Your New Financial Year’s Resolutions
New Year, New Me. We’ve all heard it. Sometimes even from our own lips. At the stroke of midnight, proclamations of living better lives are made to the universe, usually revolving around eating healthier, giving more to charity, and loving our peers. The beginning of a new annual cycle shines a light onto our habits. The question is: why isn’t the same treatment afforded to the New Financial Year? Well, crack open the champagne, because Swoosh is here with some new financial year’s resolutions for you.
Overview:
- Get out of debt
- Improve your credit score
- Save more
- Create a personal budget
- Financial Goals
- Set deadlines
Financial Goals for the New Year
Resolution #1: Get out of debt
One of the main new financial year’s resolutions should be to get out of debt in the new year. It’s time to start fresh and build on your savings instead of your debt bills. While getting out of debt is not a quick fix this should be a goal you concentrate the most on in the New Year.
Debt only causes stress on you. So if you can slowly repay all your debt and build up on savings instead it will make life much easier.
Resolution #2: Improve your credit score
In society today, a good credit score could be the difference between getting a rental property, getting a loan and being liked by banks and lenders in the future. It’s important to build up your credit score and keep it that way.
Here are 6 ways to improve your credit score and learn more about this ways here:
- Pay your bills on time
- Pay off your debt
- Apply for new credit only as needed
- Don’t close unused credit cards
- Don’t apply for too much new credit
- Dispute any inaccuracies on your credit reports
Resolution #3: Save more
Saving more might sound daunting however it doesn’t have to be. Even if it’s not a large amount you are still making the effort to make a change and save more.
If you put just $50 in a savings account each week for a year, that might not look or feel like much. However, because you have been consistent over the 52 weeks of the year you will have saved $2600 by the end of 2025. So imagine the results when you save $100 or $200 each week over the course of the year.
Top tip: Once you have picked that figure each week to go into savings, as soon as your paycheck comes through, move the money over. This way you know you have saved that much without spending it all that week and you can forget about your savings account until the next payday.
What is the 50 30 20 rule?
The 50 30 20 rule used to be very popular and is still used today for people to make easy budgets based on their weekly, fortnightly or monthly incomes. The rule is simple: 50% of your salary should go towards rent, utilities, food and any other needs. 30% goes towards your wants for example eating out, gym memberships, shopping extra. Lastly, 20% of your income should go into a savings account, an account that you do not touch and keep out of sight until you are ready to use your savings wisely.
With property costs rising considerably this rule no longer applies as many rentals usually sit above the 50% line. However, still take this rule into consideration, mostly consider keeping the 20% savings in your weekly budget so you know how much you are actually saving each week.
Resolution #4: Create a personal budget
Thinking along the same lines as the 50 30 20, a great way to start the new year off is with a great financial budget for yourself. Using your expected salary, map out each month; events, bill costs, holiday expenses.
See what the year has in store for yourself then go deeper and look at each week how much do you spend on housing, utilities, food, car and entertainment. Work out what is left after you pay all the bills each week and pick a figure to be your max spending limit each week. Try to keep the spending limit the same each week but you can always raise it when you have an event that week and if possible limit the budget when nothing is happening in another week.
This way you are keeping track of your income and expenses, and don’t forget to put a little in savings each week too. Check out some budgeting apps that can help you plan and keep track of your weekly spendings.
Resolution #5: Financial Goals
To start generating your new financial year’s resolutions, start with a goal in mind. When you are working towards better financial goals, it is a good idea to set goals for yourself whether small or big.
Do you want to:
- Save for a holiday
- Move house
- Buy a car
- Renovate your kitchen
- A new couch
- Have X amount of money in your savings account
By choosing a goal or multiple goals about where you see yourself in a year or even a few months time can motivate you to plan how much you are spending week to week. It can be a great way to split your savings and work out how much you need for that specific thing.
Resolution #6: Set deadlines
A great new financial year resolution is to set yourself a deadline on when your savings goal is met. If you are saving up for a holiday in August your deadline is the end of July. That is a clear deadline. However, other deadlines could be splitting that big goal into months; to reach this goal in a year, I should have saved this much each month.
Similar to setting deadlines you can also set rewards. For example, when I reach X amount in my savings account I am going to get my nails done or get myself a new pair of gym shoes. Make the reward something small, fun and a special that is not a regular activity for you to do. That way you can feel good and motivated to do the savings in the first place to get the reward at the end.
Need help getting started? Swoosh has you covered!
Sometimes you need money to make money. Debt consolidation, help for struggling business, whatever – Swoosh gets it. That is why we offer personal loans of amounts up to $5000, with simple, fixed-term repayment schedules, perfect to implement into your budget and give you a kick start to build on your new financial year’s resolutions. Apply now or get in touch with our team today.
