Financial New Year Resolutions
Have you made your Financial New Year Resolution yet?
This is the time of year most people will make a New Year Resolution. A lot of resolutions have to do with losing weight, health, happiness, etc. By the end of January most resolutions have been broken.
How about this year making a Financial New Year Resolution? Some Financial New Year Resolutions can be set on autopilot, others will require some discipline, but there is no better time than right now to take action.
The following is a list of Ideas for improving your financial New Year. Choose one and take action, you will be glad you did by the end of this year and in years to come.
- Turn on your employers 401k if you haven’t yet. Start capturing your companies matching and pretax advantages.
- Increase you 401k contribution. Bump it up by at least 1%, you will never notice the difference in your take home pay.
- Review your expenses. Can you do without one of your current monthly payments? An online service you are not using? Eat out one less time a week. Make you coffee at home, skip going to Starbucks, etc.
- Shop around for better rates on your current monthly payments. Can you get cheaper insurance? What about your car payment can you refinance at a lower rate? Ask for discounts on your cable or mobile phone bill.
- Shop for a better job. The economy is improving, can you find a more enjoyable job with better pay?
- Continue your education, learn new skills this will help you in the long run and looks good to your current employer. The best investment ever is to invest in yourself.
- Create a budget, or review your current budget. This requires discipline but is well worth the effort.
- Invest outside of your 401k. Are you buying stocks? Check out Dividend Reinvestment Programs for more on DRIPs. Do you own your own home? If not are your saving for one, the homepath program only requires 3% down. for more on home buyer programs.
- Look at your Social Security Account, to get an idea how much you will be earning in retirement.
- Do you have a will or trust, what are your financial goals? It is time to start planning and thinking about your future.
- Need more ideas? check it out.