The Holiday Money Hangover and New Year's Resolutions

What would our lives look like if we could all accomplish what we manage to accomplish the month before December 25^th all year long? With seemingly little additional effort we squeeze in shopping, baking, holiday parties, gift wrapping, deliveries, visiting, correspondence and a whole lot of extra spending. Oh, and a few favorite movies as well. (Mine’s The Grinch That Stole Christmas, what’s yours?)

And on December 26^th, many of us wake up from the flurry of activity and excitement of it all and our bank accounts (or credit cards) have a bit of a hangover. Even those of us with supportive budgets and normally good adherence to them can get carried away. “Oh, I really should just pick up a couple of more things for the kids.”

Do you know who doesn’t have a hangover? Anyone who still uses the old-fashioned “Santa Saver” accounts of yesteryear. Those people have been putting $100, $200 or even more into their account all year long, and then voila, they magically have a nice little sum of money to fund not just gifts, but all of the other expenses that pop up during the month of December.

If you’re someone who has been challenged by getting into the savings habit, Santa Saver accounts are a great way to experience the wonders of setting money aside for what I call “predictable, but non-monthly expenditures.” It will not only make a wonderful positive impact on your 2014 holidays, it might also inspire you to start your own “silo” accounts where you save for other priorities that you know you need to, but just haven’t found the willpower.

There no better time that the beginning of a fresh new year to implement some fresh new healthy habits. Log into your bank and see if they have holiday savings accounts. Most credit unions do, while most banks have done away with them (yet one more reason I prefer credit unions over banks; they have services that support your financial growth, not just theirs.) If your bank doesn’t have one, another option is to set up an account at an online bank with an automatic transfer feature. I like ING Direct’s (now Capital One) feature that allows you to name your own accounts.

You might just want to name your account “My No Holiday Hangover in 2014” account, and resolve to do 2014 a little bit differently.

Happy Holidays!

-Stacey Powell

Finance Gym offers personal finance coaching in professionally facilitated peer-advisory groups. 

We motivate. We inspire. We support. We help people change their lives by improving their finances.

Reflecting on 2013

It's that time of year where somehow, in the midst of the holiday parties, preparations and bustle, we also somehow manage to find time to reflect on the past year and start thinking ahead to the New Year.

When it comes to our money, one of the most valuable actions we can take is to set annual goals and then take the time to reflect upon them. To ask ourselves not just the quantitative "did I go over budget this year" or "how much did I pay down debt," but also the qualitative "do I feel good about the financial movement I made this year" and "what is the most important thing to me about my money moving into the new year."

I believe that when we treat our personal finances a little more like a business' finances, we get the clarity that comes from having well defined financial goals and a system put in place to review them. Any business that is smart and mindful about its growth has already developed their 2014 budget, and they've reviewed "how is 2013 going" every month this year. They'll be doing one final review in January and then forge ahead working on 2014.

What is your plan for reviewing your 2013 numbers and launching your 2014 budget and goals? In the Finance Boot Camps, we often ask the question "what would your hero do?" One of my financial heroes is a friend of mine who has a system that on January 1st of every year he carves out a portion of his day to look at his numbers for the year. For many of us, this would take all day long. For him, I suspect it’s fairly quick as he has the same routine as each month ends. Having that level of systematic approach to your personal finances keeps you from straying too far from your target and leaves you with the peace of mind of know where you are.

What should you look at? I encourage people to keep it simple. It's far more meaningful to look at your big picture numbers:

1. How much did you earn?
2. How much did you spend?
3. How much did you increase your savings overall, and then in each category (retirement, reserves, other special savings accounts)
4. How much did you decrease your debt?
5. In each of those categories, did you do what you said you'd do? If not, why?
6. What do you aspire to do differently (or the same) next year?

I've slated the morning of January 4th to answer these questions for myself. When would be a good time for you to answer these questions? 

Click here to download your 2013 money review. 

-Stacey Powell

Finance Gym offers personal finance coaching in professionally facilitated peer-advisory groups. 

We motivate. We inspire. We support. We help people change their lives by improving their finances.