Reset your finances: Expert tips for the second half of 2024

The Street

Liz Miller, CFP, joined TheStreet to discuss how to refocus your financial goals for a strong finish to the year.

Transcript

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?

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