Happy New Year!

Achieving the goal of experiencing a better year makes lots of people consider setting New Year’s resolutions. While it’s a ritual most people are unable to keep up with as the year starts to wax old, it’s something people like to do. It gives a sense of responsibility and a feeling of hope. 

Setting goals is not the issue, anyone can set goals. In fact, setting goals is by far the easiest thing to do. Sometimes, it’s even easy to start working on such goals because you’re at the peak of your motivation. However, as time goes on, you begin to feel relaxed, discouraged, and bored. You just want to move on to the next exciting thing. Therefore, setting goals and starting to work on them is good, but achieving your goal at the end of the day is the most important thing. So, how do you set achievable financial goals in 2024? Let’s get started.

Why You Need to Set Goals in 2024?

Sometimes, people set goals because they are told to do so or because it seems to be a cool thing to do. But it’s beyond a cool trend. If you don’t set goals, you will be all over the place, without any tangible substance to lay hold on at the end of the year. The following are the reasons why setting financial goals in 2024 is important.

• It gives you direction and focus. When you set your financial goals, you will control your spending, reduce credit card debts, and save more.
• It reduces financial stress. Without goals, you will see that you’re spending more than you are earning.
• It encourages discipline and good habits. Goals can’t be achieved unless you discipline yourself. This will then create a healthy lifestyle and habit.

How Do I Set Achievable Financial Goals in 2024?

What if you’ve been setting unrealistic goals? You may have been disciplined and maintained a start-to-finish energy, but you still don’t achieve your goals. If you bite more than you can chew, it can get you discouraged and you may feel incapable. Let’s look at how to set achievable goals.

Reflect on Your Current Financial State 

Financial state differs from one person to the other. Reflecting on your finances can be scary if you are knee-deep in debt, you may not want to think about it. But you need to know that your finances won’t fix itself, and you can’t continue to run away from it. How much do you have, how much do you owe, how stressed are you? These are questions you need to answer. Take your time to do a thorough reflection and know where you really stand.

What Do You Want and What Do You Believe?

If you want something without enough faith to get it, it will die a mere wish because your faith in that goal is what will keep you going.

If you’re not used to setting goals, you may start with little goals you have the capacity to achieve and then you can work your way up. However, don’t do far below your capacity, don’t set lazy goals that lack the substance of motivation. After you have done a thorough reflection on your finances, ask yourself if you’re comfortable with that state and if the answer is No, then move on to the next stage.

Setting Sound Financial Goals

Now that you are uncomfortable with your present situation, and you now know what you want and believe it’s achievable. It’s time to know if what you want is sound.

• A sound financial goal should reduce your debt.
• A sound financial goal should help you save.
• A sound financial goal should make room for an emergency fund.
• A sound financial goal should take care of your basic needs.
• A sound financial goal should include investments.

If your goal isn’t specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound, you may not be doing it right. Meanwhile, a sound financial goal is wrapped under budgeting.

Methods of Budgeting 

Budgeting is what captures every other financial goal. Budgeting is the parent while every other goal is the offspring. Your budget should make room for savings, debt reduction, emergency funds, basic needs, etc. Now let’s wrap up by looking at a few methods of budgeting and you can experiment with any of them till you find the one that works best for you.

Envelope Budgeting 

You allocate cash for different categories of spending and you put them in a labeled envelope. For example, you can have envelopes for groceries, entertainment, transportation, rent, etc. This method helps you use cash and you can monitor how you’re spending.

Zero-based Budgeting

In zero-based budgeting, every dollar is assigned a specific purpose. At the end of the day, your income minus expenses equals zero. This method requires you to justify every expense and is good for maximising savings and debt repayment.

50/30/20 Budgeting

This budgeting rule divides your after-tax income into three categories: 50% for needs (rent and groceries), 30% for wants (like dining out and shopping), and 20% for savings and debt repayments.

Automated Budgeting 

You can set up automatic deductions for recurring bills or debt once your paycheck arrives. This will help you take care of some of your important needs first even if you end up overspending.

Hybrid Budgeting 

You can combine two different budgeting methods to form a personalised budgeting that will work for you.

Get Rid of Debt 

What’s a New Year’s Resolution without a plan to get rid of debt? At this point, you don’t have to do it all alone. We can help you in making your dream a reality. At EmpireOne Credit, when you speak with one of our debt experts, you can reduce your debt by up to 80%, and interest will stop immediately. Call us at (416) 900-2324 to schedule a free consultation with us. Being debt-free feels good!

Enjoy a debt-free 2024!