It’s that time of year – resolution season. Instead of congratulating you on making it through the holidays and the past year, the whole world wants to know how you will improve yourself in 2025. What will you commit to? A challenge? A hobby? A new habit? Ditching a habit? At times it can feel, well, predictable and not terribly effective.
Over the holidays, I overheard four twenty-somethings in a coffee shop counseling each other on how to make good financial decisions. I was thrilled, as I believe that the more people talk about money, they will be at making smart, confident financial decisions. The main gist of the conversation was that one of them was trying to figure out how to feel okay about the amount of money he spends on vacation. That may seem like short-term thinking, but it’s actually spot-on for what clients at all levels of income and net worth want from their financial plan: confidence that they are making smart decisions.
As we launch into a new year, we are trading in the far-too-long lists of ways you can improve yourself and paring back to a few simple ideas for your financial plan:
Start today. Almost everyone wishes they had made a better financial decision at some point in their lives. And sometimes that can stymie their progress in making superb future financial decisions. My suggestion? Forget all of that. Instead of dwelling on choices you wish you had made previously – which you can’t change - just start today. Recognize where you are now, where you want to be, and choose today to start working toward that goal.
Reflect a little. Use your recent history to help you figure out where you are now. Banks, credit cards, and investment companies will be sending you year-end updates in the coming days. Take the time to review them and ask yourself – does this align with how I intend to spend my money? What are you doing well? What is stressing you out about your financial decisions or financial plan? Where are you spending too much? Or too little? What do you really want to achieve with your money, both short- and long-term?
Pick one. Financial planning can feel overwhelming because it touches so many parts of our lives. Our firm’s DBT360 financial plans include multiple personalized strategy recommendations for our clients to align their dollars with their goals. But even with our professional guidance, it’s too much to try to tackle all of the recommendations at once. We use a “Pick One” strategy to focus our collective efforts on achieving one goal at a time – checking it off the list and building confidence along the way.
We love to hear both success stories and challenges when it comes to financial planning and understanding how to use your money to have the life you want – please share yours with us at hello@bfsadvisorygroup.com.