23 Ways to Revamp Your Financial Life

If you’re like a lot of people, you’ve noticed that setting goals and attaining them are two very different things. Why do we often set goals and then fail to achieve them? Psychologists say that in order to reach our goals, we must describe them in specific and measurable and measurable terms. Adding a time limit helps, too.

For example, setting goals to “save more for a rainy day”, “prepare for retirement”, or “pay off debts” sound great in theory. But in practice, most of us will fall short of those goals because we didn’t describe them in specific and measurable terms.

So rather than setting vague and unmeasurable goals – especially without establishing any sort of time frame – we suggest you consider some of these more realistic and well-defined ones:

• Put both short- and long-term goals in writing
• Establish a plan to improve work skills, investigate the job market, and ask for a raise this year
• Pay more than the minimum payment on credit cards each month
• Pay off credit card balances each month
• Set up email or text payment alerts with each biller, so that you can save yourself expensive late fees
• Enroll in auto-pay for bills
• Surf through your email inbox, and unsubscribe from sales-related emails that you don’t really need
• Schedule one phone call per day until you’ve investigated and identified lower rates on car insurance, homeowners insurance, cell phone plans, internet service, etc
• Clean out the garage or attic, list items for sale, and use the profits to pay down debts
• Select a menu each weekend and prep for affordable, simple, and home-cooked meals for the next week
• Save for the holidays now to avoid large credit card bills next January
• Set up an automatic savings plan, with contributions to a savings account coming straight from your paychecks
• Separate savings accounts so that you can plan for individual goals
• Establish a health savings plan and contribute a set amount each pay period
• Divide your maximum annual contribution by the number of pay periods in a year, and contribute that much toward your retirement plan each time
• If you can’t contribute the max amount to your retirement plan, schedule enough contributions to at least meet your employer’s matching amount
• Adjust your tax withholding if you usually receive a refund in the spring – get the money throughout the year
• List all monthly subscriptions, services, etc and choose one (or five) that you can cancel
• Establish no-spend days on a particular day of the week or month
• Set a weekly budget for “fun” spending, and use cash to keep yourself accountable
• Update beneficiaries on life insurance, savings accounts, and so on
• Check your credit report and give yourself one week to report any discrepancies
• Make an appointment with a financial advisor this month

Regarding the last item on that list: Yes, we can help! Give us a call to schedule a consultation. We’ll help you define both short- and long-term goals, make a plan to achieve them, and put that plan into motion with specific and measurable steps.