Just like promising yourself you'll exercise more and lose weight, lots of us make financial resolutions for the New Year. And just like the other resolutions, we usually don't stick to 'em.
Bankrate.com's Greg McBride says resolution makers want to pay down credit card debt and save more, but they don't usually do it.
"Increasing their emergency savings, putting themselves in a better financial position with more flexibility and paying off debt -- particularly high cost debt like credit cards; a lot of those really seem to fluctuate within the same ranges, year in and year out."
McBride says, with each paycheck, pay off debt and save first. He says you can designate savings to go directly into a savings account before you ever see it. McBride says waiting until the end of the month to see what's left before you save or pay down debt probably won't work.
You can make a resolution to save and pay down debt in the New Year, but you probably won't actually do it. McBride says we see about the same lack of savings and debt load every year.
"Set up a direct deposit from your paycheck into a dedicated savings account, for your emergency savings. Make those retirement contributions to your workplace plan through a payroll deduction through an automatic transfer from your checking account into an IRA."
Surprisingly, McBride says we've seen an increase in Millennials saving for a rainy day in the years since the Great Recession of 2008. He says the kids have been catching up to the Baby Boomers in financial responsibility.