POSTED: Monday, December 31, 2012 - 5:36pm
UPDATED: Monday, December 31, 2012 - 6:35pm
Tyler, Texas — The year is just about over and many are worried about avoiding their own "fiscal cliff." We spoke with a financial advisor to find out how to spend 2013 debt free! Whether you put together a spending plan or finally pay off your student loans, we asked why it's so important to start the new year off managing your finances.
Every year one of the top new year's resolutions is get out of debt. One East Texan said, "It's hard after Christmas shopping, but I would definitely agree to the New Year's resolution to get out of debt or stay out of debt." Another said, "That's a good one if you can stick to it and stay to a budget."
Jay Oliver, from Rose Point Capitol Advisors said, "It's not unusual to wake up after Christmas and realize you spent too much on Christmas presents on your friends and your family and you really over did your budget." So how can people budget better to live a debt free life in 2013? Oliver says, "Calculate what it would take to pay off your debts in one year or two years rather than ten or twelve years."
He says it's very important to adjust your budget and plan to set money aside, especially with the so called, "fiscal cliff" looming. Oliver says economic certainty is always in question. "The more our finances are already stretched the more difficulty we will have going through periods of time where the economy is in jeopardy, investments are down, then we would if we were on stable ground with our own finances."
"We typically run our own personal finances on a reasonable basis and as we live within our means we set aside some money were better equipped for changes in the economy and that's really the issue with the fiscal cliff," Oliver said.
He says if your New Year's resolution is to get out of debt it won't happen without a deliberate plan and thought as to what you're going to do differently in the future than what you did in the past/ experts also say living within your means and setting aside money will make you better equipped for any changes in the economy.