As we head into the end of the year, it’s a good time to take stock of your financial situation and determine what you’d like to accomplish around your finances in the New Year. Maybe 2022 is the year you’d like to move into a new home, start building a family, pay off credit card debt or increase your retirement contributions. You don’t have to wait until January to get organized and determine your financial resolutions — in fact, most financial experts recommend getting organized at year end as a way to be more successful in meeting your goals.

Take Stock of Your Holiday Spending

With the holidays and gift-giving just days away, take a look at your budget and what you’ve spent on others this year. If you’ve already blown your budget, take a pause with shopping and consider paring down your list or giving some simpler gifts, such as baked goods or a card with a heartfelt message. This will go a long way toward relieving your guilt and also help you start thinking about different, more creative ways you can give to others in 2022.

Review Your Existing Budget

One of the first steps for getting your finances in order for the coming year is to get a clear picture of where you are today. Take stock of your monthly income and expenses and look for ways to curb small spending habits that can really add up. Examples include: eating out, making regular visits to Starbucks, upgrading tech gadgets and pampering with salon services. Then think about monthly services you pay for but maybe aren’t using (e.g., cable television and gym memberships) and consider closing those accounts. If you have a partner, think about reviewing your budget together and talking through some goals for the upcoming year so you can decide as a household on what to adjust in your budget.

Rebuild for Emergencies

If by chance you have extra money at the end of the year, consider putting it toward an emergency savings fund. Financial experts recommend that you have about six months to a year of savings to help cover your expenses if you have to take time away from work unexpectedly.

If you don’t have money for rebuilding or adding to your emergency fund, that’s okay. Instead, try saving in a flexible manner each month based on your cash flow. For example, if your cash after expenses this month is 10% less than last month, it’s okay to save less this month, as long as you’re setting aside something for a rainy day. Set small goals for yourself – it can help you save more consistently.

Evaluate Your Retirement Contributions

If you’re taking time off over the holidays, take a look at your retirement strategy, including the amount you contributed in 2021. Think about how far you are from retirement age and decide whether you can afford to contribute a bit more in the coming year. If you’re not contributing at least 5% of your eligible pay to the Transocean Savings Plan, you’re missing out on free money. Transocean matches your contributions 200% on the first 5% you set aside in the plan. For example, if you save $3,000 in the plan, Transocean will contribute $6,000 to your account as a matching contribution.

If you’re having trouble squeezing money out of your budget to save for retirement, one easy way to get started is to start small and gradually increase your savings over time.  A simple way is to do this is to take advantage of the Savings Plan’s auto-increase feature that allows you to increase your contributions incrementally using whatever percentage and timeframe you choose.

If you need help checking up on your retirement strategy, Fidelity offers a number of financial wellness tools. For more information, log in to Fidelity’s site at Netbenefits.com.

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