How to Start 2025 Financially Strong

by Jeffery A. Keill CFP, CIM, FMA,FCSI

Want to get your 2025 off to a great start? A financially strong start? During the first weeks of January many people find time to reflect on their mental health and wealth. New year beginning tends to lead us to want to, well, start new beginnings else where in our lives. Make changes and slight course corrections. One that we hope more  people take some time to  do this for themselves. This is a good thing. Change what you do will change your life. The goal is not to compare yourself to other people today, but to be a better version of yourself this year than who you were in 2024.

Here are K&A’s Wealth Advisory Top 5 Resolutions clients may want to consider to really start the new year strong:

• Financial Check Up: This is really simple. You walk into the doctors office and the first thing they do is take a measurement of height, weight, and blood pressure. These are vital stats to the very general health of the patient. Financially this is equal to a look at you Net Worth, Income Statement, and Budget. Spend some time and write these things down. Putting to paper has a greater impact than simply doing a mental accounting of things. Not sure how to do this- no problem- we have you covered. Just give us a call and we can have one prepared for you.

• Create a SMART plan: SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable , Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound. In other words, planning should include specific goals, quantified amount to reach the goal, kept achievable within reason, be relevant to achieving life time goals, and be bound by a period of time to be achieved.

• Efficiency of Capital: Ensure your financial picture takes into account two important wealth building truths:

• Accumulate Appreciation Assets and limit the accumulation of depreciating assets.

• Ensure you have effective and structured systematic investment plan such as the K&A 75?15?10 Plan.

• Tackle Debt: The goal of achieving financial freedom is the building of ones Net Worth. In other words, our success in monetary society is the accumulative growth of our Net Worth. To accumulate Net Worth one must direct cashflow towards increasing their ownership of appreciating assets or the reduction of debt they carry. Most often the approach is to affect change in both areas. Using simple methods to tackle debt is an important consideration for many people at this time of year.

• Increase you Savings Ratio: Systematic investing is something that most people have started either with their Advisor, at their bank, or possibly through their employers retirement plans. For many however the fact is these powerful tools to wealth accumulation were set up a few years back and have never been changed. Income level certainly have increased though. Maybe it is time to look at increasing your monthly systematic savings/ investment plan to really get the pot of money growing.

  
  

Of course it is great if you can do all Top 5, but even if you choose to adapt one or two of these items to your list of resolutions, it can have a tremendous impact on your future. Change what you do- and you will change your life.

Last edit Feb1, 2025