self-employed and want to save tax. You feel you pay too much in taxes and want at least $17,500 of deductions. You are not an employee with a company that offers a 401(k) retirement plan but you still need more deductions than the $5,500 annual contribution ($6,500 if 50 or older) limit for a traditional individual retirement account.

Solution: a solo 401(k), aka an independent, one-participant or family 401(k). Using this vehicle in this case hinges on your being a sole proprietor or operator of the business with your spouse, and have no non-family employees.

Let’s say your spouse works in the business with you and is younger than 50. He or she can contribute up to $17,500 annually to the solo 401(k) plan, and this is called employee salary deferral of up to a full year’s compensation. If your spouse earns $17,500 this year ($18,000 in 2015) he or she can put all of $17,500 into the solo 401k(k) plan.

Assume you are 50 or older and now also contribute a maximum $23,000 (the maximum $17,500 contribution for 2014 tax year plus the $5,500 catch-up amount) employee salary deferral to a solo 401(k) plan. With an eye to even further deductions, you can also kick in the employer contribution - remember, you are both the employee and the employer - of 20% of your net earnings if you are a sole proprietor and 25% if your business is a corporation.

If you are 50 or older by this Dec. 31, you can save up to $57,500 in the solo 401(k), a combination of the employee salary deferral and the employer contribution. For 2015, the total maximum contribution increases to $18,000 salary deferral plus $6,000 catch-up plus $35,000 employer contribution, or $59,000 total.

Additional points:

You can still contribute to an IRA in addition to your solo 401(k) contribution.

Setting up a solo 401(k) can be inexpensive and easy. A reasonably priced independent 401(k) administrator can cost as little as $500 for set up and $500 in annual fees. Brokerage firms can offer lower costs but you then are tied to their investment choices.

If you have non-family employees and want to offer a workplace retirement plan, your normal 401(k) plan may come with potentially higher set-up and maintenance fees. You will also be subject to non-discrimination rules, meaning that you must allow your permanent employees into the plan and that your employer profit contribution must treat all employees - including you the owner - equally.

2.     You want to leave a tax-free legacy. In one excellent example, a retired nurse, married, 75, wants to leave a legacy to her 9-year-old twin grandsons. The most tax-effective strategy: Combine the Multi-Generational (MGIRA) strategy with a Roth IRA conversion.

The MGIRA, aka an extended or stretch IRA, allows you to designate a successor beneficiary to pass on funds you saved for retirement. Converting other kinds of IRAs to a Roth IRA offers many advantages, including eventual tax-free withdrawals of qualified distributions.

We structured a Roth conversion of the nurse’s $385,000 traditional IRA and paid the conversion tax with non-IRA funds. The two grandsons will each get slightly more than $2 million tax-free over their lifetimes in annual checks without ever raiding the principal.

Let’s hope they raise a glass to the grandma who will still be looking after them.