What should you know?
We are in the middle of ‘resolutions season’ where people commonly set goals to change specific elements of their lives. The most common resolutions centre around health and money.
Research shows that only 10% of people successfully stick to their New Year’s resolutions. This is usually because resolutions tend to be rigid and difficult to achieve, which can often set you up for failure.
This year I urge you to take a slightly different approach. Rather than trying to ‘fix’ big issues overnight, focus instead on making small incremental improvements across the board.
To improve how you manage your money, try the following:
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- Nudge up your monthly savings/investment contributions.
- Save a portion of your payrise, rather than expanding your lifestyle (revert to point 1).
- Invest some of your bonus.
- Take the time to understand where you spend your money. Once you understand this, it’s easier to identify where you could make savings (revert to point 1).
- Read the Weekly Wisdom every week!
None of these in isolation should be particularly challenging, yet the combination of them all together will create a significant improvement. Repeat them every year and the compound effect could be massive.
Why should you care?
Change doesn’t have to happen all at once. Real improvement comes from the creation of sustainable positive habits and these are formed gradually over time, not overnight.
The power of incremental change works like this:
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- You make a small improvement.
- That becomes the new normal.
- You improve it again.
- That becomes the new normal.
- Repeat…
For lasting transformation, focus on making consistent incremental improvements and aim to repeat them each year.
The secret to financial success is simple, develop positive financial behaviours, repeat, repeat, repeat…
