With the new year upon us, it’s a great time to make some important financial changes. You might have already made resolutions like eating healthier or going to the gym more often, but why not set yourself a financial goal for this year? It’s never too late—or too early—to start making positive changes in your life.
Here are 8 financial tips for how to kick start your savings, debt repayment plan, and retirement savings goals in 2024:
List of top 8 Financial Tips for New Year 2024
Save for retirement
If you’re struggling to save money and don’t have a retirement plan, now is the time to make a change. You should save at least 10% of your monthly income (15% if you’re over 50). This can go toward an individual retirement account or a 401(k). You can also open a Roth IRA and contribute pre-tax money into that account.
If there’s no way you can save this much right now but are still working towards building your nest egg, consider setting aside more than 10% whenever possible (even if it means eating ramen noodles for dinner once in a while). If things get tight later on down the line, look into ways to improve your financial situation, such as getting a better-paying job or taking on side gigs.
Invest in yourself
Learn something new. A new job, a new degree, or even learning a new skill can help you become more valuable and allow you to earn more money. If you’re not sure what classes to take, consider taking an online course from one of these providers: Coursera, Udemy, Skillshare, or edX.
Read more books! Reading improves brain health and sharpens critical thinking skills — which help people solve problems creatively and make better decisions in their personal lives and at work. Reading also provides entertainment that helps relieve stress after a long day of work (or play).
Try reading in the morning with coffee before starting your day or during lunch breaks for some downtime from working on tasks that require concentration, like writing reports for clients or completing presentations for meetings between coworkers on projects within their department which may take up most of their time throughout these next few months before they get into 2023.
So reading along with those other things could make it easier than only doing those two things without any break between them all day long without taking even ten minutes off during lunch break when its due soonest but still haven’t been completed yet!
Tackle taxes
If you’re not a tax expert, it might seem overwhelming to tackle your taxes alone. But plenty of resources are available to guide you through the process and ensure you get all the deductions and credits that are rightfully yours.
Here are some helpful tips:
If possible, do your filing and don’t rely on an accountant or software program to do it for you—that way, if something needs to be adjusted later, it’s easier to fix things up yourself rather than having to deal with an audit or even fines for underpayment.
You can also find ways to save money by making smart decisions about itemizing deductions versus claiming standard deduction amounts or choosing one form over another.
Make sure that all your income comes from legitimate sources—don’t try shady stuff like selling marijuana out of your basement! There are plenty of legitimate ways for people who work from home to earn extra money without breaking the law; just use common sense when deciding what’s safe versus potentially dangerous behavior.
Try not getting caught up in panic buying during the holiday season—buying gifts will likely lead some people into debt later because they didn’t plan properly enough before spending money carelessly during December sales events such as Black Friday sales, where prices tend towards being lower than usual due myopia discounting effect which occurs when consumers fail to discount future value items more heavily than present-day ones even though both kinds have same potential value over decades ahead.”
Discuss money with your spouse or significant other
Talking about money and how you spend it can be not easy. But if you don’t talk about it, you’ll never know where your money is going or how to make sure you’re spending it in ways that will help you achieve your goals.
For instance, if one person is paying for all the bills and managing the family finances while another doesn’t understand what those bills are or why they’re being paid (or even who’s paying them), there’s no way to set up a budget together effectively.
Develop one new financial habit at a time
One of the most common reasons we fail to develop healthy financial habits is that we try to do too much at once. When that happens, it’s easy to lose sight of our goals and get discouraged when things don’t go as planned. The key is to focus on one thing at a time.
For example, if your goal is to pay off your credit card debt, start by adding an extra $100 per month toward paying down your balance – just for one month!
At the end of that first month, ensure you continue this new behavior until 30 days. If it helps keep track using an app like Mint or LearnVest, then do so! Then repeat this process until all or most of your debts are nearly paid off!
Don’t deny reality
The financial reality is an important concept. It’s easy to fall into denial about our finances, especially when we don’t want to face the truth. When it comes to your money, there are several truths that you should never deny:
- You have debt
- Your retirement savings aren’t where they should be
- You owe taxes and penalties on your unpaid taxes
- You have goals for yourself and for your family that you need to work toward
Build up your emergency fund
Having an emergency fund is important. If a medical emergency or car repair arises and you don’t have the money to cover it, your credit score will take a hit—not to mention your stress level!
To avoid that situation, save some cash for emergencies by stashing away 15% of your income in a savings account.
You might even want to set up automatic transfers from checking into savings, so it’s easier to keep track of the amount you need to save each month.
Start paying down your mortgage early if you can afford it
If you can afford to do so, paying down your mortgage early is one of the most powerful ways to impact your finances positively. For example, if you are paying off an average mortgage at 4%, making a monthly payment that reduces the outstanding balance by $100 will save you approximately $100 per year in interest. Over 30 years, this adds up to $30K!
Takeaways
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the financial advice out there. But we hope this post has helped you see that it doesn’t have to be complicated or overwhelming! The most important thing is to start somewhere and work your way up from there.
If you can set one new financial habit at a time, you can accomplish great things in the future! We wish you all the best in achieving your goals and keeping your finances in order in new year 2023.
