Tag: new year

2024 Financial Goals!!!

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Happy New Year!!!

2024 is here! For most people the new year signals a time for some positive changes they want to make in their lives. We all know by the end of January, most of us have “broken” these “promises” we have made to OURSELVES. The odds are pretty good these “promises” were unrealistic anyway, so we kind of set ourselves up to fail, right? This year if the “resolution/promise” is to be more Financially Fit, Let’s start this week or even today with doing one simple task to start to pave that path.

 We could do a simple task like, writing down a simple goal for ourselves and give ourselves ONE week to complete it… This task should be simple…and if your motivated, just do it today! Maybe that task is REALLY looking at your checking account and seeing where your money is going. This should not take that much time… We need to look back at least 3 months if not 4-6 months. Some banks will break it down for you… This might not be pretty not be pretty… But just do it…

Once you have done that… Check this off you’re to do list you have at least accomplished SOMEWTHING! Now the following week, or the same day the goal is to find a “habit” that you have with your money that you’re not happy with and need to change. It could be as simple as I take out too much cash every week and spend it on???  Fill in the blank…Maybe too much takeout food, maybe it’s on Uber, when the walk would be a double dip for another 2024 goal, just find something small to change and stick with it… If we set a very small goal, there is a better chance of that goal becoming a reality and a better chance of us sticking to the small changes. The following month we set another small goal… And so on… little changes…

It’s like saying you want to lose 50 Lbs.; we all know this will not happen in 30 days. The same goes for getting financially fit, this takes time and confidence building. Hang out with people that are trying to do the same thing or are already there… This helps a lot! It keeps you on track.  You did not get financially UNFIT overnight, so you cannot expect to get financially fit overnight either.

Good luck getting and keeping your small goals today/this week!!! Happy New Year everyone and let’s get financially fit in 2024!

Do we really need to make New Year Resolutions??

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Here we are Christmas Day already! Another year ALMOST behind us, with just a few days left. You know what that means… Those new year’s resolutions are right around the corner! I don’t know about you, but I hate those New Years resolutions. Don’t we have enough stress in our lives? I don’t need the pressure. Instead of creating a “promise to myself” That everyone will ask me about, I just say I’m pretty close to perfect so no need to make a resolution! 😊  Ok, I’m not but I still like to use that as my reason for NOT making a resolution. Maybe the easier thing to do is to look at each day or month and just do something a little better? Maybe it’s saving just a little more each month. Ex: upping our 401K contribution by 1%. Maybe its NOT purchasing that Latte EVERY day, how about just on the weekends. Maybe Its cancelling ONE subscription that we don’t really use anyway. Maybe it’s reading a financial book/s. Or listening to a financial podcast every day on the ride to work. What if every month we do one little thing that moves our financial life in the right direction.  They say little changes can add up to big accomplishments…. After all, what we are really trying to do is phase out the bad habits and create good habits. None of us are perfect, so let’s go easy on ourselves and see if we can go into 2024 with a goal of working on our financial literacy and creating better habits when it comes to our money. What if we just make a list of a few things we want to change this year in our financial life. Let’s use the NO Lattes during the week as an example. If you complete the task let’s, say for a month, check it off the list. Don’t get me wrong, there will be some slips here and there, but if we have pretty much changed that habit, it’s a WIN!

Once you have mastered your first new habit on the list, move onto another new habit on your list. Maybe it’s setting a limit on how much you spend on Amazon each month? Or NOT spending anything on Amazon, for a month! We all have things we do or spend money on that we know is wasteful, these are good places to start! It will be cool to look at the list NEXT December to see our accomplishments and how far we have come! Maybe we keep a journal about the habit and next to it each month we list how much money we DID NOT spend on it vs our old ways. 😊 EX: Lattes on only the weekends vs everyday = $100.00 a month x the number of months you do that, could become over $1000 in savings!    

So, we do not have to make New Years Resolutions, that’s too much pressure. We do have to create positive new habits for ourselves that we build on each day or month. 😊 Happy January!!!!