Monday, October 22, 2017
Was 2017 a bust??? It’s not too late to get started on those goals!!!
New Year, new me!! Did you say that back in January? The calendar changing always gets us thinking about what we want to change in our lives for the upcoming year. Did you knock out those goals? Did you get even one of them done? I know that I set some lofty goals for myself every January and many of them fizzle into the abyss come February 1st. It’s kind of sad the game we play, tricking ourselves into believing we are going to change things in our lives. There’s one thing that I know for sure about 2017: It might have been the fastest year in the history of mankind! Seriously, where the hell did it go? If you are like me you got lost in the Hurricanes, Trumpty Dumpty, and no summer, whirlwind of the year, that 2017 was. Here’s a question for you: Were some of your goals for the year financial? Did you want to pay down debt, save some money, buy a home, start investing, and make more money? Did you accomplish those goals? I know I missed a few! The good news is, the year is over yet. You still have a chance to get started on some of those goals to help make 2018 the year of you! The year of the fat wallet! The year of the positive bank account balance! The year of F*** You Visa bill! In this post, I will detail some goals you can have for the remainder of 2017 to lead you into making 2018 the year of financial independence for you.
1) Start a mini emergency fund
My main man Dave Ramsey talks about the mini emergency fund as the first step to financial independence. In his 7 baby steps, step one is saving up $1000 for that purpose. Experts say you should have 3-6 months living expenses in an emergency fund. Suze Orman, the highly touted financial guru, says you should have 1 years take home pay. That amount can seem impossible so let’s start the Ramsey way. Take the next 10 weeks to start your mini emergency fund. To get to the Ramsey level of $1000 would require you to save $100 a week. Now that might not be possible given your current situation. How about next week you save $10 dollars. Take that $10 and throw it in your savings account or if you feel that will be too tempting, withdraw it and put it in a jar. The week after take $20 and do the same thing. The week after that take $30 and do the same thing. Repeat that all the way until week 10 when you will put $100 into the account or jar. Do you realize that if you do that for ten weeks, slowly increasing every week, you will have $550 saved up? That is more than halfway to your $1000 mini emergency fund. That will be a nice way to say Happy New Year! Ease your way into big challenges and you will be amazed by the results.
2) Pay off a small debt
You wouldn’t believe how many people I have met that have numerous nagging small debts. Annoying Rogers/Bell bills, Hydro, small credit cards, owing a friend or family member money and even overdue gym memberships. Take the next 10 weeks and focus on knocking out one or more of these small annoying debts. If it helps, do it the graduated way like with the mini emergency fund. Use your online banking to slide a little bit into that bill every week. Even $20 every week will crush the $200 you have owing to evil Rogers Wireless. The same can be said if you are currently living in overdraft. Those overdraft fees will kill you every month, sometimes as big as $50! If you can sacrifice a little bit for the next 2 months you can start the year with a zero balance on that bank account. For anyone who has ever lived in overdraft, having zero dollars in your account is a beautiful thing!
Utilize the debt snowball method
3) Save for the holidays
I am personally not a big fan of Junky McDebt Day, I mean Christmas. There is nothing I like more than shoveling out a bunch of money on crap to provide 2 minutes of joy in someone’s life. For those of you who love that day, which is many of you, saving for those expenses is huge. Far too many people, spend far too much trying to keep up with the Jones’ or some other mythical family. Do you throw it all on the credit card? How about the lovely Line of Credit? Are the months of January and February nasty little reminders of how much you spent during the holidays? Do yourself a favor and start saving for the holidays now! In fact, start saving last spring! Put away $50 a week now and you will have $500 by January 1st. That will hopefully be enough to cover the gifts for all those people you only see once a year. Make these holidays a memorable one! One that doesn’t give you a debt hangover leading into next spring!
Scroogenomics – A must read for the holidays
Instead of gifts, why not donate to your favorite charities
4) Put in an insurance application
Many people are completely unaware of how much their life is actually worth. Much more are unaware of how they would make ends meet if they couldn’t work. I can see your eyes glazing over right now, but for yours and your family’s sake, put in an insurance application. The process is fairly quick and easy and actually, shows you how healthy you are. For parents and grandparents thinking of a gift to give your child, a cash value Life Insurance policy is the best gift you can give them, along with an education savings plan. The reason is simple: You and your children will more than likely never be healthier than you are right now. That means that insurance will never be cheaper than it is right now. You owe it to yourself to get some coverage in case you die or are unable to work. Our office delivers cheques every week to the loved ones of someone who went too soon. The sad truth is, I would rather bring a cheque to a friend or loved one, than flowers and a cheesy card. Find out where you stand and find out soon.
5 important reasons why you need life insurance
5) Downsize and de-clutter
Winter is always a cozy time where we gather by the fire and rejoice in our time together. Can you find your fireplace behind the mound of junk in your house? Can you see a wall in your closet? Does your dog have designer clothing as well? I am all for the minimalist lifestyle and I think we all could get rid of a few things we don’t need. Luckily for us, there are so many needy people right in our communities that we could help. Take the mini emergency fund method and get rid of one thing a week that you don’t need. Also, you can find ways to de-clutter your finances too. Go over your bank and credit cards statements and highlight anything that isn’t an essential. Take all those things and get rid of five of them. If you go out for dinner twice a week, go out once instead. If you have a latte every day, do it every other day. You wash your car every week, wash it every other or do it at home. Just like saving a bit of money every week until the New Year, you should also try to spend a little less every week as well. The results will blow you away!
32 items in your home that you can get rid of right now – The Spruce
The reason most New Year’s resolutions fail is that we either set unrealistic ones or don’t prepare for them, period. You have to take the steps to make your life better over time until it becomes a habit. Saving money, making more money, being debt free, helping out in your community, and spending less money should be something we all aspire to. We have 10 weeks until 2018 and there is no reason why you can’t get started now working on those goals. Make October 23rd, your January 1st!
Thanks for reading my post today on goals and don’t forget to tune in tomorrow when I discuss the most important goal you can have leading into next year! Shoot me a message at joe@budgetboss.ca and let me know what your goals are, I’d love to hear about them. Have a great day friends!
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar
Email – joe@budgetboss.ca
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