It's the New Year - and we all know what that means: It’s time to be determined, decisive and make some elaborate resolutions that we all know we’ll never be able to stick to!
But what if we could make some choices that could really make a difference to our health or wealth? Have you even thought about your finances and set yourself goals for this year?
The New Year tends to be a time when people consider their financial options. So, if you want to tackle your financial situation in 2016, how about committing yourself to one of these 2016 tasks?

Resolution #1: Spend Less.
We all need somewhere to live, we all have to eat and drink. But you may be able to reduce your living costs— a friend of mine of mine joyously posted on Facebook this week that her ‘Annual Money Makeover’ will save her family £1300 this year! By simply reviewing her utility bills she has managed to save £900 and a review of her broadband and phone package will save her £400 – no wonder she had posted that she was doing a jig around the front room.
Whether you choose to refinance to a lower mortgage rate, shop around for a lower-priced mobile phone package or stock up on things you use frequently when they are on sale – savings can be made. And if you can make savings on the everyday stuff, you might not need to cut-back so much on your “nice to haves” (or the things that keep us going).

Resolution #2: Save More.
I appreciate that I may be starting to sound like an advertising campaign for a budget food retailer – Spending a little, saving a lot. But saving more seems to follow naturally on from spending less. Once you have danced your own jig around your front room, you can begin to work out how to increase your saving.
The key to saving is to have a plan. Whatever that plan may look like – it will help you stay disciplined. It doesn’t matter what your plan is and how much you decide to put away each month, but if you have a plan it will help you achieve your savings goals.
If you make your saving automatic, this could also help. What you haven’t got, you can’t spend and if you schedule an automatic transfer out of one account to another as soon as you’ve been paid, you won’t have the money or the temptation to spend.

Another way to succeed is make saving fun! Is anyone else doing the £1,378 challenge?
Week one you put away one pound, week two you put away two pounds, week three you put away three pounds, week fifty-two you put away fifty-two pounds…
Wouldn’t we all like to have over a thousand pounds at the end of the year?
If this is out of reach from an affordability perspective perhaps you could give the ‘penny challenge’ a go?
This is the same concept, but day one you put one penny away, day two pence and so on. You do this over 365 days and you will have saved £667.95 – or as I have been pointed out even more this year, as 2016 is a leap year.

Resolution #3: Learn more.
After all knowledge is power and this could help get you in good financial shape. Spending wisely, saving what you can, managing debt, paying bills on time, investing, and having some money tucked away can make you feel good. Knowing exactly where your money is going may mean more money for you to enjoy the things that are really important to you.

Resolution #4: Get yourself protected.
Life insurance could cost you a lot less than you think, plus the older you get, the more likely it will cost you more. Some experts suggest that typically, the premium amount increases about 8% to 10% for every year of age, so this really is something that should be considered sooner rather than later.

At Essential Insurance we provide no nonsense advice and life insurance policies to suit your family’s needs. We’ll search and compare policies from UK leading insurers and you’ll get your own experienced advisor to help you get the cover you need at the right price for your budget. Contact us on 0800 612 8005 or click here and we’ll contact you.

Resolution #5: And finally, an exit strategy.
I don’t want to end on a downcast note, but did you know that the cost of a funeral has nearly tripled in the last 20 years? Sun Life says that in another 20 years it could cost over £12,000. However, with a funeral plan you could fix the cost of your funeral now and pay at today’s prices – now that’s what I call forward planning. Not only does this sound like a bargain, you could get to specify your wishes in advance, save your family worry, expense and help make things easier at a difficult time.

Whatever decisions you make this year, the good news for resolution-setters is that people who make financial resolutions might do better financially. Fidelity has found that of those who made a 2015 resolution, more than half say they were doing better financially, compared to just 38 percent of those who didn't make resolutions. Those who made resolutions last year were also more hopeful, more likely to be debt-free and more financially protected than those who didn't.