Make 2023 your year to become better with money

2It’s important to set realistic, time-bound and strategic goals.

022 was a tough year for many families across the country. Inflation rates were higher than your worst nightmare, and interest rates just kept on increasing. As a young woman, this was my first full year of taking care of myself financially, and so I didn’t have much to compare it with. However, feedback from my podcast – Ma¯ ori Millionaire – showed more Ma¯ ori were struggling to make ends meet each week.

There are three things I’d like to encourage this new year, to ensure maximum success with money. I always start with the basics.

Bank audits: Print out your bank statements and fish through all of the unnecessary costs within it. Cancel and halt subscriptions accordingly.

Emergency fund: This is the best way to protect yourself from being crippled by financial emergencies. If you don’t already have one, I would recommend putting a consistent amount of money into a separate account, or selling items around your house you no longer need to build up a reserve.

Your ‘‘circle’’: Who you surround yourself by and what information you absorb is extremely influential in a financial journey. I’d start by unfollowing any accounts which make you buy things you don’t need, or encourage you to make bad financial decisions. Follow helpful financial accounts.

I’ve set many New Year’s resolutions which totally flop. Why? Because your new year motivation skyrockets but a realistic plan is not put in place. It’s important to set time-bound and strategic goals. It would be unrealistic for a uni student like myself to become a millionaire within one year, so I have broken up my goals like this:

$40,000 by end of 2022 (achieved); $100,000 by end of 2023; $1,000,000 by end of 2025.

The million-dollar goal is time-bound, but also a little bit ‘‘crazy’’, which is super motivating. An important aspect to goal-setting is working in alignment with how your brain works. For example, I am heavily motivated by that $1m by 2025 goal and understand some of the sacrifices I will have to make in order to achieve this.

However, some people may instead feel pressured, anxiety or become overwhelmed. It’s important to stay in tune to how you feel and what these goals actually mean to you.

During the goal-setting process, I also like to write down and fully understand my ‘‘why’’. A reason ‘‘why’’ is very important and is outlined by Simon Sinek in his book, Start with Why.

If you’re unsure of a reason to build wealth, here are some of my own reasons to consider: to build wealth for future generations; to retire early; time freedom; manaakitanga, aroha – I use money to help; flexibility; opportunities.

Lastly, it’s really important to have a plan when it comes to money. If you aren’t set up with a plan, then you’re planning to fail. Increasing your sources of income will be very beneficial to your financial future. I often discuss the idea that the average millionaire has seven streams of income. If you’re wanting to grow generational wealth, investing in new streams of income will help.

Here are some ideas if you are unsure: dividends from stocks; capital gains from stocks/real estate; rental income from real estate; business income; side hustles; content creation online.