When it comes to financial planning, there’s always room for improvement. How are you feeling about your current financial situation? Have you stayed on track to your goals or did nonessential spending cause you to miss the mark? To understand what changes you can make to improve your financial plan in 2025, you need to assess your current finances. By tracking your expenses and reviewing your assets and debts you’ll know if you’ve met your savings goals for the year or understand why you haven’t contributed the maximum to your retirement account. After you take an honest look at your finances, you can set new goals to help improve your financial plan.
When setting new goals, make sure they’re realistic. You don’t want to give up something you are passionate about to cut back on monthly expenses. Instead, make manageable changes. For example, keep your tennis club membership and give up your daily Starbucks habit and make coffee at home. You may miss your fancy $7 lattes, but you need to exercise and playing tennis keeps you fit and healthy as well as social. If you feel overwhelmed tracking expense, utilize technology to save time and energy.
There are budgeting apps for beginner budgeters, planners, investors, over-spenders, you name it. These apps can be used to save for a vacation, pay down debt, or track retirement savings. All banks have online tools that can be used to automatically pay bills or deposit money into savings accounts. If you’re not digitally inclined, make an appointment and ask your banker to walk you through their online tools. Beyond spending less and saving more, estate planning can help you improve your financial plan by minimizing taxes, avoiding probate, and more.
Alloy Wealth works with fee-based attorneys to create comprehensive estate plans that offer peace of mind and protection for loved ones. We’ll help you understand the difference between wills and trusts and make sure you have the necessary legal documents in place so you can express your healthcare wishes and ensure your assets are passed to loved ones in a tax-efficient way when you’re gone. If you have questions or would like to make an appointment, call 800-689-3935.