FAIRBANKS - Every year we make New Year’s resolutions to improve our lives. We want to lose weight, quit smoking or drinking or get in better shape. But the most beneficial resolution is to make a financial plan and to stick to it.

When asked whether financial planning was part of their New Year’s resolutions many people have said, “I don’t have enough money to worry about planning.”

Everyone needs to plan, regardless of how much money you have.

If the idea of making a financial plan leaves you quaking in your boots, let’s look at how to accomplish it. Whether you are looking to help yourself or if you are going to hire a professional financial planner, the same steps are important.

It requires three steps: set your goals, see where you are today and make a plan. It might seem overwhelming, but a little work can get you moving in the right direction.

• Set your goals. If you have had a financial plan, update it. If you have never gone through the planning process, do it now.

What do you want out of life? Are you saving for a house, retirement or your kids’ education? Invest a little time in defining your goals.

Once you have set your goals, share them with someone. Goals that are shared are 10 times more likely to be acted on. Don’t wait until you have succeeded to tell someone; the simple act of telling someone will make you accountable.

• See where you are today. The next step is to accurately determine where you are in meeting your goals.

For most of us, this part of the process is so overwhelming that it dashes our well-intentioned resolutions. Gather information about where you are today. No great materials are needed, just a pencil, paper and a calculator.

For this exercise, you only need to look at two things, what you bring in and what you spend. Draw a line down the center of the paper. On one side of the column, put down what your take-home pay is — the spendable part of your paycheck. On the other side, list your obligations — car or house payments, rent payments and utilities.

• Make a plan. Forty nine percent of respondents in a recent survey said they rarely, if ever, use a budget to manage household spending. No wonder they have so many challenges with overspending, increasing debt and lack of savings.

I like to think of it as a spending plan, not a budget. Put together a spending plan and make it one that works for you and your family.

One part of the planning process is to spend less than you make. Just like you can’t lose weight if you take in more calories than you burn, you can’t save money if you spend more than you bring in.

Spending less than you make on a consistent basis is the key to reaching financial fitness.

There are lots of tools on the internet that can help you make a plan. I like the worksheets provided by Smart about Money at www.smartaboutmoney.org/Home/TaketheFirstStep/CreateaSpendingPlan/tabid/405/Default.aspx

Most banks and credit unions have money management materials and some employ people who can help you work through a spending plan. At Cooperative Extension, we have some publications that can give you information on developing a spending plan.

Regardless of where you get your resources, make sure you make a plan. Be the master of your finances: Financial planning is a means to an end — the fulfillment of your life’s goals.

As with life, plan for the long term and strive to keep a balance.

Roxie Rodgers Dinstel is a professor of extension on the Tanana District Extension Faculty. Questions or column requests can be emailed to her at rrdinstel@Alaska.edu.