Start the new year off right with a financial checkup
It's the free and easy way to improve your finances.
- Receive a comprehensive financial review
- Our objective is to both increase what you earn on your savings and decrease the cost of your debt
A New Year means a fresh start. Begin your year productively with new financial goals. Everyone can improve on their financial wellness, but we don’t always know how. What is financial wellness? Financial wellness refers to an individual’s overall financial health and your relationship with money.
Here are 8 ways to promote a healthier financial lifestyle:
- Set and commit to a budget. Write down all your monthly expenses and compare it to your income. This is an easy way to know exactly how much money you have left over each month for savings.
- Save money consistently. Most financial institutions allow you to easily set up automatic monthly withdrawals from a checking account to an account created strictly for savings. Try and put a set amount into an account that typically has a higher return rate such as a Money Market account.
- Setup an Emergency Fund. Ideally you want to have 3-6 months of expenses set aside for emergencies, but that is not realistic for many of us. To start, saving just one month of expenses is easier to do, yet still makes a big difference.
- Know the due dates of bills. Set up automatic payments so you never miss a bill or get penalized with a late payment fee. Get used to tracking your bills as well so you know how much you need each month to pay these off. Be confident with your finances and make sure you have enough funds to pay off your charges.
- Set up alerts in your accounts. No one likes to pay overdraft fees on their accounts. That’s why many financial institutions let you set account alerts to notify you when your balance is getting low. This alerts you to take steps and avoid unwanted charges.
- Set up Card Alerts. Most of us have a harder time managing money when it all goes to a piece of plastic. Many financial institutions have card controls to set spending limits or gives you notifications when you spend above a certain amount. Paying cash or never spending more than what you have saved in your account helps as well.
- Pay off debts in small bites. If you have a lot of debt, start with the smallest amounts first. Tackling smaller debt first will give you confidence for the larger balances. Typically, you can consolidate most debt into one bill as well which can reduce the amount you spend on your overall interest rates.
- Avoid paying only the interest on your bills. If you are paying only interest on your bills, the borrowed amount itself will never get smaller. Try and pay as much of your bill as you can, including paying down the balance.