Tips to help you stick to your financial resolutions in the new year

CINCINNATI — The start of a new year is a great time to set new goals.

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If you’re looking to better your finances this year, NerdWallet personal finance expert Kate Wood shares the secret to making your money-saving resolutions stick.

Out with the old, and in with the new. Wood said January is a great time to start looking ahead and planning for the future.

“What are things that you would want to do, not even necessarily within the next year, but maybe the next five years or just within your lifetime,” Wood said.

Once you’ve established some goals that you’re passionate about that can help you come up with a resolution you’re more likely to stick with. Wood said the trick is to get specific.

“Your goal might be, oh, I want to save money. But if you tell yourself, I’m going to put 100 extra dollars towards savings each month, that can be much more attainable,” she said.

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Tracking your progress throughout the year is important, but don’t overdo it.

“So similarly to how if you are dieting for the new year and it’s very tempting to weigh yourself not just daily, but multiple times a day,” she said. “Similarly, with your financial goals, you don’t necessarily want to get bogged down in, need to check this daily or more than once a day.”

Instead, Wood recommends scheduling specific dates you plan to check in on your progress throughout the year.

“So if you’ve got that sort of appointment with yourself once a week, once a month, where you know you’re going to check in, that can be a lot more manageable,” Wood said.

If you have a temporary setback, don’t give up.

“Same as if you are trying to get fit and you miss a workout, it’s OK, work out the next day — same thing with your finances,” she said.

For example, if you’re trying to put more money towards your savings, but something unexpected comes up that you need that money for instead, “that’s absolutely OK, go ahead and do that.”

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“And then just know that the next month you can get back on track toward that financial goal,” Wood said.

Various apps can help you set up a budget, set goals and track where your money is going. Wood said the NerdWallet app is a great option for that, and you can get it for free. 

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