When it comes to New Year’s Resolutions that include financial goals, writing them down and being
visible could be essential to your success. After you’ve written down what your financial resolutions for the New
Year are, tell others about your progress and failures. Here are some things you may want to focus on this year:

Decrease your spending

The less you spend, the more you can save into an emergency fund, pay toward debt reduction, or
save for retirement. Review your spending this month to determine what you can eliminate and reduce. If you felt
financially insecure the past year or on the brink of it, now take control of your financial future.

Reduce your debt

If you are one of the ‘revolver households’ that carries credit card debt month after month, make
this the year you pay off your debt, cut up the cards, and close credit card accounts.

You may want to consider paying down your mortgage, refinancing, or moving to a home that costs
less. If you become unemployed in the future, making your mortgage payment is essential to remaining sheltered. If
you’ve maintained employment but have a higher interest rate than today’s rates, consider refinancing or making
extra payments toward your mortgage.

Pay off your auto loan, increase your monthly payment, or refinance the remaining term at a lower
rate. Although refinancing may look appealing, confirm that the refinance saves you money and reduces your loan
term.

Start your debt reduction investigation by using financial calculators or consult your
financial professional to determine if these ideas are appropriate for you.

Establish an emergency fund

Start with a minimum of one month’s expenses and work toward a fully-funded emergency fund. A
fully-funded emergency fund should have six months or more of expenses in savings that you won’t access and that’s
not tied to stock market performance like a money market account.

Save for retirement

Set your retirement savings contributions up automatically, increase year over year and make an
effort to maximize your contributions. Additionally:

Get your employer’s retirement savings contribution match

Contribute enough to your employer’s retirement plan to receive matching dollars. If you’re not
saving enough to receive a matching contribution from your employer (commonly a 2-4% match), you’re throwing away
‘free money.’

Take some risk (in your investments)

If you have your retirement savings in an interest-bearing account outside of the stock market,
you will not keep up with inflation in retirement over time. Having 100% of your retirement savings tied to stocks
may not be best for you, but all of it outside the market may not be either. Meet with your financial professional
to determine if your risk tolerance and portfolio allocations are appropriate to your situation.

Be aware of how taxes impact you

Part of your investments should be in tax-sheltered accounts and some after-tax investments.
Discuss how each investment may affect you this year and in retirement with your financial and tax professionals.
Part of tax awareness is understanding how trading and rebalancing impact your taxes and how your financial
professional can help.

Monitor your investments

Meet with your financial professional for a financial review at least once this year to determine
if your risk tolerance, investment options, and your timeline for retirement are still on target. Receiving
financial help from a professional can help you accomplish your financial resolutions.

Important Disclosures:

Investment advice offered through Planned Financial Services, LLC (“Planned Financial”),
an SEC registered investment adviser.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or
recommendations for any individual.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We
suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.

All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, Planned Financial Services makes
no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Planned Financial blog articles are meant for informational
purposes only, are not intended to serve as a recommendation to buy or sell any security and are not an offer or
sale of a security. This is not a research report and is not intended to serve as the basis for any investment
decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Planned Financial Services, LLC
or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. All investments involve risk, and the past performance of a security or
financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. Planned Financial Services’ blog contains articles
on budgeting, business, insurance, planning, spending, and financial health, etc. The goal is to make business and
financial news accessible to our clients. Writers conduct daily research through a variety of primary (e.g., press
releases, financial reports, public statements, economic data, social media accounts, interviews, etc.), and
secondary sources (e.g., The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, etc.). Past performance is no guarantee of future
results. Any historical returns, expected returns, or probability projections are hypothetical in nature and may not
reflect actual future performance. The content on this article is for informational purposes only and does not
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This article was prepared by Fresh Finance.

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