How To Get A Better Handle On Your Finances In 2017
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- If you're making New Year's resolutions to get your finances in order, a Philadelphia-based credit counselor has advice: set "smart goals" and not ones that may put road blocks on your path to success.
Let's say your goal is to save $10,000 this year. Markita Morris-Louis with non-profit group, Clarifi, says it's certainly possible to achieve, but if you have a history of struggling to save, then you may be setting yourself up for failure.
"People tend to make mistakes of setting really large goals that require significant changes in their behavior and that leads to disappointment," Morris-Louis said. "
For example, she says, if the big picture plan is buying a house, you'll want to get your credit together.
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"Let's start by paying down some of your higher-interest debt, some of your revolving debt, some of your unsecure credit cards," Morris-Louis said. Let's start by saving incrementally."
And to do that, she says, the best bet is to create new habits. Start an automatic savings plan if you don't have one, for example, and cut back on a few things.
"If gourmet coffee is really important to you, then maybe not every day," Morris-Louis said. "Let's try every other day, and see what kind of savings that will yield after 30 days, or 60 days."
Then, she says celebrate how far you've come, keep it up, and move to a bigger goal that will eventually get you to finish the big picture.
