The first few weeks of the year are an opportune time to reflect on our past achievements and make plans and strategies for the year ahead. For some, however, the process of soul-searching can prove challenging to craft financial goals that will stand the test of time beyond the planning phase.  

Here are 8 financial goals that will inspire you to act and grow your financial muscle throughout 2024.  

1. Audit and Track your expenses. 

The ideal situation for 2024 should be that you spend less than you make, and that does not occur naturally. It requires some planning in the form of a budget. Take a moment to write down what you spend on. Take stock on what you spend on daily like transport and meals, weekly like groceries, monthly like rent and maybe medicine for ailing parents. If you do not know where your money is going, you will not know how to manage it effectively. Use this information to make a budget and ensure that you are putting something away for yourself in form of saving and investment. Further more, ensure this plan makes it off paper by creating a system to track your expenses, making sure that your money is being spent according to your plan.  

2. Reduce a certain percentage of your expenses  

The advantage of taking audit of your expenses is that it shows us where we have been extravagant. See where you can cut back; is it finding more cost effective ways to bond with your family at home instead of expensive outings, or reducing on how much your shop online. Cutting back on your expenses could be one of the ways to have more left over to put towards future financial goals like retirement and building a home.  

3. Automate ! Automate ! Automate! 

Your budget should have a reasonable portion of your income going towards savings. The easiest way to make sure that this moves from a 20% on paper to actually regularly putting something away is automating the process. Write to your bank and set a standing order, or use XENO’s Autosave feature to take the decision of saving out of your hands. This will mean you never ‘forget’ to save or other seemingly urgent things today do not get in the way of a secure future tomorrow.  

4. Start an Emergency Fund 

Speaking of urgent things today, we all find ourselves in situations where we need funds to bail us out, often having us dip into our savings. This is precisely the reason why emergency funds were created. Your emergency fund should be equal to 3 to 6 months of your current expenses. Give yourself time this year to begin putting aside money towards it. It will allow you to handle your present emergencies without cannibalizing your goal to build a home or retire comfortably.

5. Manage your debt 

One of the things that can be a major hinderance to these best laid plans is debt. If you have debt, create a debt management plan. Write it all down, including interest, and make a plan to clear it over time. If your debt is from multiple sources, consolidate it if you can, so you are making a single payment every month. 

6. Start Investing  

Don’t let your savings sit in a savings account or under your mattress where they will lose value through inflation. Instead, allow your savings to accumulate interest through investments. XENO is the best way to start investing your savings with as little as UGX 10,000.

7. Plan to reward yourself.  

Knowing there is a reward waiting in your future gives you something to work towards and is a great motivator to stay on course to achieving your goals. However, just like everything else, the money required for it does not just appear. In that budget you create, ensure there is a little portion put away towards that trip to your favorite destination or buying yourself that 55’ Smart Screen TV and a thank you to you for achieving a certain milestone.  

8. Start a Retirement Fund  

Retirement is much closer than we all think it is. The sooner you start planning for it, the easier it will be to have a comfortable life after work. Think of the expenses you wrote down in the beginning and understand how much money you need to live comfortably. Use the XENO Planner and Calculator to help you determine that amount and how much you need to put away regularly towards your retirement and begin to set it aside. While this is a long-term goal, retirement is something we should all start planning for as early as possible. Making incremental contributions towards your retirement is easy using XENO.  

Ready to craft your personal annual financial plan for 2024? Explore how XENO can help you achieve all your various goals by navigating to the website at: www.myxeno.com , selecting the ‘Personal’ tab at the top of your screen and starting your journey!