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Pile of sticky notes with New Year resolutions written on them

Adjusting your New Year’s resolutions

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If you’re struggling to stick to your resolutions or have already failed trying, don’t give up. Instead, adjust or re-start your resolutions following these tips to help you succeed.

We go into the New Year saying this is going to be the best year yet. And it is…for the first few days anyway. Then the holiday excitement wears off, we go back to our normal routines and continue with the same habits we did before. By mid-January, we start to realize the resolutions we set were a bit more than we could chew and we soon give up on what we said we were going to do.

When it comes to sticking to our New Year’s resolutions, statistics show only 8% of people actually succeed. Why? Often the resolutions we make are unreasonable, unrealistic or we’ve set too many.

Does this sound familiar? If you’re struggling to stick to your resolutions or have already failed trying, don’t give up. Instead, adjust or start your resolution over. The only way to succeed is if you continue trying.

Here are a few tips to keeping your resolutions.

Have an action plan

Resolutions are goals and should have an action plan showing you where you want to go and how you’ll get there. Review these plans every so often and adjust your plan based on your personal situation, helping you to stay on track for success.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew

We can only do so much at once. Instead of trying to do everything at once, prioritize your goals in order of what’s most important to you. Focus on completing one or a couple goals at a time to not feel overwhelmed with trying to do it all.

Celebrate the small wins

Create milestones within your plan and celebrate when you achieve them. Smaller goals are easier to reach and help keep you motivated in reaching your goals.

Ask for support

Share your resolutions with your friends and family. Ask them for support and to hold you accountable to these resolutions. Speak to professionals for advice on your goals and tips for achieving them.

Whatever your goal is, it’s important to be agile and take the time to pause and adjust as necessary.  We may only be a few weeks into the New Year, but now is a great time to re-examine your resolutions and make any adjustments to ensure they’re realistic, reasonable and set up for success.

Did you make any New Year resolutions this year? What were they and are you on track to achieving them? What are some of the challenges you’ve come across? Share by commenting below.

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10 ways to take control of your finances

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A New Year means resolutions and often times have a financial component to them. Here are 10 ways you can take control of your finances this coming year.

New Year. New financial you.

It’s hard to believe the New Year has already begun. With a New Year often comes resolutions – creating a plan for the future using lessons from the past – and many times have a financial component to them.

Here are 10 ways you can take control of your finances this coming year.

1. Set goals

We all have dreams of what we want to do and what we want to achieve. Make these dreams a reality by setting goals to achieve them. Organize your goals by priority and be sure they’re realistic and achievable. Tip: Start small. Small goals are easier to reach and help train your brain into believing you can achieve it, increasing your chance for success of future goals. Get started by checking out our Goal Setting Blog.

2. Take action

It’s one thing to say you’re going to do something and actually doing it. Put action to your words by creating an action plan setting dates you want to achieve parts/milestones of your goal by. Hold yourself accountable and reward yourself when achieving each milestone helping you to keep motivated.

3. Create a budget

A budget helps you manage your money, showing you how much you’re bringing in each month and where you plan on spending your money. It can help you not spend above your means and focus on what’s important to you. To make budgeting easier for you, we recommend using our online Budget Calculator.

4. Track your spending

By tracking every nickel you spend, you’re able to get an accurate picture of your spending habits – sometimes it can be very shocking how quickly or how much your purchases add up. Tracking your spending will also help you create a more precise budget based on your spending habits and allow you to identify areas where you may need to change your spending behaviours.

5. No-spend challenges

Each month challenge yourself to a spending freeze for a day, weekend or even the full month for all non-essential items. Or pick a different non-essential category to not spend on such as ‘No Eating Out March’.

We recommend challenging yourself for a day or weekend if doing for the first time. Check out our No-Spend Weekend Challenge Blog helping you succeed in taking an entire weekend off from spending.

6. Save for an emergency

Life can sometimes throw us a curveball, threatening our financial well-being and causing us stress. Set money aside each month into an emergency savings fund for those unexpected life events. Having a fund ensures if your car breaks down or your furnace goes in the middle of winter that you’re prepared and gives you peace-of-mind knowing you won’t need to stress trying to find money to cover these unexpected expenses.

7. Prepare for retirement

We all dream of the day we’ll retire – no more alarm clock, being able to take a nap whenever we’d like and playing that golf game on a Wednesday afternoon. Being able to retire the way we want though requires some planning in advance. Start preparing now by checking out our blog, Retirement: will you have enough?

8. Save your extra money

Throughout the year we come across extra money such as an income tax return or a cheque from our Grandma for our birthday. Though we may be tempted to treat ourselves, consider putting any extra, unexpected money you come across into savings – you’ll thank yourself at the end of the year when you have extra savings in the bank!

9. Invest in a TFSA

A tax-free savings account (TFSA) is a great way to save for just about anything, whether it be a short-term or long-term goal. What you save is not tax deductible nor are you taxed when you withdraw your earnings. As well, in 2019 contribution maximums have increased to $6,000. Learn more here.

10. Plan/review your estate

We often think that planning our estates is something we do when we’re older but in fact, everyone young or old should have an estate plan in place in case something unexpected were to happen to us. Having an estate plan helps our loved ones understand our wishes and how to carry them out if we were to pass. This can include naming guardians for children, instructions for your burial/cremation and how you’d like your property divided up and should be updated at each life event such as marriage, children, divorce, retirement, etc. Start your plan by speaking with a local estate planner or lawyer today.

A New Year symbolizes a fresh start and new beginnings. Hopefully, these quick tips help you feel more prepared to take on the new year and take control of your finances. For more financial advice, we encourage you to check out some of our other blogs or contact us today to set up an appointment with a financial advisor.

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Kick-start your finances: automatic savings

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You can’t spend what you can’t see, right? Set up automatic money transfers from your chequing account to your savings account to reduce the temptation of spending somewhere else and keep you on track to reaching your financial goals.

You may have heard the term ‘pay yourself first’ but what does that actually mean? For us, it means setting goals, creating a budget and putting money aside regularly to achieve those goals. An effortless way to do this is by setting up automatic saving transfers.

Through automatic saving transfers, it’s easier than ever to save money. Through the tool, you’re able to schedule reoccurring money transfers between your accounts. Because it’s done automatically, it doesn’t let you think twice about moving the money into your savings and reduces the temptation to spend it on something else. You can’t spend what you don’t see, right?

Once you have your short and long-term goals identified, we recommend opening up different accounts for those that require savings. Talk to a financial advisor to determine what type of account is best for you (e.g., TFSA, RRSP, savings account, etc.). From your budget, determine how much money to transfer into each account and how frequently you’d like to contribute. Then, using online or mobile banking, set up a reoccurring transfer each month.

If you’re paid bi-weekly or twice monthly, we recommend setting up your automatics transfers for each payday. This way, you can have smaller, more frequent transfers that add up to the same monthly amount, but don’t seem to be as large of an impact all at once.

Automatic payments take away excuses and procrastination. There’s no more saying you’ll do it tomorrow as it’s automatically done – making tomorrow, today. By taking directly out of your account, you’ll forget it’s there and won’t be tempted to spend it elsewhere. You’ll also be on track to reaching the goals you set and could be surprised at how quickly it adds up!

Paying yourself first means investing in yourself. It is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your financial well-being. Now it’s your turn – take the challenge and be one step closer to taking control of your finances today.

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Cut your energy costs today

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Becoming more energy efficient is a great way to potentially save money. Check out these energy-saving tips to get started.

Thinking back over the last few weeks and the cold weather we’ve been experiencing, how many times did you go and turn up your thermostat? With the days being shorter, have you noticed a change in how often, and long, you’ve needed your lights on?

All of these things impact energy consumption and the costs can add up quickly. Unfortunately, most times we don’t realize the financial impact until we receive our monthly bill. This is especially true during the winter months as our energy usage, and our bills, tend to increase due to the weather we’re experiencing.

When it comes to the power we use, there are many things we can do to reduce what we use and in turn, reduce the money we pay each month. SaskPower provided us with the following eight power-saving tips that can help the environment and reduce your power bill at the same time – and who doesn’t want that!

  • Turn down the thermostat when no one is home. Cooling and heating represents approximately a quarter of residential power bills.
  • Plug in your car with a timer. Even on the coldest nights, your vehicle only needs to be plugged in for four hours. Using a block heater timer can save you about $25 per year on your power bill.
  • Turn off your lights when possible. Shorter days and longer nights mean interior lights in your home are on longer.
  • Convert to LED lights. Along with shutting lights off, you can cut the electricity needed for lighting your home by three-quarters by using LED bulbs.
  • Running a space heater 24/7 can be expensive. To help manage your energy costs, try extra blankets or a sweater first.
  • Only preheat your oven for baking, and only if the recipe calls for it. Most foods like roasts and casseroles don’t need a preheated oven to cook properly.
  • Use the right burner. Using a six-inch pot on an eight-inch burner on an electric stove can waste more than 40 percent of the burner’s heat.
  • Check your fireplace. When it isn’t heating the room and warming your toes, a fireplace may be cooling your house. Make sure the damper is closed when the fireplace isn’t in use to keep cold air out and warm air in.

Throughout the year, also look for in-store rebate programs typically offered by SaskPower in the spring and fall. Through these programs you can purchase energy-efficient products at a discounted price, and in turn reduce your energy costs – that’s a double save right there!

In order to see a difference on your energy bills though, you’ll need to do some work and change behaviours to ensure you’re more energy conscious. A small change may not be as noticeable but when you make multiple changes, and look at the impact over a longer period of time, the results can be shocking.

There’s no better time to start than today. Create a plan on how you can become more energy efficient and figure out the necessary actions to take today! For more information on power-saving tips, visit http://www.saskpower.com/efficiency-programs-and-tips/.

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Being real with your New Year’s resolutions

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Only about 8% of people actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions. Here we explain why and help you to set resolutions that are achievable.

Have you ever said to yourself that you will start doing something tomorrow, yet tomorrow never comes? Or had a bunch of New Year’s resolutions that you quickly gave up on and added back to your list the next year?

You’re not alone. When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, approx. 8% of people actually achieve them. But why is that? The answer… you.

When it comes to setting New Year’s resolutions we tend to set the expectations way too high, setting ourselves up for failure right from the start. And if the resolution is achievable, many times we don’t make the effort or change our behaviours that would allow us to succeed.

We need to stop setting ourselves up for failure and really focus on making tomorrow, today. Whether you want to improve your personal fitness and nutrition, focus on your finances or quit bad habits, you need to ensure your goals are attainable and provide a realistic expectation, a target date and an action plan on how you will achieve your goal.

Example 1: attainable goals

For example, in 2018 you want to increase the number of days you go to the gym from once a week to four times a week. Instead of jumping in feet first, set a target date and slowly incorporate a new gym day into your weekly routine until you are up to four gym days a week. Create an action plan on when you will go to the gym by booking time in your calendar in advance. By writing it down, you’ll be more motivated to do it and won’t be tempted to book yourself for something else.

Success will also require you to make changes to your lifestyle and behaviours. New Year’s resolutions won’t happen on their own and you must take action or make changes to see results.

Example 2: changing behaviours

Your 2018 resolution is to save money by cutting out your morning coffee purchase. In order to do this though, you must change your behaviour in stopping each morning. You may also need to create a new habit of making a coffee at home each morning to eliminate the temptation of stopping, which in the end will help you succeed.

Changing behaviours can be hard and you must be consistent in order for them to become a part of your everyday norm. According to a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes a minimum of 21 days to form or change a habit. That doesn’t seem too long when you read it but can feel like forever when trying to do it. Don’t panic though – stay consistent and hold yourself accountable – within time, you won’t even remember what the old norm was.

The key to achieving your New Year’s resolution is ensuring it’s attainable and having an action plan that helps you succeed. When it comes to your financial planning resolutions, we’re here to help.

Starting Jan. 1, we’re challenging you to Kick-Start Your Finances by taking our 6-week challenge. Each week, we’ll be tackling a new topic related to you and your money and we encourage you to join us along the way. Together, we can build an action plan and help you take control of your finances in 2018. Join us next week to learn more and take the challenge!

Happy New Year!

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Getting out of the pay cheque to pay cheque cycle

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Almost half of Canadians say they live pay cheque to pay cheque. Does this sound familiar? What is the secret to getting out of this pay cheque to pay cheque cycle?

A 2017 survey by the Canadian Payroll Association showed that almost half of Canadians say they live pay cheque to pay cheque. Here in Saskatchewan, 44% of employees agree and stated if their pay cheque was delayed by just one week, they’d have a hard time meeting their financial obligations. So what is the secret to getting out of this pay cheque to pay cheque cycle?

The answer… there is no secret or quick win when it comes to your finances. Everyone is different – the bills we pay, our rent or mortgage payments, the food we eat and the things we like to do – one solution that works for someone else may not work for you. In order to break the cycle, you must first determine your individual situation and develop a personalized plan from there.

“The biggest mistake people make with their finances is trying to do it alone,” said Krista Schmaltz, Manager Financial Services, Conexus Credit Union. “The most important thing you can do is talk with your financial advisor regularly. They’re experts in their fields and can help you create a personalized financial plan for success.”

Schmaltz also says in order to be successful in reaching your financial goal, you need to be open and honest when talking to your financial advisor. When it comes to your finances, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. By being honest with your financial advisor, and yourself, you are able to understand your finances better, allowing you to identify areas of strength and things that you may need to work on. You can then set goals and create an action plan to help reach those goals. Taking the steps to reach these goals though, will be on you.

Accountability is key in order to see results. It’s not just about saying you’ll do it but actually taking actions to break bad habits or changing behaviours. For example, if you’ve identified eliminating your morning coffee purchase from your routine as a way to save money, you must change your behaviours. To break the spending habit, consider making a to-go coffee every morning to take to work. Not only will you remove the temptation to stop and purchase a coffee, but you will also save money to put elsewhere within your budget.

When it comes to your finances, there is no one-size-fits-all solution or quick win. In order to see change, you must first be honest with yourself and your finances. You can then set goals and an action plan to help you reach your goals. Once set, hold yourself accountable to get results.

So what are you waiting for? Contact your financial advisor and start the conversation today!