with others.
- Simplify Spending Tracking
Creating a budget and sticking to it is an important step in taking control of your finances. You can determine your cash flow, track expenditures, and account for assets and liabilities on an old-school spreadsheet or with digital tools. If you want to go high-tech, there are many budgeting apps you may want to consider. Here are a few that may be of interest:- YNAB (You Need a Budget) (Paid Subscription)
- Overview: YNAB is focused on proactive budgeting, helping users keep track of their finances. It might help someone who wants to track spending in real-time and manage money more intentionally.
- Features: Real-time tracking of credit card spending, debt payoff ideas, and goal-setting.
- Ideal user: Someone who wants detailed control over their budget.
- Platform: iOS, Android, and web
- PocketGuard
- Overview: PocketGuard is designed to help users see their disposable income after accounting for bills and savings goals. It connects to bank accounts and credit cards to track real-time spending.
- Features: Budgeting, spending insights, savings goals, and debt payoff ideas.
- Ideal user: Someone who wants a simple way to see what’s safe to spend.
- Platform: iOS, Android, and web.
- Spendee
- Overview: Spendee is a simple, user-friendly app that allows manual entry or syncing with bank accounts and credit cards. It offers an easy-to-use interface for tracking spending by category.
- Features: Budgeting, spending tracking, and expense categorization.
- Ideal user: Someone who wants a visually appealing, straightforward app.
- Platform: iOS, Android, and web.
- Goodbudget
- Overview: This app uses the envelope budgeting method, where you assign money into different "envelopes" for each spending category. It helps users stay mindful of their spending without linking to bank accounts.
- Features: Envelope budgeting, spending tracking, and reports.
- Ideal user: Someone who prefers manual entry and a simple, disciplined approach to budgeting.
- Platform: iOS and Android.
- Automate Savings
Many people struggle to prioritize saving and building an emergency fund, but automation can help. Setting and forgetting your savings strategy can help as you tuck away a bit of your monthly income without remembering to make transfers. Not only does automation remove the mental barrier of having to remove money from one account to another, but you may also be more likely to stick to the pattern when you don’t have to remember to make a transfer.
- Automate Investing
Just like with savings, automating investing can make it easy and efficient to build a nest egg for retirement, put assets aside to cover education costs, or tackle other goals. Working with your financial professional, you can determine what works best for you, your timeframe, and your risk tolerance.7
Automatic investing can also help you practice dollar cost averaging (DCA).However, DCA does not protect against a loss in a declining market or guarantee a profit in a rising market.7
Specifically, DCA is the process of investing a fixed amount of money in an investment vehicle at regular intervals, usually monthly, for an extended period of time, regardless of price. Investors should evaluate their financial ability to continue making purchases through periods of declining and rising prices. The returns and principal values of stock prices will fluctuate as market conditions change. Shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost.7
- Review Your Investment Strategy
Spring may also be a good time to speak with your financial professional about your current financial strategy. Working with your professional, you can determine if your investment portfolio needs to be rebalanced due to market gains or losses, whether changes to your goals or timeframes require tweaks to your strategy, or whether your overall financial situation has changed.
Family Money Talks – Building Financial Confidence at Home
Financial literacy is something that the entire family can benefit from. While talking about money can be uncomfortable for some, ignoring the family's financial issues will not make them go away. The more you normalize financial conversations, the easier it is for you to talk about problems if they arise or eventual estate strategy discussions as you get older.
- Partners Need to Communicate
Tension can build when partners do not manage finances well, struggle to talk about money, or aren’t honest about spending. In some cases, ongoing tension leads to separation or divorce. A 2024 Fidelity Couples and Money Survey found that 45% of partners said they argue about money sometimes, and one in four couples say money is their top relationship challenge.8
Spring can be a good time for couples to discuss finances. When you discuss money more consistently, your conversations will get easier and feel more normal.
Couples may also want to meet with an objective third-party financial professional who can facilitate the conversation and help develop a comprehensive financial strategy.
- Children of All Ages Need Exposure to Financial Literacy Concepts
If you have children, you might want to get them involved in age-appropriate family discussions about financial literacy and money matters.
- Younger children can be introduced to financial concepts like earning an allowance through chores, saving money to pay for things they want, and learning that money has value.
- Teenagers can be taught the importance of working a part-time job to earn money while learning about budgeting, credit basics, and the deferred gratification of saving for larger goals.
- It might be appropriate to include adult children in estate strategy discussions and know where your important documents are kept and your healthcare directives.
Children learn by example, so if you demonstrate good money behaviors like saving, budgeting, and investing, you can start the process of creating a strong financial foundation for your children. You can also create teaching moments by involving children in shopping decisions or charitable donations. These real-life scenarios can go a long way toward explaining financial concepts.
30-Day Financial Refresh Challenge
To help manage financial stress, you may want to tackle one of your financial spring cleaning tasks per week so they don’t become overwhelming. But remember, financial literacy and health is a continuous process. So, starting small and staying consistent may be the best way. Here are a few ideas that may help you jump-start the exercise for the month:
- Action Steps for the Next 30 Days:
- Week 1: Review your tax return and set one financial goal.
- Week 2: Organize digital and physical financial documents.
- Week 3: Create a written or digital budget.
- Week 4: Have a money talk with family or review investment strategy.
Working with a Financial Professional
Taking control of your finances can feel overwhelming, but small, consistent steps can make a big difference over time. Whether you’re organizing your financial documents, learning more about budgeting, preparing for major life events, or reviewing your long-term financial goals, each action strengthens your financial foundation and can build your confidence.
When you’re ready to take the next step, we’re here to guide you. From helping you create a comprehensive financial strategy to helping you leverage tools like secure digital vaults or educational resources, we’re committed to empowering you with the knowledge and strategies you need to pursue your goals. Financial literacy isn’t just about knowledge—it’s about having the proper support to make informed decisions for your financial future.
Let us help you turn your goals into a strategy!
1DataSnipper, August 25, 2023
2IRS, February 2, 2024
3Federal Trade Commission, February 9, 2024
4U.S. News & World Report, May 4, 2024
5Capitalize, June 23, 2023
6Trust&Will, December 2024
7Forbes, July 30, 2024
8 Yahoo Finance, May 26, 2024