Why Most Financial New Year’s Resolutions Fail (And What to Do Instead), LFG Daily - December 29, 2025

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Why Most Financial New Year’s Resolutions Fail (And What to Do Instead)

Every January, the same promises show up again.

“This is the year I save more.”“This is the year I get serious about investing.

”“This is the year I finally get my finances in order.”

And by February? Most of those resolutions are already dead.

Not because people are lazy. Not because they don’t care. But because financial New Year’s resolutions are usually built on guilt, not strategy.

People resolve to “be better with money” without ever defining what better actually means—or how it connects to the life they want to live.

That’s not a plan. That’s wishful thinking.

Money Resolutions Without Direction Are Just Budgeting Theater

Most financial resolutions start with tactics:

• Cut spending

• Max out retirement accounts

• Pay down debt faster

• Stop buying dumb stuff

  
  

None of those are bad ideas. But without context, they don’t stick.

Why? Because money isn’t the goal. Money is the tool.

If your financial resolution isn’t tied to something bigger—freedom, family, time, security—it will always lose to convenience and short-term emotion.

The market will wobble. Life will get busy. Motivation fades. And the resolution quietly disappears.

Real Financial Planning Starts With “Why,” Not “How”

The most effective financial New Year’s resolutions don’t start with spreadsheets. They start with clarity.

Questions like:

• What do I want my life to look like in 5, 10, or 20 years?

• What am I actually working toward?

• What am I afraid of financially?

• What would give me peace of mind?

  
  

When you answer those questions honestly, the tactics become obvious—and meaningful.

Saving more isn’t about a number. It’s about buying future freedom.Investing isn’t about beating the market. It’s about not outliving your money.

Paying down debt isn’t about discipline. It’s about reducing stress and increasing options.

Stop Making Annual Resolutions—Build a Financial Direction

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: financial success rarely comes from one heroic year. It comes from steady, boring, consistent decisions stacked over time.

Instead of a New Year’s resolution, think in terms of direction:

• Are you more intentional than you were last year?

• Do you have more control over your money?

• Are your financial decisions aligned with your values?

• Do you understand your plan—or are you just guessing?

  
  

Progress doesn’t require perfection. It requires awareness and follow-through.

The Best Financial Resolution You Can Make

If you’re going to make one financial resolution this year, make it this:

Stop winging it.

Know where your money is going.Know what your investments are actually doing.

Know what risks you’re taking—and which ones you’re ignoring.Know what your plan is supposed to accomplish.

That doesn’t mean you have to become a financial expert. It means you stop outsourcing your future to hope, headlines, or whatever the market happens to do next.

A Final Thought as the Year Begins

A new year doesn’t magically change your finances. But it can change your mindset.

Financial planning isn’t about restriction—it’s about intention.It’s not about saying no—it’s about being able to say yes later.

And it’s not about New Year’s resolutions—it’s about building a life where money supports what matters most.

If this is the year you stop making promises and start making plans, you’re already ahead of most people.

And that’s a resolution worth keeping.

Don’t leave your financial future up to chance. Let’s build a plan that gives you confidence today and peace of mind for tomorrow. Click here to schedule a meeting — I’m here to help you take the next step toward financial freedom.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

The S&P 500 is a fraction of a percent from all-time highs (ATHs) but shorting activity has been rising since the middle of the month. It seems a lot of people are uncomfortable with this move higher. That’s not unreasonable, as valuations are quite high and we just survived a series of pressures from a long government shutdown and the Fed over-shrinking their balance sheet.

It’s absolutely fair to think there is trouble brewing. The question is one of timing. After recent stresses, we’ve seen short-rate stress improve along with credit spreads. However, there’s room for both to improve down to recent peaks, and personally, I don’t see anything that’s likely to stop that, further encouraging risk-taking.

One reason fear is high is likely because some recent winners haven’t been leading this late-December move up. So, the market is near highs, but quality stocks have been driving gains over low-quality. Why?

To me a simple (but hopefully not oversimple) reason low-quality names have underperformed is real rates (below.) In general, real rates moving up are a headwind for stocks, as it discounts future earnings. This is particularly evident in low-quality stocks, where the bulk of their earnings are expected in future years. A shift to higher-qualit\y assets is a very natural response to higher real rates.

Is there reason to think real rates take a break and start moving down? I think so, though I wouldn’t bet the bank on it. A lot of trends, like employment, the economy, and real rates, themselves, have been trending down but have seen recent spikes, such as a strong jobs report and a huge GDP number. It’s easy for me to imagine we see some reversion from those moves.

Further, I don’t think it will take much of an inflection to get a bid back into low-quality assets. We’re seeing liquidity get materially better, providing funds looking for a place to go. These late-cycle moves can be very powerful and I’m willing to position some money reasonably aggressively in the expectation that a bid comes back. Again, this late in the game, I wouldn’t go crazy, but the potential gains from low-quality still seem potentially powerful, to me. There is a time for every factor to outperform, and the setup for low-quality is tempting, here.

After hitting $83 on Sunday, silver is now down to $75. Now it’s only up 163%, YTD...

Volume and news was very light on Friday despite it being a full day of trading. Expect more of that today.

Pending Home Sales, Dallas Fed Manufacturing, and Inventories, today.

What does it all mean? More of the same. It’s a slow time but everything looks fine, with bonds up a bit and stocks down a bit.

Don’t leave your financial future up to chance. Let’s build a plan that gives you confidence today and peace of mind for tomorrow. Click here to schedule a meeting — I’m here to help you take the next step toward financial freedom.

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