By Matt Cherry, CFP®
It’s never too late to start fresh. Whether you’ve faced debt, made investment mistakes, or simply want a clearer path forward, the new year is a perfect opportunity to hit reset, learn from past financial missteps, and take control of your money. With thoughtful planning and the right strategies, you can turn past challenges into stepping stones for long-term financial success.
This article offers five practical strategies for New Year financial planning, helping you overcome past challenges and set yourself up for a more confident financial future.
Learn From Past Mistakes
Begin the process by examining your spending habits, investment strategies, and debt level. Doing this can help you pinpoint the causes of financial challenges. Poor financial health is often caused by things like impulsive spending, lack of financial literacy, and not budgeting consistently.
Once you understand the root causes of prior mistakes, you can learn from them and take these steps to avoid repeating those mistakes in the future.
1. Create a Plausible Budget
To find areas where you can cut back, start by keeping track of your income and expenses. To keep tabs on your spending patterns, think about using spreadsheets or budgeting apps.
Set aside a percentage of your salary for debt repayment and savings, and budget for necessities like housing, utilities, and groceries. Keep your expenses within reasonable boundaries and refrain from making impulse buys.
A well-crafted budget helps you prioritize your financial goals and make well-informed resource allocation decisions. Don’t forget to review your budget frequently and make any adjustments to account for shifts in your financial circumstances.
2. Confront Debt Aggressively
Create a debt repayment schedule that gives credit card debt and other high-interest debt priority. Consider using debt management techniques like the debt avalanche or snowball approaches, or combining your debt into a loan with a lower interest rate.
Divide your debt into smaller, more manageable amounts to keep yourself motivated. Celebrate every accomplishment, whether it’s lowering your total debt or paying off a credit card.
Keep reminding yourself that by making steady progress toward debt independence, you’re creating a better future for yourself. Patience and perseverance are key!
3. Improve Your Financial Literacy
By learning about personal financial topics like debt management, investing, saving, and budgeting, you can make informed decisions about your financial future and steer clear of expensive mistakes.
Consider attending workshops, reading books, or taking online courses to acquire valuable knowledge and skills. As your financial literacy improves, you can track your progress, establish reasonable goals, and make necessary adjustments.
4. Create an Emergency Fund
An emergency fund is like a safety net to shield you against unforeseen costs like auto repairs, medical bills, or losing your job. Establish a reasonable savings target first, such as three to six months’ worth of living expenses. Then set up automated transfers from your checking account to your savings account to help you save more money.
5. Invest for Future Growth
To start, learn as much as you can about stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Keep in mind that investing inherently involves risk, so diversifying your holdings and avoiding snap decisions is crucial.
As your financial circumstances improve, progressively increase your investments. Utilizing a long-term investment strategy like this can increase your wealth and improve your financial future.
Consider consulting with a financial advisor. They can work with you to develop a customized strategy that fits your financial objectives and risk tolerance.
At ABLE Financial Group, we help clients bring these pieces together so their financial decisions work in concert, not in isolation. We use industry-leading planning software eMoney to create a clear, visual picture of how budgeting choices, debt reduction, emergency savings, and investment decisions interact over time. This allows clients to see how different paths, such as adjusting savings rates or prioritizing certain debts, can affect long-term outcomes before making changes. By revisiting and refining these projections as life evolves, clients gain clarity, confidence, and a practical framework for turning today’s decisions into lasting progress.
Your New Year Financial Planning Partner
Putting these ideas into practice can help you turn setbacks into stepping stones. No matter what’s happened before, you still have the ability to reset, refocus, and build a stronger financial future, especially as you step into a new year with intention.
At ABLE Financial Group, we’re here to support you with thoughtful, personalized guidance rooted in New Year financial planning. We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all advice. Instead, we focus on building trusted relationships and helping you create a financial plan that can grow with you, and your family, for years to come.
To learn more about our team and the ways we can help guide you, call 480.258.6104 or email adam@ablefinancialgroup.com today.
About Matt
Matt Cherry, CFP®, is a financial advisor at ABLE Financial Group, a financial services practice that focuses on transition planning and simplifying the complexities of their clients’ wealth. Matt is a distinguished professional with a Magna Cum Laude degree in finance from the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He is also a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®, CFP®, showcasing his dedication to excellence. After starting his career at Charles Schwab and working with an independent firm for a few years, Matt joined ABLE Financial Group in January 2021. At ABLE Financial Group, he specializes in Social Security planning and played a key role in implementing the industry-leading planning software, eMoney.
Passionate about giving back, Matt has been a Big Brother with Valley Big Brothers and Big Sisters, fostering mentorship and support. He volunteers with various organizations in the Valley and sits on the Professional Advisory Council for the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center (SARRC).
An avid cyclist, Matt completed the challenging “America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride” twice, riding 100 miles around Lake Tahoe to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A severe back injury in 2017 led to surgery and a shift in his cycling path. However, this adversity introduced a new passion – YOGA. Matt’s daily yoga practice has become a cornerstone of his life, contributing not only to his physical well-being but also playing a crucial role in his recovery and ability to walk.
Outside the office, Matt revolves around his two delightful daughters, Emma & Lyla. Being an Arizona native, family time often involves exploring the state and enjoying weekends on the beach in Mexico for rest and relaxation.
