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The start of the year is traditionally a popular time to reset our finances, and indeed our lives. At that point, after the fun and festivities of the holiday season, new year resolutions are set and we look forward with promise to the 12 months ahead of us. It’s a time of new gym memberships, nicotine patches and – often – financial refreshing. This can also a good time to do it given that January a long, cold month when many people have a harsher budget to abide by, due to how much they’ve spent in December!

However, this isn’t the only time you can financially refresh, and more people are doing so in July which is emerging as the month for financial summer cleaning (as opposed to spring cleaning). A big factor that supports this is the data we have at this point. Unlike in January, when we don’t know what lies ahead, at this point in the year we’ve got lots of information we can use. We’ve seen how inflation has fared in the past six months, along with markets. We’re past the halfway point of the year, which means this can be a great time to pause, re-evaluate and put in place fresh financial goals and behaviours.

A more realistic time to financially refresh

Having more data at this point is vital. Let’s be honest, when we’re setting New Year resolutions in January a lot of these are lofty and overly ambitious. It’s no wonder that 80% of these get dropped by February! [JY1] While there’s nothing wrong with being ambitious and having goals, it’s important that you’re realistic with your finances and have a plan that will yield results.

With six months of 2025 behind us, you’re in a better place to make more informed decisions. For instance, you have six months of bank statements to study and from which to discern patterns. You’ll have a firmer idea of your debts and what state they are in. And you may have even gotten into some sort of savings habit. This is crucial as it’ll also give you an accurate picture of how your finances have coped against the macroeconomics of the wider world. Has inflation impacted your outgoings? Is your income suffering or benefitting?

Combined, this will all help your mid-year financial reset. Make some time to calculate the averages of your monthly finances based on this information. Use this data to figure out your average post-tax income, your average regular outgoings and your average “net savings” per month (how much money you have at the last day of the month).

Armed with these figures, you’re then in a much better position to put in place a financial plan that will see you through to the rest of the year.

2025 or beyond?

Some financial goals will be long-term, with the most obvious example being retirement. Likewise you may have other long-term goals you want to save and invest for, like a deposit for a house or savings to support a career break.

When aiming for such significant financial goals this will require consistent saving and investment strategies over the long term that will exceed the next six months. You can still contribute to these in 2025 – and there is no time like the present to get started – but think about what you specifically would like to achieve by the end of the year.

For instance, do you have a particular debt you’d like to wipe off in 2025? Is there an end-of-year holiday or home improvement you would like to fund? Or, in more general terms, is finance giving you some anxiety and you’d like to improve this somehow?

Once you have your goals for 2025 in mind, break down how much these will cost and then separately how much you can afford to attribute to them on a regular basis. For example, if you have a £1000 debt you want to pay off quickly, how much could you afford to pay off each month? Out of every £100 you get paid, if £50 goes to bills, how much of the remaining £50 do you need to live off day-to-day and how much can be set aside for the debt?

Putting plans in place

To get your mid-year financial refresh going once you have a plan it’s time to put it in motion.

Fortunately, fintech apps have meant it has never been easier to get your finances in order – either halfway through the year or at any other time. Investigate your fintech apps of choice and see what automatic savings and investment allocation settings you can put into action.

These can be highly valuable and a great way of getting your plan started, taking the friction out of this and automating your plans. Once you set and forget these allocations, your fintech solutions can do the hard work for you and slowly chip away at your goals. These tech solutions can also consolidate debts, clear up direct debits and generally tighten your finances up.

Everyone’s finances are different but by just following a few simple steps, and making some time to think about the rest of the year ahead, you can hopefully put your finances in better stead for your future goals.

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[JY1]https://elitebusinessmagazine.co.uk/people/item/why-new-years-resolutions-dont-work#:~:text=However%2C%20statistics%20paint%20a%20bleak,for%20the%20sake%20of%20tradition.