2024 Financial Goals: Top 15 New Year’s Resolutions for Economic Success
If you want to be financially stable, your next step should be Financial planning. Starting your savings or investment journey can be overwhelming at first, but if you break it down into simple steps and pieces, you’ll be astonished at how fast things fall into place. Here are ten financial goals to set for the new year to ensure financial success.
Set Up Automatic Transfers
Create a budget and cut unnecessary expenses.
Buy Life Insurance
Rethink Your Living Expenses
Pay your full Credit card bill each month.
Improve your credit score.
Pay off student loans and other debt.
Make sure to take advantage of your 401(k) match.
Save more Money.
Start an emergency fund.
Change your passwords.
Consistently check your credit report.
Create a Retirement Plan
Start investing and diversify your portfolio.
1. Open a Savings Account
A savings account is not the same as a checking account. Your money-saving account earns interest over time, so the money you deposit will grow without you having to lift a finger.
Examine various banks’ savings accounts with varying interest rates to find which is best for you. Some places allow you to start an account with just $0, while others need a minimum deposit.
When deciding between several account alternatives, the Annual Percent Yield (APY) explains how much you will receive in interest rates each year. This amount is normally added to your account once per month.
2. Set Up Automatic Transfers
Have you ever neglected to pay your gas, water, or rent? Make your life easier by automating your money through bank transfers. This way, your account will automatically deduct the amount you owe for heating, water, phone bills, or rent.
Setting up automatic payments ensures that you will never be late on a bill. And if you have a credit card and want to pay off your debt, setting up automated payments is a terrific way to keep your credit record immaculate!
Your bank will automatically transfer money from your bank account to the account of a firm to which you owe money, such as a credit card company or a utility company.
3. Buy Life Insurance
Purchasing life insurance protects your spouse and children against the catastrophic financial losses that could result if something horrible happens to you.
Life insurance provides financial security, assists your family in repaying any debts you may have incurred, and pays for medical or death expenses.
Your insurance policy will pay out a certain amount of money when you need it. When you die, your family will receive your policy payout immediately. And that money will not be taxed. For example, a $300,000 policy pays the death benefit straight to your beneficiary.
We understand that all of this mortality conversation is depressing, but the financial security of you and your family is too crucial not to bring up.
4. Rethink Your Living Expenses
This one is fairly basic. Look at your money bills and everyday routines and ask yourself if the life you live right now suits your budget. Perhaps you have too many streaming subscriptions that you do not use. Or do you go a touch far in your support for your local pizza joint?
The new year provides everyone with a fresh start, so why not examine your present behaviors and identify opportunities for improvement? Your wallet will thank you.
5. Create a Budget and Cut Unnecessary Expenses
When creating your new budget, be sure to set realistic goals and boundaries. Take stock of all of your monthly expenditures and expenses, since you may discover that you are spending more than you are saving, and there may be ways to reduce this.
For example, a short-term financial aim could be to eliminate superfluous spending such as unused subscriptions, club memberships, or dining out. Cutting these immediately will allow you to better manage your money and set long-term financial objectives. Other techniques to stay inside your budget can include:
- Paying for items with only the cash you bring.
- Only buy items on your grocery list that are particular to the meals you’ve planned.
- Track your expenses or use a budgeting app.
- Budget to zero, which implies that each dollar of your paycheck is counted and allocated to needs or savings.
- Pay yourself first by treating your savings as an ongoing monthly expense.
6. Pay Your Full Credit Card Bill Each Month
Another financial goal you might make for the new year is to pay off your credit card balance in whole and on schedule every month. This is not only one of the finest strategies to enhance your credit score, but it also saves you a significant amount of money on interest. Paying excessive interest rates traps you in a debt cycle in which you are effectively wasting money.
Making smarter financial decisions now is critical to your future success. Credit cards are fantastic when used wisely, but avoid accumulating large amounts of debt and make your monthly cost moderate to save money on both charges and interest.
7. Improve Your Credit Score
Improving your credit score may appear to be a simple task, but the long-term benefits of higher credit can protect your finances from a variety of setbacks. For example, a higher credit score may allow you to acquire better loan rates, resulting in lower interest payments over time. This means you’ll have lower monthly payments and pay less altogether.
One of the most effective strategies to increase your credit score is to pay your credit card bills on time and in full each month. If you’re just starting with credit, try one of these to improve your score:
- Become an authorized user on someone’s credit card that you trust.
- Consolidate your debts to pay less interest overall.
- Do not close your old accounts.
- Monitor your credit to keep track of your progress.
- Dispute credit card problems or request greater limits.
8. Pay Off Student Loans and Other Debt
Achieving your financial goals is easier when you’re not working from a deficit, so prioritize debt repayment, such as student loans or credit cards. Once you’re out of the negative, you may focus on favorably expanding your other bank accounts. Here are some ways to reduce your debt more efficiently in 2024:
- Assess your finances and create a more realistic budget.
- Focus on your most expensive debt and pay it off first.
- Pay more than the minimum balance on your student loans every month.
- Try a balance transfer.
- Only use credit cards when required, and remove any saved information from internet sellers.
9. Make Sure To Take Advantage of Your 401(k) Match
If you do not take advantage of your employer-matched 401(k) contributions, you are simply leaving money on the table. Even if you receive the full employer match, you might make it a New Year’s goal to contribute an additional 1%, which can add up significantly over time. This simple measure can cut your taxable income and provide you with a larger financial buffer in retirement.
10. Save More Money
Saving money whenever possible is essential for achieving any financial objective. Whether it’s a high-yield savings account, CD, or money market account, strive to locate the best rates available.
Once you’ve done that, a decent way to ensure you’re saving enough is to divide your income into percentages, such as the 50/30/20 guideline. This rule allocates your funds in the following ways:
- Groceries, insurance, utilities, rent, and mortgage payments account for 50% of the budget.
- 30% is set aside for wants like streaming services, apparel, and gym memberships.
- Savings are allocated at 20%.
11. Start an Emergency Fund
One example of a positive savings aim is to establish an emergency fund. This would be a separate savings account, preferably one with a high income, set up particularly for unforeseen needs. You should strive to keep three to six months’ worth of spending in this account in case of unforeseen financial events such as job loss, medical operations, home appliance repair, or car maintenance.
12. Change Your Passwords
A simple step toward a more financially successful 2024 is to reset all of your account passwords. This helps to protect all of your personal information and financial accounts from future hacking or cyber-attacks. This step can save you a lot of money and pain in the long term.
13. Consistently Check Your Credit Report
Knowing where you stand with your finances is the only way to fix any concerns and enhance your wealth-building strategies. Checking your credit report frequently indicates that you are staying on pace to meet your objectives. You can examine your present credit standing and discover what current lenders view, such as erroneous or incomplete information that needs to be corrected.
14. Create a Retirement Plan
The U.S. retirement age is 66 years and two months. And everyone must work hard to be able to retire and unwind. However, the sooner you devise a retirement strategy, the better off you will be when you are old and gray!
How much should you save for retirement? The 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances reports that the average retirement savings for all families is $333,940. However, most people do not take retirement seriously enough and retire with insufficient funds.
You can choose from a variety of retirement plans, and we recommend that you gather your information from reputable sources to prevent misinformation and fake websites. For more information on different types of retirement plans, visit the US Department of Labor’s website.
You could also contact your company’s higher management, as many firms provide aid with retirement planning.
15. Start Investing and Diversify Your Portfolio
The easiest strategy to see your money rise quickly in the new year is to diversify your investments. First, assess your risk tolerance to determine whether you want to start small or venture into higher-risk, more sophisticated assets. The following are some methods you can begin investing with varying returns and risk levels.
- Stocks
- Bonds
- Cryptocurrency
- Treasury securities
- Mutual funds
- ETFs
- IRA or Roth IRA
- Real estate
- Employee-sponsored 401(k)
- Savings accounts and CDs
Tips to Stick to Your New Years Resolutions
According to a 2014 survey, 35% of respondents who failed their resolutions claimed they set unreasonable goals, 33% didn’t track their progress, 23% just forgot about them, and the rest indicated they failed due to other circumstances.
Step-by-step instructions for avoiding such failure are provided below.
Set Realistic Goals
Start your life-improvement journey with practical and attainable goals. If you want to save money, decide how much you want to have in a week, a month, six months, or a year.
If you want to pay off your debts, don’t aim for the sky; instead, look at your budget and choose a sum of money that makes sense given your monthly income and how much you spend each month.
Track Your Progress
Check in with yourself regularly. How often? It’s up to you. The majority benefit from monthly or quarterly progress assessments. Many things might happen in three months, so if you feel like it, hold yourself accountable by tracking your progress more frequently.
Then, when the new year arrives, review your yearly goals and assess how well you performed. If you succeed, you can congratulate yourself and boost your future goals. If you fail, be nice to yourself and try again.
Find an Accountability Buddy
If you are the only one who is aware of your savings goals, it is easy to brush them aside if you suspect you will not meet them. This means that if you’re serious about improving your financial health, you should locate an accountability partner.
Anyone you know and trust, including your parents, siblings, extended family, friends, partners, and neighbors, can help you keep accountable. Here’s how that will benefit you. Let’s say you resolve to save $20 per week.
So, after each week, you contact your friend and tell them how much money you managed to save and why. Were you successful because you prepared your meal rather than ordering takeout pizza? Or did you fail because you crave a sugary treat after work?
Share your success with your accountability buddy, and stick to your financial New Year’s resolutions! Nobody wants to acknowledge that they failed at something, which is why having someone else keep you accountable and motivate you is so important.
The 20-30-50 Budget Rule
The 20-30-50 budget rule can help you determine how much of your money should be spent, saved, and invested.
People all around the world utilize this budgeting strategy since it takes into account your everyday spending for necessities and entertainment while also saving money.
The 20-30-50 rule states that you should set aside 50% of your income for “needs,” which are your living expenditures such as rent or mortgage, food and drinks, auto insurance and gas, health insurance, and so on.
Then, 30% of your earnings should go toward your “wants” – a new T-shirt, a concert, perfume, and so on. The remaining 20% of your pay should go into savings.
When it comes to preserving your hard-earned money, you have three options: retain it in your checking account, transfer it to a special savings account, or invest it in mutual funds or money market funds.
Benefits of Financial New Year’s Resolutions
Ask yourself: how will your life and financial health improve if you stick to your money goals? Will you achieve financial success, meet your savings goals, or increase your net worth?
Your specific money-related resolutions are determined by your unique circumstances, so only you can decide what goals to establish and how to address the financial aspects of your life. Here are some of the most popular money-related resolutions.
Most Common Money-Related Resolutions
A 2022 survey discovered that 50% of Americans make financial New Year’s resolutions.
- 57% want to save money in their savings account or an emergency fund.
- 48% plan to track their spending more carefully.
- 43% wish to cut monthly costs.
- 42% want to reduce spending on non-essential items.
- 40% plan to pay off their debts (student loans, auto loans, or credit cards).
Where Should You Start With Your Financial Goals?
We covered how your goals should be specific, relevant, attainable, and time-bound. But how can you choose goals that are appropriate for your financial circumstances from among the many money-related ambitions? Here are some tips.
Evaluate Your Financial Well-Being
First and foremost, we encourage you to do what we all dread: access your bank account and review your bank statements. Do you have a budget? Where does the majority of your everyday expenditures go?
The only way forward is to assess your financial well-being and admit your issue areas!
Improve Your Financial Literacy
They say that ignorance is bliss. However, this is not true in terms of finances. If you believe you need more financial knowledge, we encourage you to study more. Do you want to invest but aren’t sure how? Learn about it! Do you want to figure out the ideal budget for your lifestyle? Look it up on Google!
Reach Out to a Financial Advisor
It is not humiliating to say that you need financial assistance; not everyone was taught these lessons as children. Whether you need general counsel or assistance with retirement accounts or life insurance plans, speaking with financial specialists is a good idea.
Why Set a Financial Resolution?
Many people struggle to figure out how to manage their finances effectively. And, as with other faults in our lives, many people tell themselves that they’ll figure it out next year.
Every January provides you with the opportunity to take control of your financial life, from saving money to improving your whole situation. The only way to achieve your financial goals is to create and keep to a plan, and there is no better beginning place than January 1st.
S.M.A.R.T. New Year’s Resolutions
People enjoy creating goals, and achieving them can result in significant change, such as stopping smoking and becoming sober, getting active, or spending less money. However, sticking to goals is sometimes more difficult than merely planning them.
This is why you should make S.M.A.R.T. resolutions. Psychology experts agree that your resolutions should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T.). Specific objectives include “save $1,000” rather than “save a lot of money.”
The goals must be important to you, making them relevant. You’re probably aware that expecting yourself to read 100 books every year is unrealistic. Set a goal for yourself to read one book per month. This will make your objective attainable.
Time-related goals mean you won’t vow to pay off your credit card debt completely by next year. Instead, you’ll pay off a bit each month, reducing your debt in little, manageable chunks.
What are the financial goals for 2024?
Americans enter 2024 determined to achieve two recurrent financial goals: saving more money and paying down credit card debt.
What are the financial resolutions for 2024?
Start the year off right with these money resolutions for 2024, such as budgeting, automating investments and payments, increasing SIPs, investing in upskilling, prioritizing debt repayment, diversifying your investment portfolio, and developing an emergency fund and insurance.
How to make 2024 the year you get rich?
“Look for ways to create multiple streams of income as a way to build wealth,” Mangaliman added. “This might involve freelancing, converting a pastime into a side business, or entering the gig economy. Consider investing the money earned from a side work, particularly in income-generating assets.
In Conclusion
Setting financial objectives is the first step towards reaching them. A new year is an excellent chance to rethink your financial strategies. Whether you are taking stock of your funds or investing them in stocks, be sure you are aiming for financial success in 2024.
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