With 2020 just a couple of days away, what goals have you set to tackle in this milestone year?

We all need goals to help drive our progress. Whether it is to exercise more, adopt The Game Changers diet, or simply choosing to be more positive in our day-to-day lives. It is no different when it comes to our personal finances.

Goals function as a marker or a lighthouse to keep us headed in the right direction.

Here are three financial goals to add to your list.

1. Save more money

When it comes to personal finances, there are two sides to the equation. What comes in (income) and what goes out (spending). The difference between the two is either savings or debt.

Income > Spending = Savings

Income < Spending = Debt (needs to be paid off in future with savings)

Debt is necessary when spending is more than income. Debt can help bridge the gap for a period of time, but it still needs to be paid back at some point. This means that saving is necessary one way or another.

To save more, spending needs to be reduced if income remains the same.

There are a number of reason for saving more in 2020. You may have plans to travel, do an OE, pay down debt, get married, buy a new car or house, plan for retirement, etc. Saving will help make those plans a reality. There could be a number of other goals on your list for this coming year that will require you to save. Take a look at them and come up with a plan to make it happen.

Creating a budget is a good way to help save more. There are a bunch of good budgeting tools to help with saving more, such as the one provided on Sorted.

A simple way to save more will be to be more conscious of your spending. If you are a 'buy two coffees a day' person, cutting down to one coffee a day can save you hundreds if not thousands (i.e. $4 x 365 days = $1,460 in savings) if you stick to it for the year! Cooking lunches rather than eating out will save you easily thousands a year (e.g. $12 for lunch x 365 days = $4,380 saved).

2. Increase your income

Now that you have managed to save more by spending less, it's time to look at the other side of the personal finance equation. Earning more.

There are many ways one can earn more money these days. If you have a skill and/passion, there could be ways to make money off it. For example, if you love photography and are relatively good at it, you can take wedding photos or graduation photos for a decent sum of money especially during the peak seasons. If you are good at pottery or sewing, you can probably make some money on the side by providing your services to people that are looking to learn pottery or need to get a piece of clothing mended. If you are good are a particular subject or language, consider tutoring students. These are all ways to get creative to generate some additional income. Upwork and Fiverr and good platforms to offer your skills and services to people all over the world.

Other ways of earning money can include clearing out your wardrobe or storage and putting up items that you have not used for months on Trade Me. It can be as simple as that. For the savvy shoppers, buying trendy items online at cheaper prices and reselling them is another way to generate some income.

3. Protect what matters to you

Lastly, protect the things that matter to you with insurance.

Insurance is core when it comes to minimising your financial risk in the event something bad happens. Whether it is a car accident, an injury that keeps you off work for some time, a stolen valuable or a holiday trip gone bad.

Insurance can be a small price to pay when protecting yourself, your loved ones and your valuables.

A good start will be to check in on the insurance that you currently have. Bring it all together in one place to get a handle of what is protected and how it is protected. Quashed is a tool that can help make it simple to get on top of your existing insurance. Most Kiwis have three or more insurance policies across a number of insurance providers. This makes it hard work to keep across all of them, but it does not have to be this way. You're in luck with Quashed launching in 2020. Check it out and use it Quashed to easily protect the things that matter to you. Best of all, it's free!

That's it. Three personal finances goal to work on in 2020 that will set you up for success. All the best with making progress with these goals, we'll be back to check in on how you're going later on in the year.