How to Make Your Money Resolutions Stick

Sometimes you need to force your hands

Whew, you made it! What a tough couple of years! After surviving the disastrous 2009 and managing to climb out the deep hole of 2010 in one piece, you promised yourself on the New Year’s Day of 2011: Never again! So you made New Year’s investing resolutions and determine to save successfully. And you are set for a productive and prosperous year!

Ironically, a study shows that about a quarter of Americans abandon their resolutions within one week after the ball drops at Time Square. Contributing to my Roth IRA? There is still time. Cutting back on spending? But Best Buy is having this clearance sales going on. What about supporting the Red Cross? Well, we are still kind of tight, aren’t we…

No one would argue that it’s easy to keep your resolutions, especially those that involve life-altering moves. But some tried-and-true measures can help put you on the right track to reach your financial goals where many others have failed.

1. Start early. Don’t wait until the new years’ bell rings before uttering your resolutions; they may be just some impulsive and vague wishes that you are likely to forget once the your hang over subsides. Instead, plan way before the old year ends so you can have time to look back when the memory is still fresh and give some real good thoughts, without pressure and distraction, on what have worked, what need to be worked on and come up with sensible goals. The company froze my pay so I decided to brown-bag my lunches, and somehow manage to do just fine. But I haven’t funded my Roth IRA for quite a while now; maybe next year… Call these “pre-resolutions”; you will have a full list of to-dos for the new year before everyone else rushes to the Time Square. Better yet, start acting on them, albeit a little bit at a time. You’ll have a head start and be gaining momentum going into January 1^st when TV reporters starting popping the same old question to the wide-eyed revelers. 

2. Be realistic. Let’s be honest here: if you are making $50,000 a year from a 9 to 5 job, you are not going to save up $60,000 by December without the help of a healthy lottery jackpot or some kind of illegal activities. Hoping for something too far-fetched will only make you lose your hope soon and therefore desert your goals fast. Instead, take good inventory of your financial condition: your assets, liabilities, incomes and average expenses for the past six months, and you get a pretty clear snap shot of your reality. Remember to differentiate your “needs” from your “wants”. Every home keeps a different book; one’s cake could be another’s pie in the sky. So proceed with care when making your new year’s resolutions. Do you really need to pursue that 6,000 square feet Mac Mansion on the beach? And perhaps your noble pledge to donate $20,000 this year to United Way is not very practical after all. Failed resolutions can cause you to fall back on your old poor money habits that bring you farther away from your financial goals.  

3. Draw plans. In the moment of impulse, people tend to spit out vague words like “Start saving for my kids’ college” or “be responsible in spending” without much of a clue what to do next. This lack of planning will most likely lead you to ditch your grand resolutions without even feeling guilty about it – you were just talking about it, after all. So if you really mean to do something, take time to create a detailed plan on everything about it. Say junior is ten years away from college; you are kind enough to decide to help him out and understand that a 529 plan is good way to go. Now here is the plan: You can afford $6,000 a year, so do research on each weekend in January and decide on a plan, pick the funds, fill out the application and mail it out with your first contribution of $500 by the first weekend of February. Soon enough you’ll get your first statement that shows junior’s 529 is up and running. So is your resolution of “saving for college”.

4. Handicap yourself. Life is full of temptations that can derail your very best plans. It has been kind of tough the past couple of years; you have dinner at home almost every night, still watch television on that 12-year old bulky 27-inch CRT set, and has postponed your dream Hawaii vacation five times! Every body is entitled to some indulgence and splurge after this painful belt-tightening, right? You know you want it. But when your “wants” start becoming a distraction for your goals, you need to have your hands tied before they reach into the cookie jar. If you haven’t done it already, how about setting up a 401(k) or 403(b) plan with your employer?  Once established, an allowable amount will be deducted from your payroll each pay period and invested in your plan, which you can’t touch without penalties until retirement. In the case of your junior’s 529 plan, make sure that on the application form you have authorized automatic withdrawals of your $500 monthly contribution from your checking account, so that it’ll be on cruise control.

5. Recruit enforcers. Still find yourself itching for the dough? Time to get others, particularly your loved ones involved. If you wanted to cut household spending and yet every month find yourself $30 away from emptying the kitty with more than ten days to go, perhaps you want to turn the book over to your more frugal better half, and run the number by him/her before you go out and buy again. You may also take advantage of today’s electronic gadgets, such as your computers and cellular phones, which should have enough scheduling firepower to alert you when it’s time for action. Empower your children, too – inform them of your resolutions and plans, and let them check off the “done” items on the list. That way, if you by any chance drop the ball on making a contribution to junior’s 529 plan, you sure will hear from him to no end.  

Year over year so many people make and soon drop their new year’s resolutions. It’s not because they don’t have the genuine desire to follow through; or because it’s too hard. Very often people lack a concrete plan, or a clear road map and the necessary discipline to guide them through the maze of money saving and investing. They become disoriented, get lost and eventually drop out of the race to reach their goals. We can do better. Let 2011 be the year in which we get our acts together and make our money resolutions stick.

How to Save Successfully

Common sense and good health make saving sustainable

Tightening the belt is no fun, especially for many Americans, who had been so accustomed to Hummers and Mac Mansions. Although the recent financial crisis and economical downturn have re-instilled some sense of thrift in our lives, judging from the speed of large flat screen TV’s flying off the shelves during the last Christmas shopping season, saving is still in many people’s back burner.

It’s true that the stock market is back; the economy is steadily improving; and the national savings rate has rebounded from a negative number in 2006 to almost six percent in October 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economy Analysis. But compare to many other countries, including developing ones such as China, we still have a long way to go.

Saving is a life-long project; it could be a struggle for those who haven’t formed a good habit for it. But a few basic approaches and some common sense can make this a nearly painless process, and therefore keep you on the right track.

1. Live beneath your means. This can’t be obvious enough: You spend less than you make, and you have money to save! The problem is too many of us think they have the “need” to spend so much that they end up having only thirty dollars left at the end of the month. But is an iPhone really a “need”? Are weekend getaways just luxury or actual necessity? Of course you get different answers from a guy who gets a quarter-million-dollar bonus from his Wall Street firm than from a lady who flips burgers at a McDonald’s. One person's indulgence may be another's basic need. A brand new set of black Italian leather sofas looks great in the living room, but in terms of giving yourself a chance to save, we must determine what is really a “need” and not simply a “want”.

2. Set a budget. How do you make sure that you won’t run out of money before you next paycheck? You’ve got to know what you must pay for first: food, housing, utilities, basic clothing, transportation and medications, etc. Dig out those old bills (if you are fortunate enough to have kept them) for the past few months and see how much they cost you on average per month. These are your “needs” that you must take care of first. Now find out how much you have splurged on things like eating out, fancy clothes or that cruise trip to the Bahamas – those might well be your “wants”. Now you know where all the money has gone. Compare it with your regular payment checks for a month, and you have a very good idea whether the 61-inch LED TV that is supposed to be “on sale” will fit neatly under your means. Check out Websites like Mint.com, which can let you keep track of your worth and spending, and ultimately help you establish some kind of budget.  

3. Make saving a habit. A good budget can help you successfully live beneath your means, which in turn can leave you with some free cash on hand. This is tempting. After all, the past couple of years had been tough; we haven’t been to a single skiing trip for three years; our Honda Accord is five years old and I heard the Porsche Cayenne is pretty good! Well, beware of the slippery slope – you’ve been down there before. Why not squirrel away a good part, if not all of the cash after paying off all the budgeted “needs”, putting it in a savings account for emergency money or investing it in an IRA for your retirement? Better yet, how about designate 10% of your take-home salary as savings to start the day? When there is less to spend, you’ll be more likely to make better choices with the money. Any ways you do it, once you establish a good habit you’ll sure see your savings cache grow.

4. Let saving be painless.  Most in the U.S. are pretty much wired to spend whatever amount of money they have coming in, if not more, thanks to the exuberantly booming economy the past decades until its crash. It has become difficult for some to identify “needs”, and even painful for them to part with their “wants”. No wonder there are so many people crying that they are “barely making ends meet”. So I believe the best way to deal with this tendency to overspend is to limit the amount of money you have available for spending. Why not try having an allowable amount automatically deducted from your payroll to fund a 401(k) account? You can’t touch the money without penalties until retirement. Your employer is hiding it away for you; you won’t see it on your paycheck so you can’t spend that part of your salary. The whole process is running nearly silently on the background with little for you to worry about once you’ve set it up. And you are saving automatically and painlessly.

5. Stay Healthy. This does not appear to have much connection with saving money on the surface, and most personal financial experts fail to make it a point in their advice. But it’s easy to see how illness affects your wallet. You don’t need anyone to tell you that Health care costs have been rising forever. In fact, expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2.3 trillion in 2008, amounting to about $7,681 per resident. And this is just the average that has included the healthy. The daily pre-meal doses of insulin are both painful and costly, practically drilling holes in your pockets; while a major heart surgery, which often runs the tab in hundreds of thousand dollars, will easily wipe out the entire savings of most people. So eat right, exercise regularly and don’t skip your annual physicals anymore. Only when you are in good shape can you be the most productive and cost effective, and therefore on top of this savings game.  

It’s never too early or too late to start saving. And it doesn’t have to painful, either. These basic approaches are simple to follow and can be done by anyone as long as you have the will to do it. Every single one of them alone can yield some result for you. Let them work together, and you bet you will enjoy significant gains in no time. So “now” is a good time to gain control of your life and start racking up some savings.

New Year's Investing Resolutions for 2011

Good Planning and Patience Are Prudential

After having witnessed its bottom fallen out in 2007, the stock market came roaring back in 2009 impressively, with the S&P 500 Index recovering half of the lost ground. While 2010 continued to be a healthy year for investors, anemic economical recovery, sky-high unemployment rate and dramatic power shifts in the political theater are keeping people jittery about their investment future. As a result, investors withdrew nearly $69 billion from U.S. stocks during the year, and piled into bonds to the tune of $404 billion, according to Morningstar's fund flow figures.

The arrival of the year 2011 does not promise any more stability or clarity at the investment front. And under the circumstance investors are getting even more anxious. But time and time again it had been proven that whether you're going by your gut or using any of the valuation gauges, technical indicators or proprietary market-timing systems floating around, the result is much the same: Your chances of consistently predicting market movements range from slim to zero. Therefore, rather than cracking open a fortune cookie to see where is going to snow next second, or when the next market correction will sneak up on us, it’s better to have certain resolutions in place to help quell the impulse of the itchy fingers:

Resolution #1: Stay invested in equities.

It’s understandable and predictable that people flock to stable sources of income during uncertain times. The price of gold has tripled over the past five years, surpassing $1,400 per ounce in 2010. The buying frenzy doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon with the urging of certain celebrity experts on CNBC. Meanwhile the safe haven statue that bonds are perceived to offer has lured a total of $937 billion into bond funds since the depth of the financial crisis in September of 2008, dwarfing the $195 billion that flowed into stock funds over the same period, according to Fortune magazine.

But if history is any lesson, it teaches us that the recent gold rush and bonds crave have “bubble” written all over them. Even Pimco’s Bill Gross, the legendary bond king, in November 2010 called an end to the 30-year golden age that brought bond investors near double digit annual returns.

The current political and economical uncertainty, plus the volatile nature of the stock market make many investors shy away from equities. On the other hand the recent resurgence of the stock market, which saw the S&P 500 nearly doubled since its bottom in March 2009, leads some others believe that they have missed the boat. 

But the truth of matter is, the equity investors’ misfortune in the last couple of years has created a tremendous opportunity. Despite the recent run-up, many of the quality stocks are still under valued. And the continuing recovery of the economies in the U.S. and the rest of the world, which appear to be gaining steam, will mean good news to those who get in early and with patience. Still don’t want to miss the steady income? There are plenty of high quality stocks that provide comparable or better dividend yields than bonds, with great potential of growth.

Resolution #2: Plan a real investment strategy.

Different people, and people in different stages of life have different needs, wants and risk tolerance. A newly minted college grad may think he is care-free for a while; a young couple would imagine saving up enough money for the down payment for their first home; parents who have children in high school should consider how they can help their kids through college; and folks nearing retirement must worry whether their nest eggs will last…

So sit down and go over your financial state and investment goals to see how long it will be until you need to tap your investments, think about how much risk you are really willing to take and then creating a diversified mix of stocks, bonds and other instruments that is appropriate for your own situation.

Of course you need to familiarize yourself with fundamental concepts like asset evaluation and allocation before you do this. You may also want to test out a variety of investment mixes to find out what suites you the best. Fortunately there are chock full of resources on the Web that can provide useful tools. Money and Morningstar are two that you can start with.

You just need to have a plan. Otherwise, in these uncertain times you will be like flying in the fog at night with no instruments installed on the plane. Try to figure out where you are going.

Resolution #3: Stay the course.

Every day a lot of things is happening; and every minute a lot of people is telling you a lot of things is happening. And in this world over-crowded with electronics, Internet and 4G, the noises are magnified a millions times. This makes setting a strategy and then sticking to it very difficult, especially when virtually every investing pro seems to be telling you that the “new normal” calls for a new investing strategy or when every cell in your brain is screaming the train is leaving the station without you if you don't move a big chunk of your dough into emerging markets funds.

However it’s no longer a secret that no one can ever predict the market successfully all the time. Those “actively managed” mutual funds are more likely end up in the bottom half of performance scale. As for individual investors, the more investing moves you make, the more mistakes you are likely to make, the more extra expenses you'll probably incur and therefore the lower your returns are likely to be. 

It’s human nature: when something major arises - the market's falling apart or in the midst of a huge surge - that the temptation to make some move, any move, is the greatest. But this is also the time when it's most crucial that you don't give in to the urge to abandon your strategy, since that's when you're most in danger of selling out at a bottom or buying in as the sizzle is about to fizzle.

So find some way to squelch the all-too-natural impulse to jettison your strategy just when you need it most. If you know that watching CNBC leaves you itching to tinker with your portfolio, then switch channel. Or maybe some other technique will work, like the one you use when you wait a month before buying that 60-inch LED TV. Or vowing that before you add or cut a holding, you'll find five reasons why this move might not be a good idea. Just come up with some speed bump that will slow you down, so you're less likely to make a rash decision you may later regret.

There is no guarantee that making and sticking to these three resolutions in the new year will help you get your dream house or stash enough for your daughter’s law school, or even simply prevent you from suffering some losses. But by implementing them you will at least have something reasonable and rational to follow and rely on for investing in this unpredictable climate. And that beats a crystal ball any time.