Quick, simple things you can do this year to improve your financial future

New York
CNN
 — 

You know very well you could do a million things to improve your financial situation.

The problem, though, is that changing a million things means you’ll basically have to change way too much about how you live. And who ever does that voluntarily, let alone sticks with it?

If you really want to improve your finances — and your long-term financial security — you’ll have a much better shot at doing so if you just pick two to three small, achievable goals that allow you to see progress over six to 12 months. Getting those boxes checked will encourage you to keep going.

“The most important thing is to keep it simple. Incremental, implementable and imperfect,” said Brent Weiss, co-founder and head of financial wellness at Facet, a financial planning firm.

“The most we’ll work on is three things, because life happens,” he added. “It’s not about changing your life but changing a couple of things to improve your financial health.”

Before deciding on your specific two or three to-dos, Weiss suggests getting a quick snapshot of where your finances stand right now: How much money do you bring in every month? How much do you pay out? How much are you saving currently and how much are you spending? How much are your assets worth? And what are your liabilities?

Once you’ve done that, look a little more deeply into your spending patterns. Break down where your money is going specifically and create a “needs” column and a “wants” column, said Rose Niang, the financial planning director at Edelman Financial Engines. So, for instance, paying your rent or mortgage is a definite need. Buying yourself flowers once a month is a want.

The point is not to rob you of your wants. It’s to get a clearer sense of what money is available for you to redeploy if you decide other things are more important to you in your quest to improve your financial picture.

Here are some examples of easily implemented changes you might want to make this year, depending on your priorities.

If bumping up your savings will make you feel calmer and happier, start small if money is otherwise tight.

Even an increase of one or two percentage points a year can make a noticeable difference over time — whether your goal is to increase savings for…