Make Friends with your Finances | Volume 1

2024 Financial Resolutions: Pick One or Pick ‘Em All!

By Kate Vaillancourt, Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor (CCUFC)

If you’re like me, you have a love-hate relationship with the idea of a New Year’s resolution. I start each year with the best of intentions and somewhere around February, I just don’t want to diet and exercise anymore. With January nearly behind us, many of us have already let go of a few of our well-intended resolutions, but it’s not too late to plan on improving our financial lives in 2024!

If you’re looking for something different to try, here are a few suggestions:

• Open an emergency savings account and schedule an amount to be transferred into it each payday. Start small and don’t touch it unless you have an actual emergency.
• Create a budget and stick to it or adjust as needed. A budget doesn’t need to beat us up every month—it’s a tool, not a life sentence!
• Track spending and identify ways to improve cash flow. (Did I really spend that much on coffee this week? Yup, probably!)
• Balance your checkbook each month – it’s a lost art, but a good skill to have.
• Pay more than the minimum balance on credit card(s) each month – better yet, cover more than the interest charged each month!
• Pay off your “small balance, high interest” credit cards. Remember, department store cards have the highest interest rates.
• Put money away for a goal – upgrade your phone, get a new car, better home, puppy—whatever! You work hard, find a way to treat yourself.
• Improve your credit score.
• Make 2024 the year you have a better relationship with money.

If any of these sound like a good idea to you, Acadia Federal Credit Union may be able to help you find a way to make it happen. Feel free to reach out to me directly at kvaillancourt@acadiafcu.org for advice!

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January 24, 2024