Becoming Finance Ready For the New Year
As the year closes in, this is a great time to re-evaluate your personal finance plans to start with a fresh slate in the new year. Taking a second look at how you spent your funds in the last 12 months, will give you a complete perspective on your spending habits. If you didn’t do so well with saving, you can work on that for next year or if you did well on controlling your budget, you can improve in the next 12 months.
This is a great time to change your ways before it gets too late or before you fall back in debt. Not to mention, it’s an easier New Year’s resolution going into 2016. To get started on your new fiscal plan, there are some aspects of your finances you will have to review first.
Savings Fund
This is the key to any successful financial plan because if you budget your money wisely, you will be able to save more often than not.
Measuring your ability to save, is important for understanding how to improve in your personal finances and to be fiscally responsible. The thing to remember about savings, is that it is all about time. You can’t expect to save a ton of money over night but you should set goals.
Having savings goals will keep you accountable and show you how well you are doing at not spending all of your money right away. Also you will stay motivated to keep your spending habits to a minimum.
Review how much you saved in 2015 and try to do better, set a higher more challenging goal for 2016 and get started on it right away.
Budget
This goes hand-in-hand with saving because in order to save you have to spend your money wisely.
This is not to say that you need to limit your spending to the bare essentials but that you should plan out where your money is going to go before you actually spend it. Thinking twice about any expenditure, will prevent you from spending your funds on unnecessary items and make you more aware of your spending habits.
For the new year, make a detailed plan, including exact amounts as much as possible and stick to it. The more you follow your budget plan, the easier it will be to follow it in the future. Start with small changes and then increase them as the year progresses.
Debt
This might not have been your best year for decreasing or eliminating your debt, but there’s always next year.
If you fell into more debt this year, attempt to reduce the amount of credit cards you own or charges that you make per card in the new year. Also start tallying up your debt amounts so you know your total debt load. Additionally, check the interest rate of each card, review any that have gone up and prepare for the fiscal changes.
If you are already struggling to pay any debt off, seek out help. There are financial advisors and certified debt professional who will be able to assess your situation and offer you debt relief options.
When looking for professional help, make sure the company is reputable and their professionals are trained in handling debt issues. Also look for accreditations and their Better Business Bureau rating. This will immediately let you know the level of legitimacy and help that a debt relief company can offer you.
Retirement
You might be young now, but this won’t always be the case. It is never to early to start planning your retirement fund. If you have a 401k, you might think that you are safe and don’t need to do much work but you never know what’s going to happen in 30-40 years.
Have your own funds set aside for your retirement so that you guarantee yourself money in your older age. Put this money away in a separate account, so you will avoid using it unnecessarily and can build up the funds quickly.
Ask to open a retirement at the nearest branch of your bank. They will be able to setup the account and get you started on savings.
Make Personal Finance Changes
This is the perfect time to start making changes to your spending habits. If you haven’t started, do it in the new year.
Take a look at how much you spend daily or weekly and see if there are any areas that need improvement, maybe it’s your monthly grocery spending, or your entertainment spending. Which ever areas need improving, start realizing it now and do them in 2016.
Don’t be afraid to call yourself out or be hard because when it comes to money, every penny counts. This doesn’t mean completely limiting your spending to bills but rather being aware of the consequences of bad spending habits.
Going into a new year, is the perfect opportunity to start making changes to your personal finances and improving your debt. If you take control of your now, you will be sure to see positive differences in the new year. Not to mention, you will be happier and financially healthy.