AUDIT WHAT WORKED AND WHAT DIDN’T WORK LAST YEAR
So how do we know what systems to set up for ourselves?
One way to think about this is to first review your financial goals from last year and identify what helped or hindered you in achieving them.
For instance, in 2013, I had a practice of saving all my income left at the end of each month after expenses. Then, in my yearly review, I realised that my savings amounts often fluctuated and I usually ended up with a much smaller sum than I’d been aiming to save.
So in 2014, I set up a system to turn this around by setting up a banking instruction to transfer a portion of my income into a separate savings account at the start of each month. That year, I successfully hit my S$20,000 savings goal for the first time.
Another example: If you found yourself having to pay late fees and interest on your credit card bills last year, setting a recurring reminder on your phone to check your credit card statements at the end of every billing cycle can help. (This can even help you spot any potentially fraudulent charges that need to be disputed before it is too late.)
For a few years now, I’ve consistently taken time between 10pm and 11pm daily to check the stock markets and read financial news and analysis. However, I realised in my recent self-audit that for 2025, I would have to sleep earlier in order to take my Primary 1 kid to school by 7am. I’ve since moved my daily self-update to the hour of 8am to 9am instead.
It’s not enough to simply review your financial performance in terms of savings, spending categories, insurance policies and investment performance.
Review the systems you have in place. What’s working well? What needs to be improved or abandoned altogether and replaced with something new?
