As 2014 begins, many of us may be considering New Year’s resolutions to improve our health, career, or even the size of your bank balance.

General consensus is that rather than making huge and unrealistic promises to ourselves, it’s better to set achievable goals and the take small steps towards realising them.

Managing your money can be daunting. There are lots of financial products, jargon and advice in the marketplace.

Sorting your finances is like planning a journey. You need to know where you want to go and how you want to get there. Planning is important. Do you want to save for a holiday? Save a certain amount each week just for a rainy day? Do something to help your children? Perhaps getting into the property market is on the list for 2014?

The key is to know just where you want to end up before deciding how to get there. The post-Christmas period can be a good time to take stock of the health of your savings, and to think realistically about what you can achieve over this year, or the next five or ten years. Take a look at your regular expenditure.

Are there areas where you can cut down? Are there regular outgoings that need to stay in place? Once you know what you spend, you can think smarter about your goals.

At BankSA we can help keep it simple. Just call into a branch or visit our website on http://www.banksa.com.au/