Bradley Valentin 
The new year is a great time to set goals for yourself and your family. Why not get started with some goals for yourself and build healthy finances?
1. Stop Spending on Credit Cards
Spending on credit cards can be fun. Often, you can get whatever you want, whenever you want, regardless of the balance in your bank account. But ultimately, you’re only digging a ditch for your future self. Make 2025 the year you stop spending on your credit cards unnecessarily, and start saving up for those big purchases. The 2026 version of you will be very thankful.
2. Max Out Your Roth IRA Contributions
Each year, you’re allowed to put a limited amount of savings into your IRA. For 2025, the limit is $7,000. An IRA is a personal retirement savings account for post-tax dollars, meaning any money you put into the savings account you can pull out tax-free when you’re 59.5 years old. Saving $7,000 for the year is equivalent to about $583/month. That’s about $292 per paycheck if you get paid biweekly or $146 if you get paid every week. This is a very doable amount, and while you won’t see any returns for several years, your retirement self will be happy that you made this commitment this year.
3. Reduce the Amount You Eat Out
Eating out is quick and easy, and for those with a busy lifestyle, it can be a lifesaver. However, it can be extremely costly, and many people find out they are unable to budget well when eating out regularly. After building a budget for yourself, aim to cut down eating out by at least 50% and build a schedule for grocery shopping and food prep. This might cost you some time, but your budget will thank you in the end.
4. Build a Plan to Pay Off All Your Debt
Many find the best approach to debt is out of sight, out of mind. However, paying minimum credit card or car payments can keep you in debt indefinitely. Build yourself a structured plan to get rid of your debt. Here are a few places to start.
- List all of your accounts and how much you owe on each account
- Sort your debt either lowest to highest (using an Excel file can be helpful)
- Build a plan to pay off your smallest account, while paying minimum payments on your other accounts
- Set goals for the dates you can pay off your debt, and make sure to celebrate each milestone!
5. Reevaluate Your Savings Plan
Many people struggle with understanding how to properly save. Some people save 10% of their funds, hoping that’s enough, but don’t do much from there. Instead of just blindly saving 10% of your money, allocate your savings to be the most effective for you. Try building the following savings plan (or similar) to effectively save:
- Build a rainy-day fund. Some people say this should be six months of your income, some say less, but ultimately, give yourself some wiggle room of easily accessible funds in case of an emergency.
- Meet your employer’s 401(k) match (if applicable); Max out your IRA for the year (see number 2 above).
- Start learning about ETFs and Mutual funds, and start contributing additional funds to long-term investment accounts.
- Build savings plans for big future events such as vacations, weddings, new car purchases, down-payments, etc.
6. Review and Reduce Your Subscription Services
Millennials have effectively ended the power of cable companies and their massive bills. However, if we thought they wouldn’t find a way to make back their money, we were too naive. Instead, pretty much every major company has some sort of subscription service. Review all your subscription services and find a way to reduce your monthly commitments to unnecessary services. If you want to take this one step further, put that money towards savings or paying off debt, and you’ll find yourself building wealth in no time!
7. Save Any Pay Raises
When receiving a raise or pay increase, it can be easy to realize you have enough money to upgrade something in your life. Maybe you can finally afford that new car payment you were looking for. Or maybe, you can finally upgrade your laptop. Instead of spending the pay raise, save it! Invest it into your 401(k) if you haven’t met the company match percentage. Or maybe add it to your IRA. Better yet, this could be a good opportunity to start your investment portfolio, and build a long term investment account.
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