5 advisors offer top tips for managing your money in 2025 | Wilnesh News

As the New Year approaches, personal finances are at the forefront of many families’ minds.

A recent Allianz Life survey showed that about 38% of Americans named financial stability as their first area of ​​concern in 2025.

CNBC reached out to certified financial planners on its Financial Advisory Council to list their top resolutions for families looking to the coming year.

Here’s the financial advice they offer.

Kamila Elliott, Co-Founder and CEO, Collective Wealth Partners

Create and stick to your budget! Maximize your retirement savings and set personal financial goals, like paying off your credit cards or investing an extra $100 per month in an investment account.

Barry Glassman, founder and president of Glassman Wealth Services

It starts and ends with understanding where the money is going. I encourage people to track their spending over time, perhaps going back three months of credit card and Apple Pay payments. Once people know the truth, behavior changes incredibly.

Margaret Cheng, CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth

I would say estate planning. This matters to everyone—even to an 18-year-old girl heading off to college in the fall of 2025. Book.

If people feel overwhelmed by the estate planning process, I would remind people that it is a process. Start with a financial and health care power of attorney.

You can then focus on naming your beneficiaries. Next, wills and trusts (if a trust is appropriate for your situation). This process can also help individuals track their former employer’s retirement plans. Estate planning is also a great opportunity to re-examine life insurance.

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Lee Baker, founder, owner and president of Claris Financial Advisors

1. This isn’t a hot topic, but please take a moment to review all of your insurance coverage:

Cars and homes, in particular, have grown significantly for many people. Don’t forget disability and life insurance. As long as you can get out of bed and make a living, you can replace your car or rebuild your house. What if you can’t generate revenue?

2. Take some time to review your tax strategy and retirement planning:

• Required minimum allocations: Do you “need” them? Will Making Qualified Charitable Distributions Improve Your Overall Condition?
• Tax Loss Harvesting: This is an opportunity to improve your overall portfolio performance.
• Employee Benefits: Are you taking full advantage of your health savings account (if you have one) and retirement plan contributions?

3. Check your cash flow:

If you spent more than you should during the holidays, now is a good time to make a plan to get rid of your financial hangover and make plans to avoid this next year. Review your personal interest rate environment. We’ve had several rate cuts from the Fed so far. There may be more, but either way, evaluate your situation.

Cathy Curtis, founder and CEO of Curtis Financial Planning

1. Automatic savings:

One of the best features of company retirement plans such as 401(k) plans and 403(b) plans is that contribution amounts are automatically deducted from an individual’s paycheck each month and the funds are then automatically invested in the pre-selected plan. choice.

Because saving for retirement and other goals is important, it’s smart to set up automatic withdrawals from your checking account to a savings or investment account. The first step is to determine how much you want to save per dollar based on cash flow, and then set up monthly or quarterly transfers. Once established, out of sight, out of mind, the savings will add up.

2. Manage overspending:

To address overspending, the first step is to identify your spending weaknesses. It could be homewares, electronics, clothing, travel or jewelry, etc. A good way to find these numbers is to look at your year-end credit card statement. Then, write down a number that is 20-30% lower than your 2024 spending amount and use that as your new budget and goal for 2025. .

3. Stay invested no matter the headlines:

If the end of 2024 is any indication, 2025 is likely to be a volatile year for the stock market. With a new presidential administration, global war, inflation, and uncertainty about interest rate forecasts, these are all things to worry about. But decades of history tell us that markets will rise over longer periods of time, and the smartest move a long-term investor can make is to stay invested and stay invested.