Personal Finance

Financial New Years Resolutions Proving Popular Yet Again

With the holiday shopping season drawing to a close, now is about the time when many Americans are paying extra attention to their bank balances, budgets, and debts. As luck would have it, this revelation comes as a new year is now on the horizon, leading to the annual tradition of setting resolutions. Sure enough, as a new WalletHub survey shows, New Years Resolutions involving personal finance are expected to be popular yet again as we close out 2019.

According to WalletHub’s survey (and extrapolating its findings), approximately 99 million Americans intend to make money-minded New Years resolutions for 2020. That’s up from 60 million who said the same this time last year. That said, financial resolutions are still expected to come second to health-related ones as 57% of those surveyed said they were likely to make such resolutions compared to 39% for finance ones. Those topics were followed by relationship goals (26%), replacing bad habits (21%), and — somewhat humorously — “nothing” (19%).

Of those making financial resolutions, the overall most popular goal was to “save more,” with one-third of respondents selecting that as their resolution. However, while “save more” remains the most popular money resolution among men, women were more likely to set their sights on paying off debt instead.

Sadly it seems a majority of those surveyed are already anticipating issues with their resolutions. In fact 50% said they don’t expect to keep their resolution through the year and 70% admit they’ve cheated on resolutions in the past. Additionally, when asked what issues might derail their financial progress, one-third said it would probably be an unexpected emergency. That answer was followed by “not having enough money,” which 24% foresee happening. Other potential obstacles ahead include laziness (15%), shopping temptation (14%), and the actions of a significant other (6%).

For those who are considering making a financial new year’s resolution, WalletHub also offers some suggestions. As an example they pitch the idea of working to add one month’s worth of expenses to your emergency fund. This will, in turn, help you to overcome any unexpected setbacks that may come your way in 2020. Plus, with WalletHub offering free credit monitoring, it’s no wonder that the site also suggests taking an active interest in your credit scores and seeing what you can do to raise them by 20 points throughout the year.

At this point, 2020 is really just around the corner. Because of this, surely millions of Americans will be thinking about their New Years Resolutions this week and into next before the ball drops. Perhaps in part due to overspending that the holiday shopping season can inspire, it seems plenty of consumers are considering changing their financial ways for the coming year. If you’re in that camp, then be sure to check out our guide to making 2020 your best money year yet — and be sure to set specific, realistic, and attainable goals to help you reach your full financial potential.

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