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(From Financial Literacy Blog) – While making a New Year’s resolution is easy, staying committed to your goal throughout the year can be difficult. According to U.S. News, around 80% of resolutions made in January fail by the second week of February. Those statistics can be pretty discouraging if you’re looking to improve your financial well-being in the coming year. However, you can improve your chances of success by following these three tips in 2020:
Automate Your Goals
Sticking to a New Year’s resolution can require a lot of dedication and self-control. Life is often unpredictable, with costly distractions seemingly around every corner. To avoid any missteps in achieving your fiscal goals this year, consider automating as much as you can. For example, if your goal is to take $50 from your paycheck every week and add that to your emergency fund, adjust your payroll settings so that amount automatically funnels into that account. With the money being automatically transferred, you won’t be able to impulsively spend that money on something else. There are many apps that can help automate your financial goals, too:
- Mint is an app that helps you balance your budget. By plugging your bills, income, and accounts into this free and reputable app, Mint will give you tips on the monetary steps you need to take in order to complete your goals.
- Acorns automatically rounds your change up to the nearest dollar and invests the difference. You simply link your card or account, with the app taking care of the rest. Investing can seem overly complicated and even intimidating, but Acorns completely automates the process.
Additionally, reach out to your local credit union to see how they can help you automate your finances in 2020. With Bill Pay, club accounts, eAlerts, and more, your credit union can assist in putting aspects of your financial life on autopilot.
Get Others Involved
Keeping a resolution can be difficult, especially when you’re doing it all by yourself. With nobody accountable but yourself, you may be tempted to cut corners on your resolution or give up entirely. Instead, consider getting others involved. Whether you simply tell them what your resolution is or challenge them to attain the same goal, the support of others can help you stay committed and honest on your progress. With an accountability partner, you can vent and compare frustrations. On the flip side, you can share success stories. Also, the more people that know about your resolution, the easier it can be to achieve. If you frequently meet up with friends for dinner or drinks, the cost of maintaining your social life can put a damper on your savings goals. However, if you’re all in it together, you might all agree that having dinner or drinks at your place in lieu of your favorite restaurant or bar might be more budget-friendly. Sharing the struggle will lighten the load and increase your chances of success.
Keep Them Realistic
Making a New Year’s resolution is often like promising yourself you’ll never get sick again after recovering from a bad cold. It’s a vow made in that moment with little consideration on how you’ll actually manage to keep it later. Instead, put some serious thought into what is truly attainable.
Vastly overshooting your goals only sets you up for failure. Not achieving goals is frustrating and can discourage you from continuing to make the sacrifices needed to achieve financial success. Instead, make realistic and attainable resolutions this year. According to NBC, you should have three to six months’ worth of expenses set aside in an emergency fund. If you’re just starting to build up that fund, saving away that much can be very difficult. Rather than aiming to completely stock your emergency fund this year, try to add $50 from each paycheck. You may not save away three to six months worth of expenses in the first year, but you’ll be far better off than you were before. After successfully saving $50 each week for a year and staying committed to your resolution, you’ll likely feel accomplished. The small victory will keep you motivated and excited to continue building on your resolution in the coming years.
Happy New Year!