They say time flies when you’re having fun. Well, the first half of the year is gone. January to June in a flash. Wow. We thought we would sit down and look at how the journey has been so far, the obstacles along the way, the victories so far and the lessons for the second half of the year. We would do a mid-year review of the goals you set at the beginning of the year and look at pitfalls and improve on them. Stick around and you’d learn a thing or two.
1. REVIEW YOUR FINANCIAL GOALS
Create a list of the things that have been stumbling blocks to these goals and create plans to solve them. It’s fine if you didn’t have the goals from the start of the year, it’s not a bad time to create one. Remember to celebrate your wins too.
2. LOOK AT THE BUDGET AGAIN
Remember, your budget is like your personal tracker. This is where income and expenses are recorded. We also asked you to create a budget to plan your savings and spending. It would be a good time to look at it again. Have you overspent on a certain area? Have your savings been everything you planned they would? These are key questions, and their answers will act as pointers to if you need to adjust something or leave it as it is. Maybe you ran into some unexpected emergencies during the first half of the year, it’s never a bad idea to adjust your budget to accommodate the excesses.
You could place your initial goal side by side with your current budget and check for outliers. That way, you can make proper, informed decisions.
3. MONITOR YOUR SPENDING
When it comes to spending, we all have those things we wished we could splurge on. Bags, clothes, food etc. While there should be room for spending, it is key that for proper financial security, that you track your spending. All your plans could crumble due to poor spending habits. It’s time to monitor your spending more closely.
We’re 6 months in and you know the things you’ve excessively spent on. Document them and look for cheaper alternatives or ways to cut them out completely if it’s eating into other areas of your budget.
4. ANALYZE YOUR INVESTMENTS
Review the allocation of your investments and consider rebalancing if necessary to manage risk and maximize returns. Seize the opportunity.