Keep your New Year’s financial resolution simple
by: Christina Pontisso
“You can make a lot of progress, and avoid disappointment, by identifying and acting on simple moves that pay off most over time,” writes CUNA’s Home & Family Finance Resource Center, Susan Tiffany. Tiffany suggests sticking to the basics this year, when making those 2015 financial resolutions.
Below are 3 tips to think about going into the New Year:
1. Set a goal. Remember to apply the SMART acronym when thinking about all the things you would like to accomplish financially in 2015. “Keep your goal specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Focus on one goal at a time that will have a satisfying payoff. Knock off one goal, then proceed to the next.”
2. Fuggeddaboutit. “Make a decision once and automate it. Your credit union has effective tools to help: Use direct deposit of net pay from your employer, then use automated transfers from share drafts/checking to savings to build your rainy day fund–always pay yourself first. Then use online bill pay to pay all bills, on time every time. Set alerts from the bill pay system to remind you when a payment is due. Likewise, set up a low balance alert so you never get caught off-guard by an overdraft.”
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