Every year, millions worldwide make New Year’s Resolutions hoping for changes to make their life more happy and fruitful. Making New Year’s Resolutions are setting priorities for a productive year.
It is also an opportunity to review last year’s goals and achievements. The tradition of making New Year resolutions dates back to ancient times.
The resolutions may vary from individual to individual depending on his age, income, wealth, financial goals, personal and professional goals, family background, etc. Given below are certain tips for unlocking your potential for the New Year 2025.
Time Management: By combining effective time management strategies with your New Year’s resolution, you can make meaningful changes in your life. Fixing priorities is very critical. Here you may apply the High, Medium, Low (HML) framework to time management.
Allocate 50 to 60 percent of your time for urgent, critical things that have significant consequences on your personal and professional life. 20 to 30 per cent of time may be spared for important but not urgent matters. Remaining 10 to 20 percent of time for other matters, which are not important or urgent.
Financial Discipline is very important irrespective of your financial status. A well-drafted monthly family budget helps you to manage finances effectively.
Create a safety net to meet unforeseen expenses. Living within your means provides a greater sense of financial security. Follow the 50:30:20 family budget rule.
Over Leveraging: Excessive borrowings including that of credit cards need to be checked. The total debt repayment obligations shall not exceed your repaying capacity. Make your life stress-free. Remember responsible borrowing habits improve your Credit Score.
Savings: Make smart decisions to save consistently for the long term. Let the investment grow to meet your financial goals. Understand the power of compounding in the long-term horizon. Diversify your investments across different asset classes to minimize the risk and maximize wealth creation.
Retirement Planning: Make retirement planning a priority this year, if not done already. A well-planned retirement solution ensures enough cash flows to meet your lifestyle at the fag-end of your life. Join pension schemes/annuity schemes of trusted pension funds to ensure uninterrupted annuity payments.
Health Insurance: Hospitalization expenses are on the increase. Major and critical illness of you or your family members can make you bankrupt or lead to financial instability. Spending money for the health insurance policy provides peace of mind, financial protection, and access to quality medical care.
Digital Life: Prevent cyber security breaches, and financial frauds and keep sensitive data remain confidential. Be vigilant on OTPs/SMS/passwords, suspicious emails, attachments, links, and malware. Protect your digital life by ensuring a safer online experience.
Share the knowledge of all important records with your spouse:: Record properly all the details of your investments and liabilities and keep your spouse informed.
Ensure valid nominations in all your deposit accounts, safe deposit lockers, investments, and insurance policies. Huge unclaimed deposits and matured life insurance sums are lying in the system waiting for the claimants. Remember proper estate planning makes the life of the legal heirs easy.
Health and Wellness: ‘Health is Wealth’ means health is a more valuable and irreplaceable asset. Exercise regularly and have a balanced diet. Proper sleep, and meditation daily for half an hour help you to keep fit. Avoid unhealthy habits injurious to health.
Relationships: Find time to attend social events, and meet your near and dear ones at regular intervals. Show gratitude and appreciation to those around you.
The above lists are not exhaustive. The New Year is an opportunity to do a self-assessment as to how much one could stick to the previous year’s resolutions. A couple of studies by clinical psychologists show that about 45 percent of the resolvers stick to their goals for six months in the year while about 20 percent maintain them for two years. The number is fair enough.
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