It’s resolution time, another opportunity to quote Dan Pink, the bestselling author of numerous books about business, work, creativity and behavior, including the excellent “When.”
Before you pooh-pooh resolutions (who, moi?), Pink says: “The first day of the year is what social scientists call a ‘temporal landmark,’” or a date that stands out from most others on the calendar. A New Year provides us with “a chance to start again,” and to leave behind our “mistakes and imperfections.”
There is no better place to examine our actions and strive to do better than with our financial lives. That’s why for the past 16 years, Fidelity Investments has been conducting a New Year’s financial resolution study, to determine what people seek to change in the year ahead.
In the 2025 version, 68 percent feel they are in the same or a better situation than last year and 65% believe they’ll be better off financially in the new year.
However, 30% describe their relationship with money as stressful, likely due to the lingering impact of inflation. About a third are worried about their ability to pay monthly bills, to save and to pay down debt.
As a result, the top resolutions remain the same as last year: to save more (43%), to pay down debt (37%) and to spend less (31%). Fidelity notes one change from a year ago: Respondents are more focused on short-term savings goals in the coming year than long-term goals (55% versus 45%). That’s why almost 80% of respondents say they want to beef up their emergency reserve funds.
Whether you want to save more or pay down debt, start your resolution process with tracking what’s coming in and what’s going out.
To help, lean on technology. You can use your bank’s app or the free versions of PocketGuard, Goodbudget and Honeydue, which focuses on couples. Users of You Need a Budget (YNAB) say that the $109 annual fee (after an initial free 34-day trial) is worth it. Regardless of method, the goal is to identify the amount of money you can allocate towards your specific goal.
For those seeking to bolster their short-term savings that can cover 6 to 12 months of living expenses, establish an automatic transfer of a set amount of money from your checking account to build this fund.
You should also use this fund to hold the money necessary to fund any large expenses that will occur over the next 12 months, like a car purchase or a tuition bill. Although interest rates have come down over the past year, it is worthwhile to spend some time to find high yield savings accounts, money market funds, and CDs, which are still yielding more than 4%.
If you are trying to reduce credit card or other high interest debt, redirect the automatic payments to accelerate your debt pay-down, chipping away at the highest interest debt first and working your way down. Don’t forget to include those student loans as part of your debt pay-down strategy.
As you beef up your savings and pay down debt, you also need to exert some energy on long-term goals, like retirement.
Try to contribute at least to your employer’s match, if you have one, or establish an automatic transfer into an IRA or Roth IRA with one of the financial institutions that offer low cost mutual or exchange-traded funds.
The 2025 limit for work-based retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), 457), is $23,500. Catch-up contributions for those over 50 remains at $7,500. The IRA limit (for both Roth and traditional) remains at $7,000, and the over-50 catch-up is $1,000.
Jill Schlesinger, CFP, is a CBS News business analyst. A former options trader and CIO of an investment advisory firm, she welcomes comments and questions at askjill@jillonmoney.com. Check her website at www.jillonmoney.com.
