Ending 2022 Financially Strong

Believe it or not, September will be over before you know it, and the end of 2022 will be here (whether you want it to or not). The end of a year can bring many joys:

• Holidays and good food.
• Travel to see family and friends.
• The best cozy blanket and time-to-break-out-the-hot-chocolate temperatures.

The end of the year can also be a source of added stress:

• Travel costs.
• End of the year spending.
• The urgent-but-nerve-wracking desire to write down all your goals to call your shot for 2023 because January 1st is a magical day—It’s not, though; you can set goals anytime. 

With January 1st not a magical day of transformation (although post-celebration glitter always adds an extra sparkle to your life), you can start planning today to end 2022 financially strong. 

For example, one of your goals might be to buy a home, and with the housing market cooling off, you have time to explore your options. Veteran’s First is a home loan organization that operates with integrity to help you have the support you need in buying your home. You’ll be in good hands with one-on-one backing support as you navigate getting a VA loan and the home-buying process. 

To set your goals to be a good fit for you, a question you need to ask yourself is, what does being financially strong look like for you? The wide range of pay, number of children, health, debt, jobs, and commitments can impact your goals, and it won’t be the same person to person. 

Financially stable for Active Duty soldier Ryan R. looks like having enough left over after bills and savings to splurge on the activities he loves without having to tighten the belt. 

For Air Force Captain Corey L. it looks like “spending less than I make, saving for retirement to meet my life plan (not having to work after retiring from AF), minimal non-productive debt, and actively putting money in savings.”

DOD Contractor civilian Tara C. who lives in D.C. on a six-figure salary, shares honestly about being disabled and financially independent. “My goals are a credit score of 640 (required for FHA loan qualification) and not being paycheck to paycheck. Due to a recent seizure, I now need to budget for rideshares on top of healthcare expenses.” To make this work, she works 80-hour weeks. Your baseline financial needs can vary vastly depending on where you live and your health; sometimes, the price to pay in time can be brutal. 

To end 2022 financially strong, grab a piece of paper or sit down with a financial advisor, your spouse, or just yourself to address the questions below and see what steps you need to take to get there. 

1. What does savings mean to me? Am I currently saving? For what? How much? How regularly? Looking ahead to my 1, 5, and 10-year goals, what do I need to be saving for, and how much?
2. What does retirement look like for me? What do I need to do now to prepare for my future?
3. What is my current budget? Do I know where my money goes? How comfortable am I with my money situation?
4. What debts do I have? How am I paying them, and at what rate will they be paid off?
5. What does financial freedom or strength look like for me? What shifts do I need to make now to make that a reality?

Whatever your answers to the above are, military spouse Cyerrah encourages, “Go to the free financial advisors on base. They will review your income, taxes, bills, and spending habits to help you form a budget and a financial plan to help you get financially ahead. They have programs to help you with debt, insurance, wills, retirement plans, and credit scores, for whatever your needs are. We are about to transition into civilian life in a couple of years, and we wanted to make sure we were going to be able to make it financially. I honestly can say I wish we had started this process sooner.”

Ending the year financially strong doesn’t mean just having money for holiday travels. It means you have the financial knowledge to make the necessary decisions during this season and all the seasons yet to come.

---

Did you enjoy reading this article? Visit our blog page to read other similar articles.

---

This article was brought to you by Veteran’s First.