January 2, 2026: Make Your Financial Goals Stick This Year
Happy New Year! It’s that time to make your new year’s resolutions and (hopefully) stick to them. Many people include their personal finances as part of their resolutions - savings, paying down debt, and making a large purchase are common goals. Here are several tips and insights to make your new year’s resolutions stick and make 2026 your best year!
Know Your “Why”
Ask yourself why a resolution is important this year. Why do you want to save more? Is there a specific goal, like a car purchase or saving for your children’s education, that you are targeting?
Having a clear definition for why this goal is important to you can help you reflect and stay motivated throughout the year.
Start With the End in Mind
Visualize how your life and circumstances will improve if you stick to your goals. Building your emergency fund will give you peace of mind and help you pay for unexpected crises rather than accumulating debt. Sticking to your savings plan will help you retire earlier than if you made no changes.
The end goal is one thing, but reflect on how much better your life can be by sticking to it through all the challenges you will inevitably face throughout the year.
Focus on Progression
Perfection is impossible so focus on all the progress you make throughout the year. Even if you fall short of your goals, go back and reflect on the times when you stuck to it. If your goals are specific and can be measured (e.g., your savings rate), then review how close you are to your goal and how far you’ve come to achieving it.
Hold yourself accountable and track your progress in whatever way works for you. Spreadsheets and journals can be effective ways to track your progress.
Focus on What You Can Control
Some things are simply outside of your control so set goals that you can heavily influence. Some good financial goals would be to achieve a target savings rate, pay off credit card debt, give a certain amount to charity, or open and maximize a Roth IRA. These goals are excellent because you can reasonably affect the outcomes.
Avoid goals you can’t realistically achieve or influence. Unfortunately, one “goal” I see people set is for their investment portfolio to get a certain return. I cannot stress enough that investors often have next to no influence on market returns. Setting your investment allocation in-line with your risk tolerance, goals, and time horizon is truly the best you can do. Setting goals you cannot influence may lead to disappointment, abandoning your goals, or unnecessary risk-taking to achieve them before the year is up.
Self-Forgiveness
You may fall short in achieving your goals. We are human and falling short is normal. Failure is not permanent and you can always get back on track. If you overspent your budget or missed your savings goals, don’t fret. Tomorrow is a new day to start fresh and make progress toward your goals.
My goal this year for Redspire Wealth Management is to continue to grow and help as many people as I can. If you or someone you know finds value from this newsletter or is looking for advice, please share this newsletter with them and email me to set up time to talk. I’m always looking for opportunities to help people and to spread the word!