The new year approaches, and with it the pressure to re-calculate the coming months.
The new year is a fantastic opportunity for introspection and reflection, and a brilliant yardstick by which to measure ideal changes you wish to make to your life and how it’s lived. Financial concerns are naturally more prescient than most at present, so what are some common resolutions – and how might you approach them?
Debt Clearance
One of the more common financially-related resolutions for the New Year is that of debt clearance. A great many of us have debt on one form or another, whether a credit card with an outstanding balance or a suite of overdrafts and longer-term loans waiting to be fully solved.
Clearing debt can be a terrifying prospect, too, especially if there are multiple sources of debt to contend with at any given time. Thankfully, addressing debt can be made simpler through utilising a debt consolidation loan to bring it all under one roof. Doing so satisfies the demands of all lenders, and simplifies repayments to one interest rate and one monthly payment – making budgeting much simpler an endeavour.
Budgeting
Speaking of which, budgeting is another key resolution – and perhaps more popular a resolution than repayment of debt, too. With the cost-of-living crisis and its undeniable impacts on most households, there are a great many that seek longer-term stability in the new year and hope to do so with a good budget.
Good budgeting is often as simple as becoming a good journalist. Recording your expenditure and holding yourself accountable to it is the only way to make a budget stick. A good spreadsheet, a solid understanding of your income and outgoings, and a resolute attitude to keeping one larger than the other is all you need to succeed.
Improving Credit Score
This is a less tangible resolution, in spite of the surface-level tangibility that a credit score can represent. While there are (seemingly) empirical values attached to your risk level and viability as a borrower, these are not objectively-held metrics; rather, they are the arcane results of three separate credit reference agencies’ attempts to evaluate whether or not banks and lenders should trust you with capital.
Arcane as their metrics may be, they are nonetheless couched in reality – and nonetheless impact your ability to apply for loans, credit cards and even mortgages. Also, given the purpose of the credit score as measure of risk, a lack of data can be just as poor for potential borrowers as negative data. As such, many financially sensible characters can find that their credit score is low, simply for the fact they have no credit history to speak of – no debts at all, let alone late-paid debts.
Improving your credit score, then, could be as simple as taking out a credit card, using it, and paying it off regularly. Of course, for more complex financial histories, the road back to financial wellness can look a lot less linear.
