10 Financial Resolutions for 2018
4:21 AMPosted by: John S Kiernan
The first of the year brings both the promise of new beginnings and the burden of self-improvement. Fueled by the nostalgia of the holidays and armed with a year’s worth of regrets, some 45% of Americans decide to make New Year’s resolutions each January, according to research from the University of Scranton. They are, it seems, taken by the spirit that led Benjamin Franklin to advise: “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man.”
We all certainly have our fair share of vices, especially as they relate to money. So it’s unsurprising that financially-themed resolutions are among the most popular made each new year. But the fact that less than 10% of resolution-makers achieve their goals is not a good sign for hopes of improved money management.
Don’t be discouraged, though. WalletHub has your back. Below, you will find a list of the top 10 financial resolutions to make in 2018, along with some helpful tips for making sure they happen. We also asked a panel of experts in the fields of finance and psychology to share their thoughts.
10 Financial Resolutions For 2018- Sign Up for Credit MonitoringThanks to the increased availability of free credit scores, most people have a good sense of their credit standing these days. Too few of us are familiar with the actual contents of our credit reports, though. That might be because we assume our credit scores tell the full story, but that's just not the case. For starters, as many as one in four people have an error on their report that could affect their credit score, according to research by the Federal Trade Commission. Furthermore, reviewing at least one of your major credit reports on a regular basis will allow you to spot signs of fraud before they get too serious. You can start by checking your free TransUnion credit report on WalletHub.
With that being said, no one can keep tabs on their credit around the clock. And that’s where 24/7 credit monitoring comes in. Signing up for free credit monitoring will enable you to receive an instant notification anytime there is an important change to your credit report. In other words, it reduces lag time when spotting issues and gives you the peace of mind that comes with knowing you won’t miss anything.
- Pay Bills Right After Receiving Your PaycheckTaking care of monthly obligations before letting yourself indulge in any luxury expenses is a helpful budgeting strategy. It gives you a better sense of what you can truly afford and what you can’t. It also helps you avoid ever having a late payment reported to the major credit bureaus, which is one of the easiest ways to damage your credit score. Furthermore, paying your bill early improves your credit utilization, and thus your credit score, by reducing the balance listed on your monthly statement.
We recommend setting up two automatic monthly payments from a deposit account: one for right after payday and another for a couple days before your monthly due date. The second payment will help you avoid interest on any purchases made between your first payment and the end of your billing period. If you don’t know when your billing cycle begins and ends, simply check your monthly statement. You can also request to change it to whatever day of the month is best for you.
To learn more about keeping your payment train on schedule, check out our 8 Tips For Never Missing A Due Date.
- Repay 20% of Your Credit Card DebtAmericans owe way too much credit card debt. By the end of 2017, we’ll likely break the all-time record and cross $1 trillion in outstanding balances. That debt is extremely expensive, too, growing even more so with each Federal Reserve rate hike. Something eventually has to give. And you’d much rather that be your outstanding balance, paid down on your own terms, than your ability to afford monthly minimum payments and, in turn, your credit score. So it’s time to get serious about getting out of credit card debt.
Some of the other steps mentioned here – including budgeting, automation and the Island Approach – will help in terms of reducing your future reliance on debt. But the problem of what to do about existing balances still remains. The answer for people with at least “good” credit is the combination of a 0% balance transfer credit card and a credit card calculator, which has the potential help you save hundreds of dollars while getting out of debt months sooner than you would otherwise.
But it’s probably best to start small, considering the average household will owe approximately $8,548 by the end of 2017. So we recommend making a plan to pay off 20% of what you owe over the course of 2018. That would amount to about $1,710 for the average household, requiring monthly payments of $143 with a card offering 0% on transfers for at least 12 months. You can use a credit card payoff calculator to crunch the numbers in your situation, and if you can afford higher payments, by all means make them. The sooner you can reach debt freedom, the better off your wallet will be.
- Use Different Credit Cards for Everyday Purchases & DebtThe Island Approach involves using different accounts to serve different financial needs, as if they are a chain of islands. The most basic example is using a rewards credit card for everyday purchases and a 0% APR card for balances that you’ll carry from month to month.
Doing so enables you to get the best possible terms on each card, rather than settling for average terms on a single card. It will also help you reduce the cost of your debt, considering everyday purchases won’t be inflating your average daily balance. And if you ever incur interest on your everyday card, you’ll know you spent too much that month.
- Add One Month’s Pay to Your Emergency FundRoughly 54% of Americans do not have a rainy-day fund, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Like someone without insurance, people who lack an emergency fund are tempting fate, putting themselves at risk of financial catastrophe in the event of unexpected unemployment or major medical expenses. So building up some reserves should be one of the first orders of business for any financial makeover.
We recommend ultimately building a fund with about 12 to 18 months’ take-home income. But it’s important to understand that won’t happen overnight. In other words, you don’t need to put the rest of your financial life on hold until your emergency fund is complete. Rather, chip away at it over time. 6.
- Improve Your Credit Score by 20 PointsLess than 1% of people have the highest credit score possible (850). Fewer than 1 in 6 people have perfect credit scores (800+). And the average credit score is 679. So most people have room for credit score improvement and could save a lot of money as a result.
The best way to improve your credit is to maintain an open credit card account that is in good standing. The card will then report positive information to the major credit bureaus each month, either building out a short credit history or helping to devalue mistakes from the past. You don’t have to get into debt to benefit from the credit building capabilities of a credit card, unlike with a loan, and you don’t even need to make purchases with your card. If you don’t have the credit standing necessary to qualify for a normal credit card, you can always place a refundable deposit on a secured credit card and benefit from what’s basically guaranteed approval.
You can get your free credit score, updated daily, by signing up for WalletHub. This will give you an accurate sense of your starting point and enable you to track your progress over time. Plus, you will receive customized credit-improvement advice that will help you maximize both your score and your savings. For example, the grades on the Credit Analysis section of your WalletHub account will tell you what weak points you need to work on.
- Get an A in WalletLiteracyFinancial literacy levels in this country are far too low. In fact, the U.S. tied for 14th globally for financial literacy in a survey by Standard & Poor’s, behind the likes of Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore – just to name a few. What’s more, roughly 43% of Americans grade their financial know-how at a C or below, according to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.
So start 2018 by taking our WalletLiteracy Quiz and getting a baseline score. Then, throughout the year, study the areas where you struggled and periodically re-test yourself to gauge your progress. Your goal should be to get at least an A- by the time 2019 rolls around.
- Focus on Your Physical HealthThere is a clear connection between physical, emotional and financial health. For starters, the average person spends about on health care each year. Money is also our biggest sources of stress, according to the American Psychological Association. And people who get regular exercise tend to have better credit scores.
This underscores the importance of getting your financial house in order as well as exercising regularly and engaging in other healthy practices aimed at reducing health care costs. It won’t be easy, but this is one resolution that will certainly pay dividends in multiple areas of your life.
“If you begin to make small healthy changes to your diet, increase exercise in small increments, and practice yoga and meditation, you will feel better,” says Deborah Bauer, a distinguished senior instructor of finance at the University of Oregon. “Feeling better will lead to wiser financial decisions that focus on the long term.”
- Make a Realistic Budget & Stick to It The fact that we’re on pace to end 2017 with more than $1 trillion in credit card debt is a bit less surprising when you consider that only about 40% of adults have a budget, according to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Both statistics also signal the need for greater urgency on our part. In short, missed payments and credit score damage are in our future if we don’t cut back, which requires re-thinking how we allocate our money.
The best way to make a budget is to gather your bills from the past few months and make a list of all your recurring expenses. Then rank them in order of importance, with true necessities such as housing, food and healthcare obviously taking the top spots. After that, you can simply cut from the bottom of your list until your take-home exceeds what you plan to spend. Finally, keep track of your monthly spending throughout the year to make sure you’re abiding by your budget.
- Look for a Better JobSometimes, we get so caught up in spending less and saving more that we forget to address the other side of the equation: how much we earn. But the benefits of finding a higher-paying job could actually end up outweighing everything else put together. Trading up career-wise isn’t necessarily as simple as scouring local job postings, though.
You might need to consider moving in search of higher wages or a lower cost of living. Or you could go back to school to gain skills that will add to your earning potential.
Not all industries and areas of the country offer the same opportunities. For example, the best city for jobseekers in 2018 – Scottsdale, AZ, according to WalletHub research – has more than one job opening per unemployed resident. Meanwhile, the worst city for jobseekers – Detroit, MI – has just one opening for every five unemployed residents.
We turned to a panel of experts in the fields of personal finance, business, management and psychology for additional insight into the best New Year’s Resolutions for achieving financial improvement and strategies for sticking to them. You can check out our experts’ bios as well as the questions we asked them and their responses below.
- What are the Do’s and Don'ts of New Year's resolution-making?
- To what extent does a solid support system make it easier to stick to resolutions? Is it a good idea to have a resolution buddy?
- Does rewarding positive behavior make it easier to accomplish a long-term goal? Are certain types of incentives better than others?
- What is the ideal number of resolutions?
Edwin A. Locke Professor Emeritus in the Robert H. Smith School of Business at University of Maryland
Francesca Gino Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
Christie Manning Associate Director of Educating Sustainability Ambassadors and Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies - Macalester College
Wendy Wood Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at University of Southern California
Kentaro Fujita Associate Professor of Psychology at The Ohio State University
Cynthia L. Pickett Associate Professor of Psychology at University of California-Davis
Ursina Teuscher Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Portland State University
Kristina Bauer Assistant Professor of Psychology at Illinois Institute of Technology
What are the Dos and Don'ts of New Year's resolution-making? I would not make such resolutions - too much of a meaningless tradition. To make your life better, you need to think of goals: what would be in my self-interest long range, e.g., character building, health, education, professional development, money earning and management, partnering skills, parenting skills, etc. - not everything at once - then have a plan, maybe in writing; make sure to track progress; learn to plan both short and long range. Francesca Gino Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School 
What are the Dos and Don'ts of New Year's resolution-making? To what extent does a solid support system make it easier to stick to resolutions? Is it a good idea to have a resolution buddy? Temporal landmarks like the New Year do help motivate us to reach our long-term goals when such goals are salient in our minds. This is because these landmarks trigger reflection and thus can potentially highlight the gap between our current behavior (such as watching TV every night or overspending) and our rosier, desired future behavior (working out every night or saving more). We all regularly face decisions that entail a conflict between choices that primarily provide instant gratification, and virtuous ones that mainly provide long-term benefits (watching TV versus working out). As mounting evidence suggests, we often choose what we impulsively want over what we should choose given our long-term goals and interests. In fact, I wrote an entire book on how we can easily get sidetracked while trying to reach our goals. The contrast between our present shortcomings and the hoped-for ideal state that the New Year highlights not only boosts motivation, but also helps us meet our goals. For instance, research has found that when individuals who intended to quit smoking wrote about their desired personal future first and then about the negative aspects of their current reality, this contrast was more effective in bringing their actions in line with their expectations than was only fantasizing about future success. Similarly, related research has found that individuals who were committed to the goal of supporting a charity pledged more money when focusing on the discrepancy between the current state (the amount already collected) and the target goal than when focusing on only the amount of money already collected. It seems that as long as our reflections highlight a contrast between a desired future state and present reality, they should motivate us to act on our goals. Although we can induce such contrasts between current and future goals in many ways (such as by getting feedback from trusted friends and advisors), a temporal landmark such as the start of a new year may be a relatively cheap way to motivate us to accomplish our virtuous goals. Importantly, though, if we feel close to our ideal state already, then the result will be complacency: we will congratulate ourselves for our anticipated achievements rather than take action. Research also tells us something else: the arrival of the New Year generates “fresh start” feelings that can motivate us to meet virtuous goals, such as exercising regularly or finally starting our diet. Psychologically, the New Year gives us an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, and these feelings do inspire beneficial behavior—at least in the short term. For instance, a recent study examined gym attendance at the campus of a business school in the Northeastern United States. The results? Gym attendance increased at the start of the year. And it also decreased over the course of each year. Also, have you seen these statistics? It shows that only ~8% of people stick to their new year's resolutions. Sharing your resolution with friends through Facebook or other mechanisms and social media channels and maybe even create friendly team competitions can help us stick to our resolutions. So, peer support systems are very important. Frank Ra, the author of A course in Happiness says, “Resolutions are more sustainable when shared, both in terms of with whom you share the benefits of your resolution, and with whom you share the path of maintaining your resolution. Peer-support makes a difference in success rate with new year’s resolutions.” Research is consistent with these statements. Does rewarding positive behavior make it easier to accomplish a long-term goal? Are certain types of incentives better than others? Rewarding positive behaviors does help. We should all choose incentives carefully. If we love to eat, the reward could be a nice dinner out. As long as the reward is something we care about, it can be helpful in allowing us to stick to our plans. Christie Manning Associate Director of Educating Sustainability Ambassadors and Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies - Macalester College 
What are the Dos and Don'ts of New Year's resolution-making? The biggest Do: make a tangible change in the context in which your financial behavior occurs. Habits are behaviors we perform without thinking deeply about them, and they significantly reduce the cognitive burden on our brain. Habits are built into the fabric of our daily lives. After performing a behavior a few times in the same way, the brain builds an unconscious connection with the circumstances in which that behavior occurred. The next time we're in the same or a similar situation, the brain - without any conscious cognitive effort - starts to prepare us for the usual actions. To break a habit, you have to think and remind yourself constantly to not do things the way you usually do. It takes a lot of cognitive effort - hard thinking work. Psychological research demonstrates unequivocally that habits are very, very difficult to break if we try to change them without also altering the circumstances around them. You can save yourself much of that work if you eliminate the cues (the context) that normally prompt the brain to unroll its habitual behavior. Context changes can range from the very simple (change your login password on the account in which you usually do your financial transactions, or put a big, obvious note up on your bathroom mirror or computer) to the large and complex (a move to a new home, a new job, a new school year). All context changes open up a brief time when the usual cues for a habit are messed up, and your brain can't just automatically steer you toward what you usually do. This gives you a chance to act differently and stand by your resolution. Of course, context changes only work for a little while. Recent research shows that moving to a new home gives people about a 3-month window in which to change their transportation habits (they began to bike or use public transit instead of drive). If the new habit isn't introduced and cemented in those three months, the old habit becomes the norm once again. To what extent does a solid support system make it easier to stick to resolutions? Is it a good idea to have a resolution buddy? Psychological research offers at least two reasons why a social support system is a great idea. First: You can think of a support system as one form of a context change. If you normally make all of your financial decisions without anyone else checking in with you, then having other people ask you about your decisions means that you are no longer making them in a socially isolated context. To make this context change powerful, you would probably want to arrange regular and frequent times that you would meet or talk with people in your support system, so that these check-ins are present in your mind during the initial phase that you are trying to change your financial behaviors. Second: other people hold you accountable. We humans are social creatures, and though we are not always aware of how important social connections and social status are to us, approval from others is a deep psychological need. Other people's opinions of us matter. If we tell other people (our support network) about our resolution, we will work harder to achieve it so that we don't look inconsistent or unreliable in their eyes. Does rewarding positive behavior make it easier to accomplish a long-term goal? Are certain types of incentives better than others? Yes - rewarding positive behavior is generally a good idea. We're like any other living organism - if we get rewarded for something, our brain tells us to do it again. It's not typically very effective, however, to be the one rewarding yourself - it's too easy to cheat. A better way to structure a reward or incentive is to have someone else hold you accountable and give you the reward when you've met an agreed-upon goal or standard. One caveat with incentives: they often work better as one-time rewards to help you get over a difficult hurdle, or simply get you to try something new. If you get a reward for every single time you make a deposit in a retirement or savings fund (for example), then you start to associate that behavior with the reward, and you no longer feel the intrinsic satisfaction of having put money aside for your future. If the reward suddenly disappears, your new behavior is likely to stop. Wendy Wood Provost Professor of Psychology and Business at University of Southern California 
What are the Dos and Don'ts of New Year's resolution-making? Many resolutions are about long-term changes we want to make in our lives—eat less, exercise more, save more, listen more to our children. And these changes are not one-offs. They require continued, repeated actions over time. And few people understand how to make this happen. One way to do so is to practice a behavior repeatedly so that it becomes a habit. It’s hard to maintain new behaviors through sheer willpower. Few of us have enough energy for that. Willpower and good decisions wane over time. So, one way to help yourself form a habit and make the desired behavior automatic is to change the performance context—essentially your environment. Make it easy for yourself to repeat the behavior you want. People underestimate the importance of environmental influences. We like to think of ourselves as being in charge or our actions, but that’s not really true. Our environments have a huge influence on behaviors. So, trying to eat less? Take the junk food off of your kitchen counter or don’t buy it in the first place. Trying to save money? Don’t go to expensive stores or troll websites. Also, maybe spend more time with friends who know how to enjoy themselves without spending lots of money. We think that we can control our behavior in the face of temptations, but really, few of us can. Want to learn a new language? Don’t just make a commitment to do so but set up the lessons ahead of time, so that it’s easier to follow through. These are small ways you can change your environment that have big impact because they help keep us on track, performing the new behavior repeatedly, not just once or twice. To what extent does a solid support system make it easier to stick to resolutions? Is it a good idea to have a resolution buddy? Sure, it’s useful to have other people to provide a support system. They can help to make the new behavior more enjoyable and can also serve as cues or reminders to continue to do the behavior. Does rewarding positive behavior make it easier to accomplish a long-term goal? Are certain types of incentives better than others? Yes, it’s common sense to try to find behaviors that are rewarding in some way—ones that you enjoy doing. Or to add rewards that make behaviors more enjoyable (e.g., listening to tapes while working out). We are just more likely to repeat a behavior that we enjoy. In addition, we are more likely to form habits for behaviors that are rewarding—our neural mechanisms are sensitive to reward, and behaviors become more habitual and automatic when they are followed by a reward. So, one useful piece of advice is to find a way to make the behavior you want to do more rewarding. What is the ideal number of resolutions? Probably none - at least the way people usually do them. In some estimates, people make the same resolutions 10 times before either giving up or succeeding. So many failures can be disheartening, and at the least exhausting. Kentaro Fujita Associate Professor of Psychology at The Ohio State University 
What are the Dos and Don'ts of New Year's resolution-making? New Year's resolutions are essentially an exercise in goal setting. When deciding on what goals to pursue, people need to consider not only the desirability of a given goal (How important is it? How much do I want this? What good would come of achieving this goal?), but also its feasibility (What is necessary to achieve this goal? Can I actually do what is necessary?). The best goals balance these two considerations. Picking goals that are high in desirability but low in feasibility lead people to abandon their goals later on because they are too difficult to achieve. Picking goals that are low in desirability but high in feasibility lead may lead to goal attainment, but without much meaning or rewards. Alternatively, people never bother even trying to achieve that goal because it doesn't have enough desirability to get them motivated to start, despite the high likelihood of success. So, people must not only think about what they want, they must balance this with thinking about how they are going to get what they want. People should also appreciate that goal pursuit is hard. There will be setbacks. It takes commitment, and they should be ready to invest the psychological and material resources necessary to make that happen. If they aren't willing to make that commitment, then the goal is probably not worth pursuing. Research suggests one way to ensure follow through is to link unpleasant activities in the moment (missing out on this amazing pair of shoes in order to save money for retirement) to broader goals and values. Thus, if parents view this as an example of them serving as an example to their kids or to ensure that they go to college, they are much more likely resist temptation. In other words, the more effectively people are able to believe that some activity is unpleasant but important, the more likely they will stick to it. Another way to deal with the unpleasantries associated with goal pursuit is to find the small things that make them fun or enjoyable. An example outside of finances might be working out in the gym. If I play my favorite music while I work out, I'm adding something positive to something that is normally negative. And the more we can do that, research suggests, the more likely I will maintain these healthy habits. In the financial context, perhaps people could mix something pleasant (dinner at one's favorite restaurant), with something less pleasant but goal-directed (working out the family budget). To what extent does a solid support system make it easier to stick to resolutions? Is it a good idea to have a resolution buddy? Research suggests that having the right kind of buddy is important. The buddy should be one that is good at achieving goals himself/herself, and provide the kind of encouragement and support you need to accomplish your goals. Does rewarding positive behavior make it easier to accomplish a long-term goal? Are certain types of incentives better than others? As suggested above, highlighting pleasant aspects of negative goal-directed behaviors may promote goal attainment. But one has to do this smartly. For example, if I reward myself with an extravagant purchase each time I make a contribution to my IRA, I might ultimately end up in debt and then have to withdraw my savings. Small rewards on the way to goal attainment is a good idea. But they cannot be used as an excuse to indulge in the very temptation one is trying to avoid. Cynthia L. Pickett Associate Professor of Psychology at University of California-Davis 
To what extent does a solid support system make it easier to stick to resolutions? Is it a good idea to have a resolution buddy? We know from self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1994) that the behavior and opinions of others can influence whether people choose to pursue particular goals. Encouragement from others that increases an individual's perception that they can reach their goal (e.g., "You can do it!") is likely to increase that individual's perceived self-efficacy, which in turn will help them actually reach the goal. This is called social persuasion and is an important component of a good support system. Another key component is having support systems that include social models. Social models are people who are similar to oneself that are pursuing the same goal. By observing the other person's success, an individual comes to believe that they too can achieve that goal. Thus, a resolution buddy can be a great idea if the resolution buddy is successful. The risk though is that if the resolution buddy fails, the failure can diminish one's own confidence. So, the key is being selective about who the resolution buddy is. Finding a buddy similar to oneself with a history of success in that domain who is likely to succeed again is the best choice. Finally, a solid support system can help with other aspects of successful goal attainment. For example, having a clear plan for how one plans to go about pursuing a goal (an implementation intention) can increase success (Gollwitzer, 1999). A support system can help define these plans and keep one accountable. Support systems can also be influential when they change an individual's self-definition. For example, a person who defines himself as a "runner" is likely to run more regularly because running has become a more central part of their self-concept. So, to the extent that support systems turn into group identities (e.g., Crossfitters, investors, etc.), people are more likely to stick to the pattern of behavior associated with the identity. Ursina Teuscher Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Portland State University 
What are the Dos and Don'ts of New Year's resolution-making? Don'ts: Don't form a resolution just because it's New Year's Eve. Ask yourself why you waited until now to do this. Do you really want that change? What's been holding you up so far? What's different now? Are you now ready to make a sacrifice at this point that you didn't want to make before? If you're not serious, skip the resolution and enjoy your life as it is instead. A resolution will only demoralize you, if you already know that you won't stick to it. However, you could try a new behavior as an experiment, just for a few weeks, and then reassess. I would not call that a New Year's resolution, but there is never a wrong moment to experiment with different behavior. Don't confuse outcomes with behaviors: your resolution should be about your own behavior, because that's what you can control. The outcome may or may not follow. As an example for a business owner's resolution: "I will increase my income by $10,000 next year" is not a helpful resolution, because it's an outcome (even though it is a very specific goal). A behavior that could lead to that outcome could be "I will spend at least 5 hours every week on marketing activities." Dos: Be specific. Make a concrete action plan as to what you will do, and when you will do it. For example, if you want to sign up for a retirement savings plan in the next year, think about what you need to do in order for that to happen. Plan your very next steps (do research on different plans, get an appointment with HR), and put these actions in your calendar. If you want to exercise more, chose a specific kind of workout (a gym class, walking on three days of the week), and put it into your schedule. Reward yourself. To what extent does a solid support system make it easier to stick to resolutions? Is it a good idea to have a resolution buddy? Absolutely, a resolution buddy is a great idea. In general, any kind of support system can make a big difference, because it adds accountability. Other people who know and support your commitment can give you encouragement. They can keep you on track if you're slipping, but they'll also be there to help you celebrate your success. Does rewarding positive behavior make it easier to accomplish a long-term goal? Are certain types of incentives better than others? Yes, the reward is essential - if you didn't expect some kind of positive effect in the end, you wouldn't pursue the goal in the first place. The problem is that many natural rewards that come with achieving your goal are too far away. Our reward circuitry system reacts best to immediate rewards. For example, if you want to exercise more, you are most likely to find a routine that sticks if there is something rewarding already during the exercise itself (music, someone's company, being outdoors). It will still be hard to get going, but the more immediately you can feel a reward, the more likely you can built a strong and lasting habit. What is the ideal number of resolutions? The fewer the better! Only make a resolution if you truly mean it. Besides being an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Portland State University, Ursina Teuscher is also a Decision & Productivity Coach. You can find out more by visiting her website. Kristina Bauer Assistant Professor of Psychology at Illinois Institute of Technology 
What are the Dos and Don'ts of New Year's resolution-making? Do set SMART goals. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time bound. When setting goals/resolutions, be very clear about what you want to accomplish and why it's important to you. Do quantify the goal in some way (i.e., how are you going to measure it so you can track progress). Attainable refers to developing a plan and having the resources to actually accomplish the goal. Do make a resolution that you have the resources to accomplish. Realistic refers to the difficulty of the goal. Set a resolution that's difficult, but not impossible to reach. Decades of research has shown that difficult goals are the most motivating to people, which means they're mostly likely to be accomplished. Time-bound means that your resolution has a specific end date. To what extent does a solid support system make it easier to stick to resolutions? Is it a good idea to have a resolution buddy? Support is definitely helpful. It is considered a resource that would make a resolution attainable. Does rewarding positive behavior make it easier to accomplish a long-term goal? Are certain types of incentives better than others? When setting a long-term goal, it's important to set short-term goals along the way. When you reach those short term goals, it's helpful to reward yourself for a job well done. The reward should be small and meaningful to the person who set the goal. For example, if part of accomplishing a goal means you had to cut back on going to your favorite restaurant, treating yourself to one dinner at the restaurant would be a good reward. What is the ideal number of resolutions? I don't think there's a hard and fast rule for the ideal number. The number of resolutions you set should feel manageable to you. You can make noticeable change in your life with a single resolution. I'd recommend setting a 1 to 3 SMART resolutions. It also helps if the resolutions are synergistic. So, if you're trying to pay off credit card debt, spending less and paying more off each month are separate synergistic goals.from Wallet HubWallet Hub
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