Your to-do list for a more prosperous year.(Money)

New Year's resolutions are made to be broken. By hour 14 of 2006, you have already abandoned those vows to establish financial goals, to spend as wisely as Benjamin Franklin, and to channel money into investments as efficiently as Wal-Mart distributes Cheetos.

So forget about those impossibly grand ideas. Instead, here are 10 easy ways to ensure a more secure future.

1 Boost your savings. The savings rate of Americans is currently a disastrous -1.5 percent. If you have a 401(k) or other retirement plan at work, go to your benefits department and raise your contribution by at least 1 percent; you'll never miss it. If you receive a raise, promise to have half the total automatically deducted from your paycheck and placed in your retirement plan.

2 Put some money in the bank. Annual rates on one-year CDs are hovering above 4 percent. Anytime you receive a bonus or some other windfall, plunk it in one. You can find top rates at two Internet banks: ING at www.ingdirect.com (APY 4.4 percent, no minimum) and Nexity Bank at www.nexitybank.com (APY 4.75 percent, $1,000 minimum).

3 Review your homeowners insurance. Rita, Wilma, and Katrina have brought home the message that your insurance policy should reflect the current value of your house. Making sure that you have the right value is more important than ever, because some insurers set caps on the total they'll pay at 120 to 125 percent, at most, of the home's insured value. You're on the hook for anything more. Homeowners policies do not cover floods, however. To learn whether your house is in a flood-prone area, go to www.floodsmart.gov. You can buy insurance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Flood Insurance Program through private insurers. The NFIP policy will pay up to $250,000 for your house (and $100,000 for the contents), but if it's worth more, you can buy excess flood coverage from, among others, Chubb and Fireman's Fund.

4 Get out of credit-card hell (fast). First the don'ts: Don't transfer your balances to another card that promises a 0 percent annual rate. You may pay a fee equal to 3 percent of the amount transferred, which lands you more deeply in hock. And refinancing your house to pay off cards will cost you 30 years of interest on the pizzas and sneakers of yesteryear. Instead, list all your debts. Pay those with low balances immediately. Then focus on the cards with the highest rates. Pay at least double the minimum on all of them. If you can't make minimum payments, call the credit-card company immediately and try to work out a plan that stretches out payments.

5 Move to a fixed-rate loan. Rates on adjustable-rate mortgages and home-equity lines of credit have risen about 1.5 percentage points in the last year, and if analysts are ...