New year saving resolutions – How to maintain one?

1. New year saving resolutions – How to maintain one? New year saving resolutions – How to maintain one? "The New Year is a painting not yet painted; a path not yet stepped on; a wing not yet taken off! Things haven't happened as yet! Before the clock strikes twelve, remember that you are blessed with the ability to reshape your life!"- Mehmet Murat Ildan The new year is a time of year where resolutions are often made for the following year, a chance for new beginnings where the past can be rewritten. Why? Because as humans, we often see a new year as an opportunity to better ourselves; with that in mind doing a New Year saving resolution is another way of enhancing our futures. Shall we delve into the details now? In 2019, Statista found that roughly half of British adults in the UK made a New Year’s resolution to exercise more regularly or enhance their fitness overall. The study revealed that the most popular resolutions are health, diet, finance, and career. Whilst a further 31 per cent declared they decided to save more money. New Year’s resolutions may be common, but 27% of British adults stated that they had no New year’s resolutions; it was also discovered that older age groups were not as compelled to have resolutions as younger age groups.

2. Tips 1.Prioritise and set your saving goals Produce an action plan, consider what you would like to save for, what goals are most important to you but try to limit this to between 1 or 2 goals to prioritise and achieve the most meaningful goals first. Then set up the most suitable saving account for your requirements either online or with your branch to help you fulfil those goals. 2.Look into your routines to see if any habits can be improved Evaluate your spending habits. Are there any areas you can cut down on, such as food and broadband mobile phone contracts? Are you overspending when you could get a better deal somewhere else? Compare broadband providers and supermarkets through comparison sites to ensure you get a good bang for your buck. 3.Examine your behaviour Monitor how you behave daily and how you react when you receive positive news or when everything seems to be falling into place do you feel like splashing the cash, or when you receive unfortunate news, or everything seems to be falling apart, do you feel like turning your frustrations and sorrow into a shopping spree. It is not uncommon to let our mood affect our spending habits. However, instead of turning to spend to celebrate or drown your sorrows, treat yourself in ways that do not involve spending an arm and a leg, by doing a creative activity that is free like drawing or putting a creative project together either by yourself or with others or watching a free movie on YouTube all from the comfort of your home. 4.Picture yourself in 5 years - 10 years Picture yourself in 5-10 years by closing your eyes and imagining you have achieved most of what you dream of obtaining; now, what do you see, what do you wish to obtain? What is missing now from your life that you can see when you close your eyes? What goals do you presently have that involve saving money? Write all these down in a diary, including your answers to the questions. Do this exercise every few months and see what you get each time as what you see and want can change as you go through different experiences. Furthermore, present bias is a term often used by Psychologists to describe when individuals use their inclination to prefer incentives in the present rather than later. The future self usually applies long term goals; however, the present

3. self usually seeks short term goals based on the current situation they find themselves in. But like with everything in life, it is about finding a balance between the future and present self to find an in-between that both your present and future self can be satisfied with. 5.Use a smart saving app application to help you fulfil your saving goal The Intellisaving app is the best app for finance management as the purpose is for savers to have more strategic control over their finances through open banking, which allows users to access all their saving and interest-bearing accounts on one sole platform. This innovative saving account application also comes equipped with many innovative features such as Market view, Watchlist, and your very own Personalised portfolio. Intellisaving is the ideal app for saving and keeping on top of finances. 6.Look at comparing interest rates The Intellisaving app is an excellent way of comparing the highest interest rates in the market, so it is one approach that can be used to ensure you are getting the best interest rates on your savings. Saving can be a life-changing resolution because, with dedication and perseverance to saving, improvements in spending habits and a better saving strategy should come over time. The New year may be a great time to start a new resolution, but we should not wait until the end of the year to improve lifestyle choices, as every day is an opportunity to make positive changes to saving habits and other areas of life you wish to excel on. Plus, just as important to remember is that you do not need to have a resolution to start saving. Anyone can start saving, and with apps such as Intellisaving at your fingertips, saving has never been more effortless.