Reflecting on Financial Achievements and Challenges

Begin your financial resolution journey by reflecting on the past year — what financial milestones did you achieve? What challenges did you face? Evaluating your financial journey lays the groundwork for setting strategic and realistic resolutions.

Setting SMART Financial Goals

Craft Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound resolutions. This approach transforms vague financial aspirations into actionable and attainable objectives.

Prioritizing Financial Health

Explore resolutions that center around financial well-being. A few ideas are budgeting, saving, and debt reduction goals. Let's dive into a few examples of financial resolutions!

Create Sustainable Spending Habits

Sustainable spending habits are possible with a little bit of intention! Creating and sticking with a budget gives you peace of mind and more control over your financial decisions. Try starting the year off by writing down your known expenses (like utilities and your Netflix subscription, for example). One of the trickiest budgeting decisions is deciding how much to spend on groceries and eating out since it's a variable expense. This year, try picking an amount per week that you can afford to spend on food and not going over it. 

Build an Emergency Fund

You can plan for those rainy days! A simple and easily accessible savings account or line of credit can be a great tool to have in your pocket when your car needs an unexpected visit to the mechanic, or your furnace stops running on a cold Saskatchewan day. Set a goal of having between $1,000-$2,000 available in an emergency. The trick is not to touch it unless there's an actual emergency.

Reduce Debts

If you're paying off debts from credit cards, car loans, lines of credit, or other smaller debts, you can pay them off faster by consolidating them into one loan. Another strategy is starting with your highest interest loan or the lowest amount owing and focusing on making large payments one debt at a time. When in doubt, an advisor can help you create a plan that helps keep you on track!

As you start planning, picture yourself next year, able to look back and see all the progress you’ve made in your financial health. With intentional financial resolutions, this year can be a transformative journey toward lasting financial well-being and empowerment.

Your Cornerstone financial advisor can help you to open up a term deposit within a TFSA and arrange for automatic payments to be made from your chequing account. Contact us at 1.855.875.2255 today at to arrange a meeting and start building your emergency fund.