Your Money Matters!

Keeping Your Resolutions for the New Year

It's that time again when people reflect over the past year and make new commitments and resolutions for the upcoming New Year. Saving more money and paying down debt tend to be at the top of people's lists of New Year's resolutions.

Here are some ways for you to make good on your resolutions and achieve your financial goals:

• Set manageable goals. The Association for Consumer Research reports that people who set a reasonable goal for themselves are much more likely to achieve the goal than those who set challenging goals or no goals at all.
  
• Prepare a budget.  Know how much you can afford to spend after all your bills are paid.  We can help you prepare a simple budget.  Just go to our website chirofcu.org, click on quick links on the right side of our home page, and click on the BudgetSmart program.
  
• Create annual goals rather than monthly ones. The Association for Consumer Research reports that people who had already violated their monthly savings goal were more likely to make additional purchases than those who hadn't. Setting an annual goal provides more flexibility to judge success or failure.
  
• Identify best practices. Find out how others have achieved goals similar to your own. I think this is a great idea.  When you are at seminars and conventions, you have an excellent opportunity to discuss with your peers what is working for them.  We all love to share our positive experiences and what works well for us.
  
• Create action steps. Break down your goals into steps you will take to reach your objective, and include ways to respond to obstacles that you may encounter.

For personal resolutions these are among the popular:

• Spend more time with family - Recent polls conducted by General Nutrition Centers, Quicken, and others show that more than 50% of Americans vow to appreciate loved ones and spend more time with family and friends this year
  
• Stay fit or get in shape – We all feel better with regular exercise.
  
• Enjoy yourself – Expand your horizons and try new things.

Whether you have a new resolution or are happy with the way things are, I want to wish everyone a very happy and healthy New Year!

Anne Blain, CEO of Chiropractic Federal Credit Union
If you have a financial question, please forward to:
ablain@chirofcu.org or contact us at 800.422.6424
Subject: “Your Money Matters”