Smart Financial Goals: 15 List of Goals to Set for Yourself this Year

Smart Financial Goals: | List of Goals to Set for Yourself

When you’re making your New Year’s resolutions, commit to setting and achieving some of these smart financial goals.

When the bells of midnight toll and 2023 rolls in, we have the chance to start again. “New Year, New You”, the magazines say, and it’s true: it is a prime opportunity to start a new phase in our lives, to make proactive changes which enrich us in every sense.

The New Year’s resolutions we make are often hard to keep as they involve giving up entrenched habits, including things we enjoy. This year, why not commit instead to doing something that is actually specific and rewarding?

If you commit to taking control of your financial situation with these 15 smart financial goals, it will make a significant, tangible difference in your financial life. Spring clean your finances and you will enhance not only your financial wellbeing, but your personal wellbeing as well.

Smart Financial Goals to Set for Yourself

Smart Financial Goals15 List of Goals to Set for Yourself

1. Declutter Your Life and Your Mind

No one thrives in chaos. In 2023, it’s time to get organised. A great way to get organised is by selling off unwanted items.

I’m going to sort out my wardrobe and the various unsorted boxes and drawers of goodness knows what, and eBay everything I no longer need. If it doesn’t sell, I’ll send it to the charity shop so at least it is doing good.

I’m going to take the same approach to my mind, putting aside time each day for meditation so I can think clearly and will feel less stressed and chaotic.

To declutter your mind, you have to become intentional on where you place your attention and how you spend your time and energy, because it’s lack of clarity that creates chaos and frustration.

Put aside time each day for meditation so you can think clearly and will feel less stressed – it’ll give you the much-needed breathing space to start the New Year afresh.

At the same time, clear out the things you don’t use or need from your home and office, selling them on eBay, taking them to the charity shop, or sending them for recycling.

You’ll be amazed by how much more powerful and in control you feel in an environment you’ve consciously curated.

2. Pay Off Any Bad Debts

Bad debt ties you down, not just financially but psychologically as well: it’s like a weight around your neck. In 2023, commit to setting yourself free from the shackles of debt.

Prioritise paying off credit cards and any other loans with high interest rates. By reducing interest payments, you will have more free cash with which to pay down everything else.

In fact, no modern convenience has threatened our financial security like credit card.

Tackling bad debt will have a positive impact on your credit rating, opening up your options and reducing your monthly outgoings.

Do you want to get out of debt but not sure where to start? I got out of over £32k in debt, let me show you how to do the same and stay debt-free with my step by step guide on How to Get Out of Debt and Stay Out and Stay Out Once and For All.

3. Maximise your ISA Allowance

An ISA is a savings account where you can save or invest money without paying tax on the return you make on your investment.

You don’t need a large amount of money to open an ISA: you can start a regular savings plan from as little as £25, and you have the option to divide your money between a cash ISA, a stocks and shares ISA, or an innovative finance ISA.

Maximising your ISA allowance in a stocks and shares is a smart financial goal because it makes your money work harder for you: the interest rates are typically higher than in a savings account, and with a Help to Buy or Lifetime ISA (LISA), the government chips in a bonus, too. You’ll therefore reach your savings goals much faster.

4. Know Your Net Worth and Keep Track of Your Expenses

How much are you worth?
What do you spend?

If you have no idea, it’s time to track your net worth and finances. Tracking where your money goes is a key part to taking charge of your finances.

Your net worth is your assets minus your liabilities. You know how they say, what gets measured gets managed. My Financial Success Planner can help you calculate and track your net worth so you can get your finances back on track.

Apps like Money Dashboard, You Need a Budget (YNAB), and Cleo will help you track your finances effectively, so that you can better budget and plan for the future.

Knowledge is power, as they say, and with this information you’ll not only be able to see where you can make additional savings (or treat yourself!) but also be able to chart your progress and feel a sense of achievement.

5. Update Your Career Goals to Reflect Where You Want to Be

In January 2023, where do you want to be? Set your professional goals now and it’ll give you the direction and focus you need to keep going when things get tough.

Many of us want to boost our income: that’s a logical, smart financial goal. If it’s on your agenda too, specify the steps you’re going to take, be it negotiating a salary raise, applying for a promotion, pitching for bigger contracts, or starting a small business on the side.

The steps you decide on might seem small, but collectively they’ll have a much more significant, positive impact on your bank balance by the end of the year.

6. Check and Improve Your Credit Report

Financial goals ideas - smart financial goals

Your credit score is like the monster under the bed. If you square up to it and shine a light on it this year, it will look an awful lot less intimidating, and will cease to be a monster at all!

Your credit score reflects your credit history, which companies look at to help them decide if you’re a reliable borrower. It explains how banks and other lenders see you.

If you understand this, and follow these tips to improve your credit score throughout the year, your credit score will gradually get better, and that makes it easier (and cheaper) to get credit as and when you need it.

You can check your score for free here – the higher it is, the better your chances of borrowing money at the best rates. It’s based on your financial behaviour, so you have the power to change it.

Don’t hide from your credit score: engage with it. 12 months is sufficient time to see a noticeable improvement, to move up from “Poor” to “Fair”, or even to “Good”!

7. Build an Emergency Fund for Rainy Days

In 2023, not everything is going to go to plan: that’s life. But you prepare financially for unexpected troubles, so that money needn’t be one of your worries.

So, you can then concentrate your energy on your health, family, job hunt, or whatever else it is you need to do.

The easiest way to starting building your emergency fund is with an automatic savings app such as Plum and Money Box.

Plum monitors your income and outgoings to calculate for you how much you can afford to save each month, while Moneybox rounds up your spending to the nearest pound and saves the difference in a designated account.

The good news is that automatic savings apps such as Plum helps you save money, even when you’re not thinking about it. These apps take the effort out of creating a rainy day pot; you can sit back and watch it grow, enjoying the peace of mind.

8. Negotiate Your Bills

Are you getting the very best deal you can from your utility providers? Probably not!

This year, make it one of your smart financial goals to be more proactive in sourcing new deals and negotiating discounts from existing service providers.

Using price comparison sites, such as MoneySupermarket to get an idea of what deals are out there, but do follow up with a call to your own service provider.

Explain that you’re considering switching, and ask them if they can match or beat their competitors’ price.

Even if you only shave a few pounds a month off each bill, by the time you multiply that across broadband, electricity, gas, your mobile phone etc. it quickly adds up. And you’ll refine your negotiating skills, too!

9. Review Your Recurring Bills

Internet banking is incredibly convenient, but because of that we’re not always on top of what goes out every month.

Are you paying for Netflix subscription you don’t use? Is there an old direct debit you’ve forgotten about?

It’ll take just 10 minutes to check the recurring payments on your bank account online. Highlight anything you no longer need or want, and cancel it.

Then check when your other payments are due for renewal, and make a note in your diary to negotiate a loyalty discount or change supplier using MoneySupermarket.

10. Look for Creative Ways to Reduce Your Expenses

In 2023, get creative about cutting your outgoings. This doesn’t mean that you have to go without: far from it. Rather, think and spend your money smarter so that it goes further.

Shopping around for better deals will certainly help, as will initiatives such as car sharing, using the Uber Pool rather than riding alone, making a packed lunch rather than buying one, and using a refillable coffee cup at work.

All of these things take a little thought but very little effort, and collectively the savings across the year all will add up.

In many cases you’ll also be having a positive environmental impact so it really is a win-win situation.

11. Educate Yourself Financially

In 2023, one of the most valuable smart financial goals you can set is to educate yourself financially.

Put time aside to become better informed. With the right information, you’ll not only feel more confident but also make better choices about how you spend, save, and invest your money.

You can learn the basics online: We have a huge range of articles about financial topics, written in accessible style.

If you need more detailed guidance, you might also consider working with me, booking an appointment with a qualified financial advisor or joining our new Facebook Group and connect with like-minded women.

Learning together provides great motivation for sticking at it, and it also can broaden your social life.

13. Make Your Money Work Harder for You

You have to have lots of money to invest, right? Wrong! A new generation of online investment platforms and micro investing apps such as Wealthsimple and MoneyBox make it possible to invest even tiny sums, and also give you the benefit of professional fund managers’ expertise.

In 2023, it really is a smart financial goal to invest. If your money just sits in a savings account, the interest rate will be miniscule, not even ahead of inflation.

Investing online is not without its risks, but if you choose a FCA regulated platform and invest only what you can afford to lose, you can quickly create a diversified portfolio and generate good returns.

14. Review Your Insurance Regularly

Travel insurance, phone insurance, car insurance, contents insurance… insurance is an essential part of modern life.

This year, consolidate as many of your policies as possible with a single service provider to get the best deal.

Shop around, haggle with service providers to ensure they’re applying all possible discounts to your quote, and also check out the premium account options with your bank.

Although there is usually a small monthly fee, premium accounts often include insurance products for free, as well as other benefits such as access to a designated account manager or lower interest rates.

15. Create A Workable Budget

Budgeting doesn’t have to be a painful experience. In fact, it can be liberating as you’ll see plenty of places where you can save a little, and over the course of the year these small sums add up.

The easiest way to start budgeting is to focus on your long-term goals, take it one step at a time and not worry about being perfect.

If you’ve a friend in a similar financial situation, why not pair up and become budget buddies?

Be sure to include rewards in your plan — whether it’s a meal out or a holiday with friends — to encourage you to stay motivated and work towards specific goals.

16. Create A Financial Plan for the Year Ahead

Starting the way you mean to go on, create a plan for your money. Incorporate your budget and lay out where and how you going to spend, save, and invest it this year.

It is possible to do this in a notebook or on an Excel spreadsheet, but it is far easier to use our Financial Success Planner. Print it out and put it somewhere you’ll look at it often, to remind you what you are doing and why.

Are you ready to achieve your money goals this YEAR!?

If you are ready to take action and achieve your financial goals, our Financial Success Planner is great place to start!

The planner will help you figure out what you really want to achieve with your money, define your long-term goals and break your big goals into monthly and weekly action plan so you can incorporate them into your daily activities.

Click to get started today!

You’ve read our 15 smart financial goals for 2023. Which ones of them are you going to adopt? What do you want to achieve by the end of the year? This New Year is in your hands!

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