Happy New Year! I hope your new year is off to a good start. If you’re like most of us, you’ve set some resolutions for 2019. Perhaps you’d like to lose some weight, exercise more, read more books or perhaps start saving for retirement. Unfortunately, resolutions are hard to keep, and we’ll fail/give up on 80% of them by February. Oof! Seeing that we’re almost to February, I assume a lot of you will be giving up soon and I’d like to help out with that! I find that sometimes a lot of us give up simply because we don’t have a good plan, or good resources in place to achieve them. I can’t help with all your resolutions but I can help with some of the financial ones! So, good luck and I hope some of these help!

Resolution #1 Save more money

Ah, a personal favorite, the age old, “yeah my savings account balance is embarrassing” resolution. Being diligent in saving money is hard. Bills come up, friends want to go out to eat, new clothes go on sale, and then at the end of the month we don’t have any money to save! I have two recommendations for this resolution:

1) Force yourself to save by creating an auto-deposit. Most banks will allow you to set a recurring transfer, so at a pre-determined date of the month, the amount you set will move from your checking to your savings. Set this up. Do it once, or twice a month, right around when you get paid. Perhaps do it a day or two after your paycheck comes, and set an amount you feel comfortable committing to. Definitely don’t put yourself in a spot that you don’t have enough in your checking to pay your bills. 

2) Make sure you have a savings account that pays a lot. Traditional banks pay very little interest, Bank of America and Wells Fargo for example are paying 0.03%, and potentially charging you $5-$15 per month unless you meet their balance or other requirements. STOP! If you find yourself with a bank like this, make the switch to an online bank or credit union. There is NO REASON for you to pay your bank anything per month for them to hold your money. Online banks like American Express, whom I have a savings account with, pays 2.10% and charges $0 fees. In addition to actually saving, make sure you’re getting the best rate for you. A couple of online banks that I like are: American Express, Capital Oneor Ally Bank. Each has something unique with it, so check them out and decide for yourself. 

Resolution #2 Make more money

More money, more problems, said no one ever. There are two ways to improve your financial standing, either increase your income or decrease your spending. Both are fairly difficult! Let’s focus on increasing your income. Now, you could probably go to your boss and ask for a raise, and they might say yes, but it’s unlikely you’d get it. A more practical idea is to get a side hustle. Side hustles are awesome, and I’ve had one on and off for quite some time. They’re easy to get started with and many of them have flexible hours. Babysit, walk dogs, work nights/weekends at a restaurant/bar, sell old stuff on eBay, really the options are endless. One I may recommend because it’s a) easy and b) decent money is driving for Uber or Lyft. I personally find Lyft to be better as they seem to treat their drivers better. Check Lyft out here. The beauty of a side hustle is that the options are really limitless. Get creative, do some research and find one for yourself! 

Resolution #3 Have a budget

Without a good plan and knowing where you’re going, you’ll certainly never get there. A budget doesn’t have to be time consuming, cumbersome or hard. A budget simply looks at how much you make, and tracks how much you’ve spent. It helps make sure you’re not spending more than you make (Cardinal Rule #1) and helps you set savings goals for yourself. 4 solid options for you to check out:

• Mint.com – easy to setup with great tools and recommendations. Only downside is that it can be a little too easy to use and sometimes people forget they have it. 
• Every Dollar – this is a product from Dave Ramsey. There’s a free version and a paid version. I love this because it’s aligned to my personal philosophy on finance – zeroing out your budget each month, i.e. accounting for every dollar. 
• YNAB (You Need a Budget) – a number of friends of the blog use this site and really enjoy it.
• The YMF spreadsheet – I’m a bit old school when it comes to budgeting and all I need is a spreadsheet. It’s manual, but doing it manually forces me to focus on it and helps me achieve my financial goals. I’ve got my spreadsheet available for download (free) on the site. 

The right budget for you is the one that is going to work for you. There’s no right answer for the best budget tool, so compare your options and find one you’ll stick with. 

Resolution #4 Save for retirement

Saving for retirement is a must for young professionals, and really anybody. None of us are going to be able to work together, or will want to. At some point in time, we’ll need to have savings built up to live off of. Sure there’s government support, but that may or may not end up being enough (just ask your grandparents if it is). Saving for retirement now means that you’ll have time on your side. Time is great because it’ll allow your money to compound (i.e. grow) over time. The idea is that you’ll contribute a little each month and over time, it’ll grow, and grow and grow and then you’ll have plenty of money to live off of. 

Either contribute to a retirement plan through work (401k) or do it yourself with an individual retirement account (IRA). It’s fairly easy and straight forward, put a little longer than I can explain here. If you’re interested to learn more, check out my guide on the subject. It’s a 12 page read and has all the info you need, without the stuff you don’t need. Use code “ymfguides” at checkout to get 50% off. The $2.50 you’ll spend now is definitely worth it. 

Resolution #5 Pay less interest on my debt

Although I’m not a big fan of debt (well bad debt; like credit cards), debt is a reality for most of us; whether credit card, car loans or student loans. If you do find yourself in debt, one way to help get out faster is by refinancing and getting a lower interest rate. If you’re paying 15% on a credit card debt, or even 6% on student loans, you could pay a lot less by refinancing to a 7% personal loan or 2.5% student loan interest rate. Although normally a no-brainer, some student loan refinancing may lose certain privileges (like income-based repayment or forgiveness if in a public sector). Of course watch out for fees but the good ones shouldn’t charge. One of my favorites is Earnest, super easy to use and super low interest rates. They’ve got great rates on Student Loans as well as Personal Loans. Take the first step and do some research and see if you can save yourself some money in the long run! 

I hope this helps with some of your financial resolutions. Knowledge is power, so take the first step and do some research today! 

What other resolutions have you made? 

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