3 financial New Year’s resolutions and how to start achieving them in 2023

With every New Year comes the chance to reinvent yourself and take the year ahead into your own hands, and it’s no different with your finances. 

If you’re preparing to start 2023 on the right foot financially, we’ve rounded up three common New Year’s resolutions and prepared a guide to getting started on them. Of course, any major financial goal will require more than just a short-term burst of dedication. Saving money and spending smartly require hard work and dedication that go beyond more than the first few months of the year. 

But if you need a boost, here are a few ways to start:

Save more money in 2023

Whether you want to save for a deposit on a home, a new car, or just to make your daily life a little easier - there is always a reason to start trying to save a little more. With a cost of living crisis at hand, we could all use the help to get ahead. 

If you’re looking to save more money in 2023, there are lots of angles to tackle this goal from. Instead of keeping your focus broad, you’re more likely to find success if you zero in on a specific aspect of savings to target. A single goal makes results easier to track, and setbacks feel more manageable. 

Here are some examples:

• You might decide to spend less on one specific expense (takeaway food, uber rides, morning coffees) and monitor your savings on that over the course of the year.  

• You could start a physical budget - often knowing where your money is going can help prevent impulsive spending.

• You could review all of your automatic payments and evaluate which ones are no longer worthwhile to you (are you really using all of those streaming services?)

• You might want to check all of your accounts to see if you could be saving more or accessing better rates with other financial providers.

We have plenty of guides on how to save money, create a budget, and even steps to saving $10,000 - all of which can offer useful tools on the path to making this the year that you start building up the balance in that savings account. 

Cut back on debt in 2023

Everyone wants to start the new year with a clean slate, which for many means getting debt free in 2023. If this is you, the first thing to determine is what type of debt you’re looking to clear. Like with savings, you’re going to have much more success if you’re able to focus on a specific goal rather than an entire category.

Here are some types of debt and suggestions for ways to minimise them:

• Buy Now Pay Later debt - if you can’t seem to shake those last few Afterpay instalments, this is a relatively small cycle of debt to break. The most important thing is to put any further use of Buy Now Pay Later products on hold until your current accounts are paid off. Once you’ve done that, bring your current payments up on your priority list. Instead of waiting until they are scheduled for them to auto-debit, pay them as soon as you have money available (like as soon as you get paid, for example). Read more on responsible BNPL usage.

• Credit card debt - If 2022 saw you racking up a bit of a balance on your credit card, you might want to scale it back this year. We have some more comprehensive guides to busting credit card debt, but the key step is making sure you are using the right kind of credit card for you. If you have a high purchase rate but often end up with a balance remaining on your card, you’ll be attracting unnecessary interest. If you’re paying a high annual fee for a rewards card but not using the rewards, you’re probably spending more than you need to.

• Loan debt - whether we’re talking about personal loans, car loans, or even home loans, debt from a loan can hang over your head and feel overwhelming. If your aim for the year is to chip away at a loan, check to see if you are able to make extra repayments. If there is no cost to adding additional payments, you might want to consider bumping up your regular repayments by a set amount - scheduling an extra $100 per payment, for example, is a small step that can pay off in the long run. By paying off your loan in a shorter period, you’ll attract less interest and get things paid off quicker.

You may also want to weigh up your options for debt consolidation if you have lots of debt from different sources.  

Spend money more ethically in 2023

There’s a major movement towards ethical banking and green finance right now, and it shows now signs of going anywhere in 2023. If you’re looking to feel a bit better about where your money is going this year, there are a few ways to tackle it.

Some suggestions we have for keeping things green in the new year include:

• Switching to an ethical super fund

• Investing in green energy

• Opting for an ESG

• Changing to a green bank

• Look into ethical online shopping

There are also options for green personal loans and green home loans, so make sure you look into your options for borrowing. 

Whatever your plans are for next year, Mozo will be here to help you with your plans!

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