The new year is known for being an opportunity to set resolutions for what you want to achieve in the 12 months ahead.
No doubt you have set yourself resolutions for the coming year before. These might relate to personal targets such as cutting out one of your bad habits, or professional targets such as taking points from a series of crunch matches in the second half of the season.
At this time of year, you might also consider the regime you have been following on the training ground. You might feel that you have squeezed as much as you can from your current plan and so want to stir it up with some new drills and routines.
Or, you might have new goals for the year, perhaps aiming to reach a certain weight or measurably improve your fitness.
No matter what your targets are for the year, going back to basics and reviewing your training plan can unlock your potential on the training ground.
This approach could serve you well when managing your wealth, too. A new year is a great opportunity to re-examine your financial “training plan” and see if you can find areas that need adjusting.
So, discover two key steps you can take to help you reassess and potentially even redesign your financial training plan for 2025.
1. Review your goals
As you will know, any training regimen begins with working out what you want to achieve. That way, you can tailor your plan to that specific target.
For instance, if you want to improve your conversions, then time spent in front of the posts will be more valuable than hitting the tackle bag.
With this in mind, take the time to review your financial goals for the year, and ask yourself: what do you want to achieve with your wealth?
These might be short-term goals that you can achieve this year alone. For example, you might want to go on a dream holiday with your family at the end of the season, or make an expensive purchase such as a home.
Others might be longer term, with this year simply being a stepping stone toward achieving them in future. Indeed, this might include goals such as setting funds aside for life after rugby. While you will likely not conclude this in a single year, 2025 could still be a key step in saving the wealth you need to live your desired lifestyle once you hang up your boots.
Whatever your goals are, the ways you will go about achieving them will likely vary greatly. While a pension might be appropriate for saving for later life, you might be better suited using a savings account to set aside wealth for purchases you want to make this year, for example.
It is also worth considering whether your goals have changed. As you progress through your career and your life changes, it is completely possible and very normal for your targets to shift.
So, by thinking about this now, you can then adjust the way that you have been saving or investing previously to ensure it remains aligned with your updated ambitions.
Whatever the situation, by starting with your goals, you can then find the most appropriate and effective methods of organising your wealth so you can achieve them.
2. Choose some measurable benchmarks for the year
Creating a training plan is obviously not a one-and-done event. You need to keep an eye on your progress over time so you can assess whether the changes you are making are having the desired effect.
After all, how can you tell whether your work in the gym is achieving anything if you do not have a desired ultimate weight in mind?
So, with your goals underpinning your plan and the financial decisions you make, it can be useful to select some measurable benchmarks for where you would like your wealth to be by the end of this year.
For goals with a monetary value such as affording a purchase or even saving for retirement, the target could simply be to save a certain amount by the end of the year. Then, you can check in and assess whether you have reached the savings goal, or if you need to contribute a bit more toward them.
Alternatively, imagine that your ambition is to ensure that you and your loved ones are suitably financially protected in the event that you become ill, injured, or even pass away.
Your target for the year could be to choose the financial protection that will provide a safety net in the event of the unexpected. We talked about this in a previous article, in which we explained that you might want to consider having:
- Income protection
- Critical illness cover
- Life insurance
- An emergency fund of cash.
In this case, your benchmark of success could be ticking each of these elements of your financial plan off your to-do list and ensuring that they are in place.
Having benchmarks like this can offer three key benefits:
- You can ensure you are progressing towards your goals as you would like to be.
- They offer an opportunity to celebrate your successes, helping you stay motivated throughout the year.
- If you are not on track, they provide a feedback loop that can help you understand what works, what is not so effective, and what refinements you can make with your wealth so you can maintain the progress toward your goals.
All this to say, once you have defined your goals and put your new training plan in place, use benchmarks throughout the year to maintain that focus and keep you moving toward those targets.
Get in touch
If you are a rugby player looking for support in reassessing and implementing your wealth training plan for 2025 and beyond, then we can help.
Please do get in touch with us at DBL Asset Management. Email enquiries@dbl-am.com or call 01625 529 499 to speak to us today.
Please note
This blog is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.
A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until 55 (57 from April 2028). The fund value may fluctuate and can go down, which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Investments should be considered over the longer term and should fit in with your overall attitude to risk and financial circumstances.
Note that financial protection plans typically have no cash in value at any time and cover will cease at the end of the term. If premiums stop, then cover will lapse.
Cover is subject to terms and conditions and may have exclusions. Definitions of illnesses vary from product provider and will be explained within the policy documentation.
