What are your 2025 Personal Finance Resolutions?

Every year, Ilyce and Sam offer their readers New Year’s resolutions for home buyers, home sellers and their personal finances. These are their 2025 Personal Finance Resolutions. Here’s a look at their 2025 Housing Trends.

Last year, we asked our readers whether we were in a Silent Depression or a booming economy. Clearly, most Americans believe the economy has been in a tailspin. Or, to put it more accurately, they believe their own personal financial situation is, for the most part, okay or even better than that. But they firmly believe the overall economy is heading in the wrong direction.

Since March 2020, when the Covid pandemic began, Americans have become increasingly disconnected to traditional economic measurements. In December, the stock market hit new highs and inflation was close to the Federal Reserve Bank’s preferred 2 percent target. Unemployment levels stayed near historic lows. There were far more jobs listed than people looking. Gas prices fell below $3 per gallon for the first time in years. More than 20 million new companies were created during the Biden Administration. It would seem that our economy is humming.

Americans are worried about their personal finances

But people don’t feel financially safe or secure. According to a variety of sources, a significant portion of Americans said they were living paycheck-to-paycheck, including 66 percent of those surveyed by MarketWatch. Bank of America survey put that number at around 50 percent. Almost half of Americans consider themselves broke. More than one-third of Americans earning $200,000 per year say they are living paycheck-to-paycheck as well.

The constant state of fear that criminals will steal your identity and rob you blind is enough to set anyone on edge. According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a government agency set up to “safeguard the financial system from illicit activity, counter money laundering and the financing of terrorism, and promote national security through strategic use of financial authorities and the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence,” older adults who experience financial exploitation can lose their life savings and financial security and face other harm. A FinCEN financial trend analysis of Bank Secrecy Act reports over a one-year period ending in June 2023 found that about $27 billion in reported suspicious activity was linked to just elder financial exploitation.

Artificial Intelligence puts your personal finances at risk

Earlier this year, the FBI warned of the increasing threat of artificial intelligence powering a new generation of cyber criminals. Cybercrime is expected to cost the world $9.5 trillion in 2024 and over $10.5 trillion in 2025.

Beyond all of that, we’ve watched as an economic hopelessness has taken root amongst younger and poorer Americans, who watched their dreams of homeownership evaporate as interest rates stayed higher this year. According to a Bankrate survey, 61% of parents with adult children have sacrificed to help their kids financially, while wondering whether our kids can become self-sufficient and achieve more than we did as a generation.

Changing mindsets isn’t easy. Getting ahead in life isn’t easy either. The only way we know how to do either is to take them step-by-step. Make small changes that are easy to implement and likely to stick. If you make one small change each month, by the end of 2025, you’ll find your finances are in better shape.

With that, consider these New Year’s Personal Finance Resolutions:

Personal Finance Resolution #1: Set your financial goals for the year.

Setting goals is important directionally. If you don’t have a concrete goal in mind, such as saving $1,000, paying off a credit card, or buying a house, it’s less likely these goals will become reality.

Personal Finance Resolution #2: Tighten your belt wherever you can

If you’re serious about saving money and achieving personal financial goals, then you also have to get serious about your spending. Track your spending and find places to save. Ilyce often recommends her “Go to Zero” spending plan, where you take every expense off the table and then put your monthly check toward the highest priorities, including rent or mortgage payments, insurance premiums, childcare or other expenses for children, food, and utilities. Everything beyond that goes into savings.

Personal Finance Resolution #3: Bring in more money

If you can’t tighten your belt further, then it’s time to find some extra income. There are hundreds of ways to make some extra cash. SideHusl.com is a website run by former syndicated columnist Kathy Kristof that rates and reviews more than 450 ways to make more money.

Personal Finance Resolution #4: Raise your credit score

Interest rates on credit cards are in the 20 percent range – and they’re even higher if you have a lower credit score. Raising your credit score will get you better deals on debt consolidation loans, lower auto loans and a lower mortgage interest rate. Log onto Experian, Equifax and TransUnion’s websites and set up a free account (no credit card required) to take a look at your credit report and credit score. (Once you’re there, consider freezing your credit, which is free and easy at each of the websites.)

Personal Finance Resolution #5: Learn something new about investing

The more you know about money, the better financial decisions you’ll make. So, here’s our offer for 2025: On Ilyce’s website, ThinkGlink.com, you can sign up for a free version of her financial wellness program, Best Money Moves. It offers more than 1,000 pieces of content, tools, and journeys, and other things to learn about money.

We wish you a very happy, productive, and joyful New Year!

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©2025 by Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. A1671