Hopeton Morrison, Contributor 
Here are seven midyear resolutions if you did not make any at the start of 2005.
Resolution 1: Pay yourself first. If you have not earned it, you can't spend it. Your first debt is to yourself, considering that the most important variable in the earning mix is you. Most of the quality wealth creation manuals identify this habit as the single most effective way to create sustained wealth and financial independence.
Resolution 2: Make a budget. The first step in any attempt at serious financial planning is to make a budget. It just does not make good sense nor is it practical to go through 70, 80 or 90 years in a lifetime with all of your life's financial plans committed to memory. Self made millionaires are almost always identified by their strict adherence to a written monthly budget.
Resolution 3: Put a system in place. You need dedicated physical space as well as a change in attitude if you are serious about getting organised.
Buy one of those large plastic file boxes, put in place a financial planning software programme on your computer (most of these can be downloaded), or just clear out some drawer in your home for this purpose. Among the folders that you can create are bank documents, investments, and insurance, and keep these records for a minimum of three years.
Resolution 4: Reduce your debt. Credit card debt is the single biggest impediment to eliminating debt as the interest rate paid on credit cards is significantly higher than most other types of loans.
Remember that paying your minimum required payment every month could end up taking you 30 years to pay off a balance while doubling the minimum payment required and not charging any further funds will take you out of debt in 3 years.
What is the point of earning 13 per cent on a fixed income investment while forking out 45 per cent or more on outstanding credit card balances? If you have outstanding credit card balances paying off your balances is effectively earning 45 per cent interest (or whatever interest rate you are being charged).
Resolution 5: Review your retirement plans. Seek out those instruments that offer tax free advantages such as increasing the voluntary contribution in your pension payments and increasing the contributions to your long term savings instruments.
Resolution 6: Keep your car another year. Resolve to eliminate the habit of financing the purchase of your car. If you have paid off the loan on your existing car and have some plans to purchase another one, put it off for a year or more.
Rather than make those payments to a financing institution at high interest cost, put that money into a special account in a financial institution set up specifically for your new car. Better still if you can resolve to keep your older car for a few more years while investing the "car payments" into a decent interest yielding account you would have effectively created a system where you will never again have to finance your car.
Resolution 7: Update your estate planning. You do need to make a valid estate plan if you have not made one before. Engage in the legal documentation required including a power of attorney and a will.
Hopeton Morrison is general manager of St. Thomas
Co-operative Credit Union Ltd. and lecturer in the School of Business Administration at the University of Technology. Please send comments and questions to: hmorrison@stccu.com.
