New Year’s Resolutions
As we near the end of 2007, it is important to look back on your past financial year. Was it better or worse than 2006? What did you do differently to make it so? Are there any opportunities for improvement in your financial behavior of 2007?
Getting a bit personal, here are a few of my personal financial goals:
Find better auto insurance. Silly? Maybe, but our car insurance is astronomically high and I know where to find better rates. I vow to quit procrastinating and check into it to find out for sure.
Change my long-distance carrier. Again, this is a small detail, but every little bit helps. At the rate I’m paying for long distance, I would have to make a lot of calls to justify it. And I don’t make that many long distance calls, not even close. TransWorld Network has e-mailed me their rates for my area: 5.9 cents a minute in the U.S. and 6.5 cents a minute to an international land line. Now that’s talking my language!
Save more and give more. Both of these have always been a battle for me, and I hope to do better with both next year. Those who have witnessed the cyclical power of giving know that giving more means getting more, whether the rewards be tangible or intangible, in the present or the future. So why is it still so hard sometimes?
Grocery shop with cash. After experimenting with this a few months ago, I witnessed the psychological effect of shopping with cash. It’s true what they say - it is absolutely more difficult to spend cash on frivolous items. This trick was a fabulous money-saver for me for about two months.
Of course there are other personal goals I have, but financial inventory is essential to your financial health. And what better time than the end of the year to take inventory of everything - spending habits, records keeping abilities, earning goals, budgeting successes and failures, etc. If you can get a grip on money, you will worry less about that area of your life and improve your psychological outlook as well.
