The 4th week of January is a wonderful time…to ditch the lofty New Years’ Resolutions made previously and set some more realistic ones!
We at Evergreen came up with a few meaningful- yet manageable- Financial Resolutions for 2017. Some of them may not apply to you, or you may already be doing them (nice job!) but in any case, these small lifestyle changes can make a huge impact on your finances, as well as your peace of mind.
Save your tax refund (for a few months at least)
If you are one of the many Americans who will be getting a check Mr. IRS, don’t spend it least for a few months. While a new TV or Caribbean cruise are all fine and good, have an honest conversation (even if it’s with yourself) on what the BEST use of that money would be. Need some help? We wrote an entire article on it here.
Set up Automatic Payments (for practically everything)
You won’t have to worry about late payments (a major credit score-killer), as everything is automated. Set your automatic payments to happen as early as possible, as clearing funds out of your account that are already spoken is a great way to keep yourself from thinking you have more money than you really do.
Set Aside an Emergency Fund (of one month’s expenses)
Figure out your monthly expenses and set aside 1/12 of that each month. Set up an automatic transfer to stick those funds someplace safe. With that stash, you won’t have to turn to high interest credit cards in an emergency.
Figure Out Where Your Money Went Last Year
This is a sobering moment for even the most disciplined budgeters. You have to truly know where you stand before you can start making wise changes. Use a spreadsheet (many bank/credit card accounts can put all your transactions on an Excel file) create some categories (groceries, eating out, in-app-purchases, etc.), and take a couple of nights to see who’s taking your money.
These 4 goals are good starting points to a more secure financial footing. You can read a few more articles we’ve put together about money management here.
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