How to Keep your Financial Resolutions on Track in the New Year

Despite the popularity of making New Years’ Resolutions, it’s incredible to think that around 80% of those have failed by the time that February comes around.

This is particularly true in the case of financial resolutions, which are often undermined by the fall-out from the festive period and the fact that finances are often strained in the New Year. This is likely to be even more of an issue this time around, with inflation and the cost of living rising at a disproportionate rate to earnings.

In this post, we’ll look at how you can keep your financial resolutions on track in New Year and build successfully towards your objectives.

1. Set Realistic Goals

While you may have ambitious financial plans for the future, you cannot hope to suddenly build or accumulate wealth in 12 months. This is a gradual process that requires focus, dedication and vision, while it starts with the setting of realistic goals that can be easily achieved within a 12 month period.

So, look at what you want to achieve in the long-term, before considering the smaller steps that are required to accomplish your goals. You should then set New Years’ resolutions that relate to these smaller, more management chunks, while creating an estimated timescale for completing these.

Over time, you should reap the rewards of this and begin to see your resolutions accomplished more successfully.

2. Equip yourself with the Tools to Succeed

While we all like to start the New Year with a diary (in the hope that it will help us to suddenly become more organised), but if we’re going to adopt this approach then we should at least invest in the best and most comprehensive tools of this type.

Collins Debden sells a range of impressive economist’s diaries, for example, which are exceptionally stylish and also designed to make planning your finances easier. These diaries also include information and insight from the world’s leading economies and financial institutions, so you may be able to use this strategic advice to your advantage.

Similarly, take a look online and see if you can identify the money management and finance apps that best suit your needs. This should make it easier to track your money and adopt a more frugal lifestyle, which will be beneficial regardless of your overall objectives.

3. Be Prepared to Sacrifice

Achieving financial resolutions in the New Year is as much about mind-set as it is deed, so developing the right outlook is crucial if you’re to be successful.

You must be fully prepared to make changes to your lifestyle, for example, particularly when it comes to your regular spending habits. Similarly, you may also be required to make sacrifices, and this demands that you showcase willingness and no little mental strength throughout the whole year.

With the right mind-set and motivational triggers, you will find it far easier to achieve your New Years’ resolutions in 2018. In the case of those that relate to finance, this may well ensure that you begin to accumulate wealth and build towards a brighter financial future.