Money Watch – Personal Finance Blog

Plonkee has written about her financial goals for 2008, which focus on improving her career. This got me thinking about my own money goals for next year. There’s nothing particularly revolutionary here, just a lot of me having to listen to my own advice from this blog to improve my personal financial status:

1. Reduce debt – I have too much debt on both my credit cards and my overdraft – these need to be reduced quickly! Success in this goal is largely dependent on the following objectives:
2. Build up some savings – if I can find some extra money to reduce my debts, then I’d also like to put some money away for savings. I’ve already started saving in a cash ISA, so I hope to be able to add more with any left over cash.
3. Track & Reduce outgoings – I’ve managed to track my outgoings using Expensr in the past, but have yet to stick to it for long enough to really analyse it and start to make a difference. I also have a nasty feeling the energy bills are going to provide us with a bit of a shock when they next drop through the letterbox. With some suggestions that gas bills are going to rise by 13% in January, and the recent snap of cold weather, it looks like we could have a big bill to pay. I’m currently trying to reduce gas and electricity consumption (switching off appliances at night, putting the heating down etc.), but there’s plenty more I could do. I also want to look at saving money on my broadband and mobile phone bills, which means I will be spending much of the next month on comparison sites and hopefully switching to some cheaper deals.
4. Increase Pensions Contribution – something I’ve been meaning to do for a while. Although it’s tempting to attempt to pay off debts as quick as possible, I’d also like to take advantage of the power of compounding as early as possible.

What are your financial goals for the New Year?

Photo by Obi-Akpere