Financial Wellness Month: Growth at Every Stage
01/15/2025
Financial Wellness Month: Growth at Every Stage
The month of January is Financial Wellness Month, and we like to celebrate by giving you helpful tips on how to improve your financial wellness. This can look different to everyone, as everyone is at a different financial stage in their lives. Let’s take a look at different ways each age group can work to improve their financial wellbeing!
Early Stage
In the early days of your financial journey, the focus should be on several areas that will kickstart financial wellness. Turn your focus to three key areas: savings, credit building, and goal setting.
Saving for retirement, home buying, and other long-term financial goals can never start too early or too late. The important thing is to just get started. When looking for ways to do so, start by finding a bank that works for you! A good financial institution can get you started with interest-bearing accounts and many other services. Usually, as you keep building your savings, you can upgrade to an account with larger interest returns and more benefits. As you become more financially adept, you may also wish to put your money towards CDs or investment opportunities that can make the most of your money. However, it is important to always fully vet any investment opportunities to ensure they are not a scam.
Credit building and goal setting go hand in hand. Build good credit by paying bills on time, properly maintaining your credit accounts, and limiting debt accumulation as much as possible. Through goal setting, you will be able to prioritize what credit products may help you on the road to your long-term goals.
Mid-Stage
Now that you’ve learned the ropes when it comes to saving and credit building, as well as setting your financial goals, it is time to dig in and start preparing for retirement through financial gains. Focus on these areas: benefits, contributions, and planning.
Planning for retirement can be difficult, but the best thing you can do is maximize any benefits you get from your employer. Look into matching for 401ks or other retirement accounts. You could also choose to set up your own retirement accounts and contribute to them regularly. Take time to research what you will need to do to retire, and plan how you’ll reach that number. Also, consider whether you will work after retirement. For some people that might be a preference.
Retirement
Retirement is the culmination of your financial wellness journey. All your planning, savings, and wealth building has led to this, but before you finalize your retirement make sure you focus on securing your retirement.
There are many terms retirees need to know to secure their retirement benefits and payments. Make sure you have set up your beneficiary or survivor for your pension. Furthermore, fully understand benefit payment schedules, what happens if you return to work, and any tax implications for your new circumstances.
Financial wellness is achieved in different ways at each stage of your financial journey. We here at The Savings Bank want to help you through every stage and provide a variety of products and services to help you achieve financial wellness. How will you celebrate Financial Wellness Month?
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