Ah, the fresh beginnings of a new year. Nothing creates hopeful excitement quite like a clean slate. In our effort to help you work towards a brighter financial future, here are six easy affirmations and goals to help improve your financial health in the coming year!

6 goals and affirmations that will help your financial situation in 2018.

Affirmation. The act or process of affirming something, but what is it really and how can it help you? Practicing self-affirmations is the consistent repetition of positive affirmations through speaking or writing (or both!). Sure, on the surface it seems to be hocus pocus, but it’s no secret that many well-known, successful people have claimed to use self-affirmations as a tool to accomplish their goals.

In fact, research has shown that affirmations can boost esteem, performance and promote a sense of well-being; one study from Carnegie Mellon University showed evidence that self-affirmation can protect against the effects of chronic stress and improve problem-solving performance.

So, to help kick off your 2018 with a more positive mindset and better financial vision we scoured the internet to find what we believe to be the six most potent affirmations that you can use every day!

Affirmations

• I am open and receptive to new avenues of income
• The only good debt is the one I don’t owe
• I give thanks for the things money can’t buy
• Finances don’t manage themselves; I am proactive, not reactive
• I am grateful for what I have and all that I receive
• I acquire the wealth I need to live a happy and abundant life

Goals. Everybody has them and wants to reach them, but not everybody knows how to achieve them. Fortunately, making and reaching a goal requires merely three simple steps. First, you need a roadmap. Second, you must commit to consistency and third, review and revise.

Creating a goal roadmap requires taking your ultimate goal and breaking it down into smaller, more attainable goals. Committing to consistency means that you commit to meeting those goals as often as you have set out to achieve them. Review and revise, requires you to sit down every month and review your goals, determine if you met them and if you didn’t meet them, rework the goal into one that you can meet.

Because FFEF knows you’re determined to improve your financial health this new year, we have created six simple goals to better your financial outlook in 2018!

Goals

Make a monthly budget. Budgeting is a standard tool used to gain control over finances, and we believe breaking down that budgeting power into monthly increments makes it less overwhelming and gives you more control. That means you are more likely to do it and stick with it. In your monthly budget, account for every bill and allocate every dollar. Put as much as you comfortably can into savings and be sure to put a little aside for entertainment purposes too. After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Log every purchase. Get a notebook and write down every single purchase you make (no matter how small). At the end of each month sit down and put a star on each item that wasn’t necessary. Commit to stopping or slowing down those purchases in the following month. Strive to do better after each review until every expense is either a necessity or was planned in your monthly budget.

Practice “no buy” days. You may think this one is easy, but you’ll be surprised at how difficult it can be. Commit to not buy anything for three days out of every week, not a single thing. Successfully practicing this will require planning, as you will have to go grocery shopping and fill up your car on your off days. Incorporating “no buy” days into your week will drastically reduce your impulse spending and save you money.

Build an emergency fund little by little. Commit to save $2.75 a day for an entire year. You might do this by collecting loose change or by skipping your afternoon vending machine trips. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you do it. We recommend you open a savings account strictly for these savings and deposit regularly. If you do this, you will have over $1000 in an emergency fund by the end of the year.

Participate in the match. It may surprise you to know that despite employers offering 401k benefits with a matching incentive, many people still don’t participate because they feel they can’t afford it. If this is you, we challenge you to get in the game this year. Commit to depositing the maximum percentage that your employer will match because anything less is giving away free money.

Find an additional source of income and apply all of it to your existing debt. Whether you sell things online, pick up an extra shift, start a paper route or watch someone’s children a couple of days a week; find a way to make extra money. Take the entire amount that you earn and put it towards your smallest debt. Once that debt is paid off, move on to the next debt until your debts are paid off in full.

We hope you find these affirmations and goals useful in your pursuit of financial freedom. Most of all, no matter how you choose to improve upon the new year, we here at FFEF want to wish you a bright and prosperous 2018!

Happy New Year!