There are 54 days until the new year. That’s 54 days that you can prepare yourself now and generate momentum to reach your 2019 goals. Start thinking about what you would like to accomplish in 2019 and develop a game plan of how you’re going to do that. Once you’ve figured out your goals and the steps that need to begin taken, start now! Generate positive momentum that will help make sure that you’re full steam ahead towards reaching your goals once the new year rolls around.
Just because New Year’s resolutions technically start January 1 doesn’t mean that you have to wait until then to begin making progress. If you’ve set a goal that you want to reach by December 31, 2019, then starting now towards reaching that goal can only mean that you’ll be more likely to reach it.
Reflect
Before you do all of that, take some time reflect on your 2018 goals. Have you reached them? Have you forgotten about them? Can you do something over the remainder of the year to make sure that you reach some of those goals?
If you identify actions that you can take to help you reach goals that you set for 2018, then take care of this while you identify smaller action items that can propel you into 2019.
Here are some examples of financial goals that you can set for yourself in 2019.
Establish an Emergency Fund
If you don’t have a properly funded emergency fund in place (at least 3-6 months of living expenses), then this is probably where you’re going to want to start. We all want to think that nothing bad is going to happen to us, but life is unpredictable which is what makes an emergency fund necessary.
Taking the time to establish an emergency fund before working on other goals is important because it can help to make sure that you don’t end up riding a wave of debt. Consider someone who doesn’t have an emergency fund in place. They get hurt in a freak accident and can’t work, or experience a disaster that ends up costing them $5,000.
They don’t have $5,000, so they charge it to a credit card. After a couple of years of hard work, they pay off the credit card. Then, another $5,000 disaster strikes, and they still don’t have an emergency fund in place to pay for it. Guess what happens?
The good thing is that you can start saving towards establishing a well-funded emergency fund now!
Set Cash Flow Goals & Create a Budget
Set savings and debt pay down goals and create a budget based around them rather than spending first and thinking about saving and paying off debt second.
Reaching your goals (if they’re lofty enough) will probably require some sacrifice, and potentially some lifestyle changes, but will be worth it in the end. Maybe you want to buy a house in 2019 or you want to max out your Roth IRA or you want to pay off high interest rate student loans. No matter what your goals are, set them now, figure out what your budget needs to look like to accomplish those goals, and start working towards them.
You’re not going to be perfect, and there will be some trial and error, but starting now rather than waiting until January 1 will help you get a head start.
It will be time consuming, but go back and track your expenses for the past couple of months. Make notes of where you spent more than you thought and where you can cut back in the new year. Your spending in November and December will probably be higher than usual considering holidays and potential travel, so these may not be the best months to use as a comparison and evaluation.
Decide What You’ll Do With Your Raise, Bonus, & Tax Return
If you’ll receive a raise, bonus, and/or tax return in 2019, take the time now to plan for what you’ll do with that money. How much of it will you spend? How much will you save? How much will you allow to contribute to lifestyle creep? How much will you use to pay down debt?
No matter what your goals are for the money, make a plan now so that when the time comes that the money hits your bank account, you’re not tempted to spend it on something that won’t help you reach your goals.
Maybe your goal is to buy a new car with the money. That’s fine, but don’t go out and buy a new wardrobe and new appliances if those aren’t the goals that you wrote down. Write down your goals and stick to them when the time comes to allocate your cash.
If you’ll receive a raise or bonus, then you should consider increasing your savings rate. You weren’t receiving the money before, so why not just go ahead and save at least part of it?
Evaluate Your Insurance
Do you have the proper insurance coverages in place? Take the time to figure out what types of policies you need and what the appropriate coverage is for each. This will be worth it when you have the right coverage in place if disaster strikes. Having to pay for a disaster without the proper insurance in place to help you can be financially devastating.
Quit Putting It Off…
Have you been neglecting getting your estate planning documents in place? Take some time now to reach out to an attorney to get the process started. You know it’s important. You know you need to do it. Check it off your list.
Generate Momentum
In the next 54 days left in 2018, take some time to think about what you can do right now to make things easier on yourself and help you reach your 2019 goals. Make money priorities and plan around them rather than letting life happen and hoping that you can somehow reach your goals. You’re in charge of your money, your money isn’t in charge of you.
Take action and do what you can now to not only reflect on your 2018 goals and try to finish accomplishing as many of them as possible, but also develop your 2019 goals and the processes that you need in place to reach them. Reflecting on what you’ve accomplished, continuing to tackle goals to end 2018, and beginning to work towards your 2019 goals now will give you momentum going into the new year to help you be successful.
