3 Steps to Getting Your Finances in Order in 2022

Happy New Year! Twenty twenty-one is officially behind us as we embark upon a new adventure in 2022. For many people, a new year is a time to set new goals. One of the things that people always have at the top of their new year's resolution list is getting their finances in order, which is our specialty. 

There are basically three different things you can do with money. You can spend it, save it, or give it away. To help you with your new year’s resolutions, here is a goal for each of those areas that you can consider setting for 2022.

Spend

One of the best things you can do for your financial life in the area of spending is to start to follow a budget. Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Utilizing a budget gives us a chance to be intentional with our money and decide where it should go rather than wondering where it went. 

If you need some guidance on putting together a budget, this is the budget template that I use with my clients and for my own household as well. I even created a video that explains how to use it. Dave Ramsey also has some budgeting templates that can be found here. 

Putting together and following a budget is helpful because it allows you to get a good picture of your expenses and put a plan in place for your money instead of always feeling behind. 

Save

Saving can often feel overwhelming. One of the main reasons that people don’t save is because they have no idea where to start. If that’s you, I would encourage you to start small and do it on a monthly basis. For example, set a goal of saving $100 each month. 

What do you do with that $100? For most people, saving it into a Roth IRA makes sense if you qualify. To qualify, you or your spouse must have earned income below $204,000 for a married couple of $129,000 for a single taxpayer. You could consider opening a Roth IRA account with an online brokerage like Betterment, Vanguard, or Fidelity. Opening an account may take only a few minutes and you can link your bank account and start an automatic monthly transfer. Some brokerages have you fill out a risk tolerance questionnaire to have them automatically invest your money, otherwise, or if that’s not offered you could consider investing in a target date fund with a date closest to your anticipated retirement. 

I encourage you to start to save, even if it’s only a little bit. Proverbs 21:20 says, “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.” The writer of Proverbs also praises ants for their wisdom in chapter 30, verses 24 and 25, because though they “are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.”

Saving for the future, for the long-term, is encouraged in the Bible. Most of us will come to a time in life when we can no longer work for an income because we don’t have the energy or physical health to do so any longer. As such, it is wise to be intentional with the money that we have right now in order to save for the future. 

Give

Many Christians have a goal of tithing and I think that’s a great goal to have. To calculate your tithe, start by estimating your income and figuring out what it is likely to be per month for 2022. Then, just move the decimal point over one digit to the left to get 10%. That’s your tithe. If that is too much to start out, consider starting where you can and increasing it by 1% each month until you reach the full tithe.

While the tithe is a good place to start, I believe that if we have the capacity to do more then we should. It is a chance to respond to God’s generosity to us. We should consider it an honor to be able to give to help further the Kingdom, help other people, and glorify God. 

Whatever your goal, calculate the amount that you want to give and then set up an automatic transfer. You can send it to your church or look for other organizations that you are passionate about and that meet a need that is on your heart and start making contributions.

 Sometimes it can be intimidating to set a goal, but I would encourage you that these are attainable goals that you can start right now. The second two can be automated so all you have to do is take a little bit of time to set them up now and you will have achieved your goal by the end of the year. You don’t even have to think about it every month. The first, using a budget, requires a little bit more effort but should take less than an hour a month once you get the hang of it. 

If you’ve been wanting to get on top of your finances and use them to honor God, then 2022 is your year. Now is the time to accomplish something that you’ve been wanting to do for a while. And if you want to go a little bit deeper, feel free to reach out to one of our financial advisors to discuss what it would be like to work one-on-one with a professional to finally accomplish your financial goals. 

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