Business News of Tuesday, 3 January 2023

Source: Desmond Bredu, Contributor

4 steps to improve your personal finances in 2023

Cultivating a savings culture is key in the current economic times Cultivating a savings culture is key in the current economic times

Maybe the “enjoyment season” isn’t over for you (yet), but it’s the time of the year when you need to start working on/thinking of your personal finances:

What your 2023 goals are, what you’re maintaining, stopping or improving on.

Here are a few things to consider:

1. In 2023, take financial literacy seriously:

Read, Listen, Ask. Be interested in news items. Your personal finance management doesn’t get better automatically with the turn of the new year.

The only guarantee that tomorrow will be better is if you’re deliberately growing today.

2. Review the financial missteps we made in 2022:

Was it not planning your money correctly? Example: No budgeting, no setting of goals, financial objectives. Planning should permeate all levels of our lives.

Was it Living beyond our means?- always in debt? Etc. Reflect on yours, Think them through. No one knows/ better understands your situation better than you do.

3. What 2022 showed me is the need to improve my income streams:

There are inherent limitations on how much we can “manage” our monies. The cost of living is more likely to go up in 2023. We would have to find alternative ways of earning more. Easier said, though. But possible.

4. Small things matter:

It’s easy to say, “I’m focused on this big thing, so the small thing can wait.” When it comes to your 2023 finances, the little details should matter. The accumulation of the small things can have significant implications.

Finally, we ought to be dynamic and deliberate in 2023.