Reset your finances: Expert tips for the second half of 2024
Liz Miller, CFP, joined TheStreet to discuss how to refocus your financial goals for a strong finish to the year.
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00:00If you don't have a concrete financial plan for the year,
00:04how do you create one and what needs to go in it?
00:08So everyone should have a plan, we say, no matter what.
00:12Like, how do you know if you're on track
00:13for whatever you're trying to achieve
00:15if you don't have a plan of some kind?
00:17It's great to work with an advisor
00:19who can help you build a plan,
00:20but there's a lot of steps you can take yourself.
00:22So we say the very first step is an inventory.
00:26And that means make a list, as tedious as that sounds,
00:30of your checking accounts, your credit card balances,
00:33everything you have, take in, or owe,
00:38and write it all down.
00:40And you'd be surprised how good it feels
00:42just to even see that in front of you.
00:45And that gives you that starting point to say,
00:46okay, here's what's coming in the door,
00:49here's what needs to go out the door,
00:51here's my bucket of any savings or assets I have,
00:55and then here's what I'm gonna have to pay out.
00:57And it starts making it very clear
00:58where you're gonna start that planning.
01:01So we're halfway through the year,
01:04what tweaks should people be making now?
01:07So the big tweak now is to see where have you been?
01:11Maybe your resolution in January
01:13was to get better control of your spending,
01:15but it was just too overwhelming.
01:17And you tried sort of keeping track of anything
01:19and nothing happened, right?
01:21So this is the time to see,
01:22am I spending a whole lot more than 30% on those choices?
01:26That's the bucket I always say to start with mid-year.
01:29How much are you spending
01:30on the things you have control over?
01:32And when you list them out,
01:33can you make some proactive decisions?
01:35I know someone who was a Starbucks addict,
01:38and what they did was decide,
01:41get that Keurig at home,
01:42and they went to Starbucks once a week,
01:44and the other days after work,
01:46they took a mug with them of their own coffee.
01:48Well, oh my gosh, that started,
01:50it was like $100 over a month
01:51that now got to go into savings.
01:53So little things that you really can live with,
01:55but when you make like anything, like a workout goal,
01:58if it's too big a goal, it's not gonna work.
02:00You really have to look,
02:01well, where am I spending all these things,
02:03and what ones can I actually make a change to?