New year’s resolutions come and go each year, but they do not always have to be so hard to achieve. In this video, Tasha reveals ten money resolutions that anyone can keep for next year. Looking for more good money habits? Check out this video:
Hi i’m tasha from one big happy life on behalf of the financial diet and this is the lifestyle fix brought to you by fresh books the lifestyle fix is all about helping you create the life that you want on any budget the end of the year is a time to spend relaxing with your loved ones and reflecting on how your year went it’s also a great time to start planning out
Your goals for the new year so to help you out with that in this video i’m gonna be talking about ten money resolutions that anyone can keep number one budget for your entire year at a time a budget is an essential tool for managing your money it shows how much money you have coming in every month and allows you to decide in advance what you’re going to do with
That money now most budget examples that you’ll find out there tend to focus on shorter periods of time like two weeks or a month but i actually recommend budgeting for an entire year at a time it’s something that i’ve been doing for years and i find it incredibly helpful because it helps me actually see the kind of progress that i can make on my financial goals
Throughout the year if i stick to my budget if you want to check out my 2019 budget you can click the card up above or check the link down below in the description box number two start investing or increase your investment savings getting into the habit of saving money every month and not touching that savings can be difficult especially if you have debt and while
Some people might say that you shouldn’t start saving money until you’re debt-free i believe that saving is such an important lifelong habit kind of like brushing your teeth that it shouldn’t be put off it’s never too late or too early to start investing and don’t worry if the amount that you’re able to save right now is really small because even tiny amounts can add
Up over time for example if you invest just thirty five dollars a month from age 25 to 65 you’d have over $100,000 in the bank at retirement assuming an 8% average rate of return the point is to just start putting away some amount now and start building that savings habit you can slowly increase the amount you’re saving over time as your financial situation changes
Number three don’t open any new credit cards or new lines of credit this is one of those know thyself kind of resolutions there are plenty of good reasons to open up a new credit card or line of credit like if the card has some amazing travel rewards that’ll end up saving you money on trips you have coming up or if the line of credit has a low fixed interest rate
And low transfer fee that you want to use to consolidate some higher interest debt as you work to pay it down but if opening that new line of credit will tempt you to go deeper into debt then just don’t do it say no at the store counter when they ask you if you want to save an extra 20% on your purchase by opening a new account and don’t even think about opening
Up that airline rewards card with a hundred thousand mile bonus if you know you don’t have the cash to cover that $5,000 minimum spend instead focus on knocking out the debt that you currently have and hold off on the rewards cards until your debt free and able to pay your cards off in full every month number four do a no spend challenge studies show that anywhere
From forty to ninety-five percent of what we do every day is entirely out of habit and that includes how we spend money i’ve talked before about how i got into a habit of going to starbucks twice a day without even meaning to a no-spin challenge is a great way to break yourself out of those spending ruts the way it works is that you pick a particular period of
Time where your goal is to spend no money at all outside of your required bills and some amount that you set aside for necessities like groceries and gas i recommend doing a no spend month but you can go as short as a day or a week or even as long as a year at the end of the month you should have a nice chunk of extra change that you can use to pad your savings or
Pay off some debt and you’ll have some valuable feedback about how meaningful the things that you’ve been spending your money on actually are to you did you miss that daily coffee or donut how did you feel about having your friends over for netflix and homemade popcorn instead of going out to dinner at a restaurant and how did it feel to have that much money left
Over at the end of the month no spend months are a great way to figure out what really matters to you so give it a try number five know where you stand financially sometimes dealing with your finances can be overwhelming i’ve been there and i get it but it’s really hard to make progress on your financial goals if you don’t know where you stand i recommend tracking
Your net worth on a monthly or at least quarterly basis that’s where you tally up all of your debts and all of your assets to get a number that reflects your overall financial picture depending on where you are financially that number might be positive or it might be negative but over time you want to see that number getting closer to the green and then bigger
And bigger throughout your life we do monthly net worth updates over on one big happy life so you can check out one of those if you want to see what it looks like and again i’ll drop a link up above and down below number six stop spending money on services you don’t use let’s be real how many of those cable channels you actually watch do you really read all of
Those magazines that come to your mailbox every month are you getting your money’s worth out of that gym membership consider what services consume your money if you don’t use them remove them simple as that and you can use that money to instead invest in something more permanent for example instead of keeping our gym memberships we invested our money into a personal
Gym that we use every day that’s a much better use of our money and our time number seven get on the same page with your partner about your financial goals sit down with your significant other before the end of the year and have a deep discussion of where you both want to be financially in the next year over on one big happy life joseph and i talk a lot about how
We manage our money as a couple and one of the questions that we get most often is how to get your partner on board with the financial plan the first step to making that happen is to have frequent conversations about your joint financial and life goals the timeframe in which you want to achieve those goals and the steps that you both need to take in order to get
There that your long budget that i mentioned earlier can really help with that because it shows how overspending in one month will compromise your overall financial goals for the year number eight say no to things you can’t afford say no is hard i know but learning to say no is an important life skill that will keep your finances healthy and also set appropriate
Boundaries in your life generally if you find that your friends and family are regularly encouraging you to do things that aren’t in your budget just be upfront with them and let them know that you have other financial priorities that you’re focusing on you can also look for creative ways to turn a no into a yes in the future while also sticking to your budget for
Example you might say no to a week-long getaway in europe but then plan a weekend getaway to visit a nearby town instead or if you truly love the thing and decide you do want to have it in your life and include it in your budget and save up for it in advance number nine stop comparing yourself to others comparing ourselves to others is not a new thing but it’s
Even more intense in the era of social media where everyone presents the best of their lives for others to consume it can be all too easy to start questioning our financial or life decisions we all know instinctively that it’s not productive to engage in these types of comparisons but it can still happen from time to time when you find yourself starting to compare
Yourself to others refocus your thoughts on all of the things that you have to be grateful for in your own life also stop and ask yourself what about that person’s life is calling out to you and see if there’s a way that you can incorporate that into your life in a way that’s meaningful to you number 10 forgive yourself for not always being great with money it’s okay
If you make mistakes with your money we all do but it’s important to not let those past mistakes define your self-worth or your ability to manage your money going forward just think of those past money must steps as valuable feedback about what doesn’t work as you move forward and work towards achieving your financial goals in 2019 and beyond now that you have some
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Transcribed from video
10 Money Resolutions Anyone can Keep | The Lifestyle Fix By The Financial Diet