Jan 01 2009
New Year’s Resolutions that are Easy to Keep.
For some reason, the turn of a new year signals the chance for people to turn over a new page in their life. For good or bad, many people work really hard to make resolutions to better their life. Some cynics say that you don’t need a New Year Resolution to make life better for yourself, you just need to get up and do what needs to be done! The number one thing you can do for yourself is to really look at your financial situation and decide if it is healthy or sick. Whatever motivates you, here are a couple of easy to do things to help your life be better in the long run. (Of course, adjust these as they fit your particular circumstances.)
1. Go to the Human Resources Department at your workplace and ask them to take out $50 more for your retirement. If you have already maxed out your contributions, you are smart enough to not worry about this avenue. However, if you have procrastinated this essential step in your life, or even if you are putting in some, put in more. You won’t regret it down the road.
If you don’t have anything like a 401k available to you, or if you are self-employed, consider asking a good brokerage firm to take the money directly out of your account each month. Read up on what kinds of retirement programs are available to you, such as KEOGH, SEP, or Roth IRAs. Your accountant can help direct you to which is best for your tax situation. If you can afford to give more, do it. Soon you will see that the money will begin to accumulate.
2. If you don’t already have a good financial planner, meet with one. Be sure this person is not making his/her money by selling products. Many salespeople are affiliated with a certain insurance company but still tout themselves as a financial planner. Find a person with nothing to benefit other than your best interest.
3. Make a list of your debts and resolve to pay them off one at a time. This includes people who love you that have borrowed money to you. You need to do this to retain self-dignity, your reputation, and your good name. Get help to get out of credit card debt. If your credit seems to be managing you instead of you managing it, seek the Consumer Credit Counseling. They help you budget and take control of the finances for free. Plus they can usually talk the credit card companies into helping you get a lower interest rate or maybe even get the interest dropped all together.
4. Develop a workable budget. The easiest way is sometimes the most basic. Buy a series of envelops, label them to cover your basic expenses, then when you get each paycheck, fill in the envelops with the budgeted amount each week or two weeks. Whatever is left over can go into a special emergency account. This method is more liberating than any other way of managing money and provides relief from stress when the end of the pay period comes.
5. Plan your giving. No matter who you are, giving can be planned and budgeted. Save a certain amount of your giving money for emergencies such as Hurrican Katrina. But figure out how much you want your charities to get and plan it into your budget.
6. Since there is a recession on, up your contributions to your emergency fund. Make sure you have enough to last you for a year in case of a downturn at your employment or business. Stock up on food and nonperishable items that you would need if you lost your job or ran into a time of high inflation.
7. Make a list of financial goals that you want to accomplish for the year. Make five, then put them on your refrigerator door. If you are a great person for not getting anything done throughout the year, put a copy of the list on your mirror, front door or any other place where these goals stare you in the face. Cross them off as you accomplish them. Make these goals simple and attainable. Make it something like, “Put in $25 a week into a savings just for emergencies.” This is not time for, “Become a millionaire by June.”
8. Figure out what five inexpensive, simple things would make your life easier, and be a money and time saver. For example, one man determined that a $10 cordless screwdriver would be helpful when renovating his home. Since he was handy and already helping save money by doing the renovations himself, this one inexpensive tool was his request for Christmas. To his delight, he discovered that his children enjoyed the tool enough to help take some of his tasks off his shoulders. Make a list of these things and give them to a spouse or person who might want to give you gifts. Update this list as the items are given to you. Parents always want to give their family members something but don’t always know what, so this one activity could help everyone.
9. Make a list of three things you want to learn about in the next six months. Start with the first one and figure out the best way to accomplish that learning. Are you a good reader and can you learn this information from a book? Visit the library to get started with a book on the subject, then devote a small amount of time a day to study the contents. Not a good reader? Perhaps YouTube can demonstrate what you need to know. Do you like taking classes? Check out a local community college, community ed or, if you are a small business, the small business development center for inexpensive classes on what you need. Online articles at sites like Associated Content, Ehow, Bright Hub, and Suite 101 can give you access to a wealth of information, all for free. College classes should be reserved for either the necessary job requirements or if you are heading for the degree, or if you want to just improve your life. It simply doesn’t have to be the first step. As you learn what you wanted to know, cross off that item on your list. Then it’s up to you if you want to add more to it or just wait until you get a new list next year. Either way, it’s all right to feel good about what you have accomplished.
10. Critically analyze your career/job. Is it what you want to do? Is it all right to keep or is it a dead end? One smart young man who is has supported his family as a massage therapist is now analyzing his next step in life, well aware he can’t do this profession forever. His next moves can come while he is still practicing his current profession rather than just dropping it all together. Another woman, who hated her job, finally figured out what was her desire: to open a yarn shop, and spends her spare time getting it up and running. Someday, when she retires from her current job with a pension, she will have the satisfaction of having her own business, especially since she enjoys knitting. It’s important to analyze the path you take on a periodic basis and have a plan for five years. Are you going down the path you want? Do you have a good, working plan? If not, what do you need to do to make your life go the way you want?
New Year’s resolutions often drop by the wayside as the year goes on. But even if you do those listed above in the next week or two while it is still fresh in your mind, life will get better. Hopefully your goals in life and the steps you take will come together to make those resolutions worth making.
Good list of resolutions to make.