Is it too late to wish you a happy new year? In any case, happy new year! The last few weeks have been much busier than I anticipated hence the delay in posting January’s blog post but as the saying goes, better late than never so here we are.
Perhaps by now you’ve set your goals for the year and mapped out the areas of your life that you want to develop. If you haven’t, it isn’t too late to do so a great place to start is by identifying what your priority needs or desires are and developing your goals from there.
With the rising cost of living and the reality of living in a heavily consumer focused society being able to achieve the savings goals we set for ourselves can be extremely challenging. Here are some tips to help you to make your savings goals a reality this year.
Be specific about what you are saving for and the amount of money you aim to save.
Calculate your monthly disposable income- the amount of money you have once your bills and essentials are accounted for. This will allow you to identify how much you can realistically commit to saving each month.
Automate and allocate: if possible set up a standing order to automate the amount of money you aim to save each month to a savings account to align with your payday or a few days after. If you are saving for multiple purposes separate your savings into more than one account to allow you to get a true picture of your progress for your savings goals.
[Example: a savings account that contains your emergency fund and a separate savings account for a different savings goal. Depending on the features of your bank you may be able to easily set up multiple easy access savings accounts which you can rename and set goals for.]
Break your goal down and set review dates to assess your progress. Breaking your goal down into smaller time increments will allow you to focus on making small progress over time i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly etc.
I hope you found today's post useful, in my next post I'll be discussing the different types of savings accounts accessible in the market.
Have a great January and do let me know if you have any questions.
-Peta-Kay