(WLNS) – Common New Years resolutions include getting fit, and financial planners say just like with physical fitness, financial fitness takes time and dedication.
Financial Advisor Ted Feight with Creative Financial Design says there are 5 small steps people can take to turn their financial situation around.
“You need a coach, you need to be able to find someone who can help you,” Feight said.
Getting a financial planner is step 1. Feight says they will help you start your debt loss journey, by setting up step 2: your budget.
“You have to make a budget, you have to get your goals set up,” Feight advised.
Those goals are step 3. Feight says the goals are much more than just keeping you head above water.
He says aim high; plan a trip, save for a new house or car, anything that has you look long term.
To gain muscle in your savings, use step 4: Set a monthly regimen.
“You write down everything you spend every month, but then you write down who it is to, the check number you paid with, the amount you paid and what you still owe”.
It might seem like a lot of work for little reward at first but Feight says that work will pay off.
“Financial planning and investing is kind of like a snowball when you’re rolling it down a hill, when you first start out it is really tiny and it seems like it is never ever going to grow but the longer you push it, the faster it gets and the further downhill It gets the larger it gets,” Feight said.
Feight says step 5 is to look into good investments for your savings.
Just like weight loss, he says you can’t look at the scale or mirror for improvements right away, but as financial fitness becomes part of your every day life, you will see the results before you know it.