It's that time of the year again... It's time to think forward to the next journey around the Sun and what we hope to achieve during the next 366 (2024 is a leap year) days of our lives.
While most of us will set particular personal goals for the new year, such as going to therapy, losing weight, getting in shape, traveling, and other goals that will help us achieve personal growth and happiness, we must also think of a set of financial goals for the new year. After all, without money, how will you achieve most of the things you set your mind to?
I've taken on the task to suggest a few financial goals that you may or may not want to set for 2024. So, without further ado, let's start our list off!
1. Cut back on your "ant expenses"
Ant expenses are those tiny purchases or expenses we make on a daily basis, some may even dare to say unconsciously.
Ant expenses may seem like something trivial, irrelevant, or immaterial (as auditors may put it), but in reality, they can sometimes sum up to be worth as much as your monthly rent. Funny, huh? $6.00 coffee? It may seem like no big deal, but if you multiply $6.00 by each day of the year (366 for 2024), then you would have spent $2,196.00 on coffee during the calendar year. That's probably around the monthly rent for a 2 bedroom / 1 bathroom apartment in San Diego🤷🏻♂️
In this case, just make your coffee at home and buy yourself a nice thermos. Your wallet will thank you later.
Thank you Ms. Nancy for the Starbucks thermos, you really made me get my act together!😂
2. Eat at home or do some meal prep
This doesn't seem very financial, does it? Oh, trust me it is!
I tend to eat out or order in a lot. I can't cook to save my life. So, whenever I am at the office, at the Spaw or there's no pre-made food at home, I go out to eat or order in. While I do like to indulge myself going out to lunch at a nice restaurant, or ordering fast food to my doorstep, it is quite pricy.
I've spent quite a lot of cash keeping myself nourished (or malnourished) with "outside" food, and I bet most of you have also spent a lot of cash eating out.
Do you know how many trips to the grocery store you can take with a month's worth of restaurant meals? Probably one, two if you go out to fancy places a lot. Instead of paying $25.00 for one meal, three times a week, you can spend those approximately $300.00 on groceries and cook for yourself, or have your mother cook for you with the groceries you bought🙈
Buying groceries instead of eating out will be a bang for your buck, because you can get everything you need to prepare a week or a month's worth of food and beverages to keep yourself alive.
3. Save an X amount of money
"X" may be substituted by the amount you consider desirable, taking into account your cash flow.
Does anyone remember the principles of setting goals? They must be SMART. Not "SMART" as in intelligent (well, yes, but not the point I am trying to make), but:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-bound
So, you must be specific in the amount you want to save, and in what amount of time you'd like to reach that goal. You're not going to set the bar too high, and you must be able to keep track of your progress towards that goal.
Manifest. Affirm what you are trying to achieve: I will save $1,000.00 by December 31, 2024. I will set aside $20.00 over 50 weeks.
Be consistent with your plan. Jot down in a notebook or a spreadsheet the date and the amount you're setting aside, so you can track progress and see how far off you are from the goal.
4. Spend wisely on others
Specially during the season of gifts. Your mother's second cousin twice removed on her father's side doesn't need a tennis bracelet from Tiffany's coming from you on Christmas Day.
Some people are splendid gift-givers. We usually attribute the splendidness of it all to the monetary value of the gift and to the amount of people others give gifts to. I would say that the splendidness of the gift-giver is based on whether you like the gift or not, and whether you're actually going to use it. I'd rather give a cheap but useful gift to someone, rather than an expensive but useless gift.
If you're taking someone other than your close relations out to dinner (or whatever meal for that matter), and are going to foot the bill, choose something within your means and according to the degree of affinity of the people you're inviting. The closer you are to the person, the pricier you can get. However, do bear in mind that this is not a "once-a-week" thing. You're not taking the guy you've just met to Claridge's for tea on the first date, are you?
Apply the "treat yourself" criteria for gift giving and for taking people out for meals. Not all of your outings have to be grand and not all of your gifts expensive.
5. Treat yourself, but only when you deserve it
It may sound a bit narcissistic, but I tend to buy myself a birthday and Christmas gift for surviving the year gone by. Life isn't always so easy to go on with and sometimes we need a little pick-me-up to keep muddling through.
Princess Margaret had vodka as her pick-me-up, I have Apple devices. Go figure😂
I wouldn't advise to "treat yourself" every week or that often, but if you have the money to "treat yourself", do so with moderation. Once or twice a year is fine. But only if you have the money to do so. The worse thing you could do is to treat yourself with your credit card without having the money to pay it off. Remember that savings tip I gave you above? Your savings may be used to "treat yourself", but personally, I would destine those to invest in something that will keep on giving.
Other occasions to treat yourself, besides your birthday or Christmas, are finishing a degree, a promotion at your job, or any other very important milestone. Don't come telling me you got yourself a new phone just because you joined the gym on Jan. 2😂
I'm not saying big purchases cannot be made to treat one's self, but do consider the entire picture: do you have enough money to pay it off? Are you taking money away from your monthly expenses in order to treat yourself? How many weeks of work will it take to get that money back? Besides wanting the product, do I really need it? Is it functional for my needs and activities?
Analyzing these variables will help you to decide whether you should go for it or not.
Well, that's the end of the last post of the year! I would like to thank all of my (four) readers for following my activities and for keeping this project alive, and I know you will be keeping it alive for years to come. Happy New Year to everyone🥳🥂
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