New Year, New Budget!
2024 is here, y’all. It’s so hard for me to believe. I keep thinking about the fact that this fall will make 10 years since I’ve lived here in Atlanta as an adult. That is just wild to me but also a testament that time waits for not one soul. Regardless of how much I’m in disbelief, I find that a new year is always a great time to reflect, reset, and implement new ways of doing things. For me, this includes my money. Today, I’m sharing money habits that you might consider adding to your 2024 financial arsenal.
Healthy Money Habits
- Set your annual financial goals.
- Open a high-yield savings account online where you earn interest on your savings. I love these for saving for vacations, annual expenses, and more.
- Automate savings via direct deposit or a withdrawal on the day that you get paid.
- Check your checking account every day.
- Pay your credit card weekly or even after each purchase.
- Freeze your credit on Transunion, Experian, and Equifax if you don’t need it anytime soon. (This is free to do!)
- Monitor your credit score regularly.
- Call your bill collectors and ask them to reduce your bill, interest rate, or balance.
- Shop around for new service providers, such as cable, internet, cell phone service, insurance, etc.
- Talk to your partner about finances regularly. Money date anyone?
- Contribute to your job’s 401k plan. Max out any company matches. If you are self-employed consider contributing to a SEP IRA.
- Increase your 401k/SEP IRA contributions by 1% each year.
- Review your investment accounts.
- Speak to a financial advisor with your company’s 401k provider to make sure you’re on track for retirement. Many plans if not all offer this for free and suggest a meeting annually.
- Create an ongoing wish list for anything that you want to buy to prevent impulse purchases.
- Automate your bills.
- Set up a college fund for your kids.
- Add extra payments to debt to accelerate the payoff (no matter how small).
- Review your budget every week to make sure you are staying on track.
- Decrease purchases made through Klarna, Affirm and other pay later services.
- Research and take advantage of your health insurance benefits and your job’s benefits (ex: free gym memberships, points, free HSA money, etc.)
- Take an annual deep dive into your finances (savings, debt, investments, etc.)
- Make a plan for paying student loans
- Decrease unnecessary expenses like underutilized subscriptions and memberships.
- Integrate another stream of income into your finances.
A few habits that I’m adopting are:
- Sticking close to my budget. Especially in the grocery store.
- Not spending money on my credit card that I do not have budgeted as an expense. OR not spending it if I don’t have the money in my bank account to pay it right back.
- Adding items to a wishlist before I purchase them.
- Upping the direct deposit to my savings account.
- Budgeting a little more for vacations because I know I know my hubby and I like to splurge when we vacay.
Alright friends, that’s a wrap. Let’s bring big money energy into 2024 by adopting healthy habits that will serve you in the long run! I hope that you find some of these helpful. What would you add to this list?
The content on KatreenaDavis.com is not intended to be a substitute for professional financial advice. Please seek the advice of a qualified financial professional regarding your specific financial picture or investment options.
