5 Money Goals for April

Did you know April is Financial Literacy Month? That makes it the perfect time to level up your knowledge of money and the ideal time for making April money goals!

But I also know that figuring out what and where to start when learning something new or setting goals when money feels tight or inconsistent can be challenging.

So my advice is to list everything you think may be wrong with your finances. List it all out and then elevate that list. What could you do this weekend to improve your finances quickly? Could it be that you need to do a spending audit to determine where to reduce or eliminate expenses to make more room in your budget? Do you need to cancel those subscriptions that you keep forgetting about? Pick one thing to do and do it.

Then, after reviewing that list, pick one thing you want to learn more about to develop a better plan around it. For example, if you’re struggling to figure out retirement, head to your local library and borrow some books on investing this weekend.

The key to succeeding with our goals is not in “how many goals can I cram into one year,” but in a thoughtful “one bite at a time” approach. So don’t be overwhelmed by the list below. You don’t have to do all of these (and you probably shouldn’t), but instead use this list to create a list of the goals you should set for yourself.

Here are some financial literacy goals to focus on this month:

Read & Learn More 📖

Ask yourself what one area of finance you need to improve upon, and then find a course, book, podcast, blog, etc, to learn more about that topic!

Read one personal finance book (e.g., Getting Good with Money 😉).
Follow financial blogs or podcasts for daily insights.
Take an online course or webinar on budgeting, investing, or debt management. I offer a free budgeting course, which you can sign up for here.

Review & Improve Your Financial Habits 💡

Check your credit report and dispute any errors. You can check your full report (not just your score) for free from annualcreditreport.com.
Review your budget and adjust for upcoming expenses. Or if you don’t yet have a budget, now is the best time to start!
Track every dollar you spend for a week to identify habits to improve.

Set a Financial Growth Goal 🚀

You don’t need to set a million goals in a hundred different categories. If you don’t yet have a Starter Emergency Fund, start there. If you have a Starter Emergency Fund but you’re drowning in debt, make it a goal to pay off the smallest balance debt in three months. It might be a crazy goal, but I think it might just light that fire you need!

Increase your savings rate by at least 1%.
Pay off a specific amount of debt by the end of the month.
Open or contribute to a retirement or investment account. Head to this blog post for more on setting up a Roth IRA.

Teach & Share Knowledge 👨‍🏫

Discuss money management with family or friends.
Teach kids about saving, spending, and giving. This is the exact way I’ve taught my kiddos how to manage money.
Share a financial literacy tip on social media.

Take Action on Your Future 📊

Update your financial goals for the rest of the year. If you don’t follow my friend Heidi with Debt Free Charts, she has a ton of free and cheap printable trackers you can use to track your financial progress! Head here to see what she has.
Set up or review your life insurance, will, and beneficiary designations. If you’ve had more children, gotten divorced, had grandchildren, or experienced any other major life change, please make sure you have updated your will and beneficiary information for your accounts and life insurance policies.
Start planning for a big financial milestone (homeownership, investment, etc.).