Making resolutions for your finances in 2025

When it comes to finances in 2025, sometimes you need to move the goalposts. Goals enable us to plan – and plans enable us to perform. But if the goal isn’t in the right place your performance will be all for naught. So much has happened this year that it may be worth starting 2025 by making sure your financial goals are in the right spot. You wouldn’t want some financial Video Assistant Referee to chalk off a sure winner, would you?

Jumpers for goalposts

What are your new year resolutions for your finances in 2025? All sorted perhaps? Or do you need to rethink what you’re trying to achieve?

We appraise your finances every year. But a lot can change in a short period… the way this year’s going things could change by the time you finish reading this!

Goals are a powerful thing.

They help corporate titans picture the big deal – or athletes visualise that podium finish. The more you picture victory, the more you can walk backwards from that point to where you are now.

Or, if you like classical analogy, it’s like Theseus in the Labyrinth, following his line of yarn back to the entrance, away from the dead Minotaur.

Back in the real world, there’s a heap of academic research behind goal setting. It’s purposeful and motivating. Research says if you write your goal down, you’ll be 33-42% more likely to achieve it. The list of evidence goes on.

So, goals should be at the forefront of your planning for your finances in 2025.

Right time. Right place?

But is that all-important goal in the right place?

If we had a pound for each recent conversation with clients about tweaking or resetting their objectives, we’d have a few quid to say the least.

Perhaps the seemingly endless cycle of global conflict, political uncertainty and wobbles in world markets merit a rethink.

Perhaps someone by the name of Rachel Reeves threw a spanner in your works.

Perhaps it’s something life just threw at you. We saw somewhere that final orders under the new divorce law were up 19% earlier this  year.

Whichever, and despite the King telling Parliament that, “Stability will be the cornerstone of my Government’s economic policy,” the world feels more chaotic than before. The superbly named “World Uncertainty Index” is certainly ticking upwards as well I see.

Mission possible

In our business, wealth management, thinking about your objectives – or Life Goals® as we call them – is all about focusing on your life, your family and your long-term goals.

It’s about having comfortable and sometimes uncomfortable conversations about the things that matter most to you. This helps us both pinpoint your objectives and your motivators.

Maybe it’s about taking global risk out of your portfolio. And if so, perhaps a more cautious approach might suit you.

Maybe it’s about tax planning. For example, at time of writing, any wealth outside pensions and ISAs is likely to be subject to greater levels of capital gains tax. We could talk you through maxing out CGT allowance(s), other tax efficient savings vehicles and using losses to your advantage. And wealth inside pensions is now subject to inheritance tax. This is trickier to ameliorate but we’re already helping clients plan their IHT liabilities more holistically.

Maybe there’s that change of circumstance – which might still feel emotionally catastrophic, but we might well be able to structure your wealth to your advantage.

Once we understand your objectives, we think about the most appropriate investment motor for accomplishing them. And then we try to keep you on track. It may be that this year is the biggest tweak – they may need regular MOTs henceforth. Whatever, we’ll work out how to get you there.

So, to go back to the beginning, do you have any financial resolutions this new year? Or are you sorted?

Whether you know the answer or not, it’s always worth checking. We’re here to help on hello@firstwealth.co.uk or 020 7467 2700.

This document is marketing material for a retail audience and does not constitute advice or recommendations. Past performance is not a guide to future performance and may not be repeated. The value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount originally invested.