Make a fresh start in 2025: Your financial checklist for the New Year

Setting clear goals and an overarching plan are important elements in making financial progress.

Breaking down large goals into manageable steps can help you succeed.

Our monthly financial planning guide will keep you on track throughout the year ahead.

Draft a budget based on your goals. Prioritize what is most urgent, what’s important, and what can wait. Then, draft a budget for the year. Remember to keep inflation in mind when capturing these values. Our T. Rowe Price Budget Worksheet (PDF) can help you get organized and stay on track.

Think about ways to reduce your expenses. A new year presents a great opportunity to reassess your spending. Review your outflows and consider making adjustments, such as ordering less carryout or canceling unwanted subscriptions.

Make your 2025 IRA contribution. You have the potential to earn thousands more over the long term by making contributions earlier in the year.

Don’t forget your old 401(k). You have a few options.¹ Consider factors like tax benefits, investment choices, and costs to determine what’s right for you.

Streamline your holdings. Asset allocation options can provide a diversified portfolio in a single investment and are rebalanced regularly.

Automate investing. Set up a recurring contribution amount to a tax-advantaged or taxable investment account.

Get organized. Gather last year’s forms and records. Make sure you have access to all documents needed.

File your taxes. Submit your return as soon as you’re ready but no later than April 15, 2025.

Invest your tax refund. Use the money from your refund to replenish your emergency fund (typically three to six months of expenses for most households), make your 2024 or 2025 IRA contribution, pay down any high-interest debt, or invest in a taxable account.

Check your credit report. You can access one free report from each major credit bureau per year. Request yours and resolve any issues.

Review your debt. Consider targeting your debt repayments (e.g., credit card, mortgage, car loan) toward high-interest debt first.

Make your 2024 IRA contribution. You have until April 15, 2025, to make your 2024 IRA contribution (and to file your taxes if you haven’t done so already).

Open a 529 account for your child or grandchild. Saving for college, graduate school, or vocation training can be more attainable with a 529 plan.

Help children succeed financially. Engage the children in your life in activities to help them become regular savers and conscientious spenders.

Educate yourself. Find a book, podcast, or blog to learn more about financial topics that interest you.

Check your budget. Are you sticking to your targets? If priorities have shifted, adjust accordingly.

Review your asset allocation. The appropriate mix of stocks and bonds in your portfolio depends on your risk tolerance and investment time horizon.

Assess your investment portfolio as a household. Doing so can help reveal unintended overlap and ensure that you’re on track.

Secure your financial outlook. You may be thinking about your career prospects and ways to increase your income. Consider opportunities for career development, updating your résumé, and brushing up on your networking.

Practice mindful spending. Pause before you purchase anything deemed as a “want.” Waiting a self-assigned period, such as 30 days, before you buy will help make sure you really want a particular item.

Evaluate your insurance coverage. Review your coverage levels, including life, health, disability, liability, auto, and property. Research and pursue any discounts you might qualify for.

Review your subscriptions. Are you using the subscriptions and memberships you have to their full advantage (e.g., subscription and streaming services, gym membership)? If not, reevaluate if you really need them.

Make charitable contributions and donations. Consider different ways to make charitable contributions, such as through a donor-advised fund (DAF). Additionally, you can donate any items you no longer need.

Be tax smart about giving. Consider combining two years’ worth of contributions into one tax year, which could result in a higher total itemized deduction for the donor in that year above the applicable standard deduction. You could also donate long-term appreciated securities, which could allow you to avoid potentially significant capital gains taxes on those assets.

Protect your passwords. The most effective passwords contain uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols and do not contain words found in a dictionary.

Protect yourself from fraudsters. Don’t reply to unsolicited emails and messages about financial matters, and be sure to look at the URL of an email that seems suspicious. If the URL seems strange in any way, don’t respond. Also remember to never provide personal or account information if you receive an unexpected call from someone claiming to be from a financial institution. If you become a victim of cybercrime, immediately file a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Talk with adult children about money. As you prepare for the later years of your life, you may want to involve your grown children in the conversation. Your plans can impact their futures, too.

Update your estate plan. Take into consideration the tax consequences on your estate and your heirs’ income needs. Review and update beneficiary designations on your various policies and accounts.

Get yourself organized. Gather important documents in one place, including tax returns, legal and estate planning documents, statements, and bills of sale, and store them as appropriate—electronically or as hard copies, or both.

Prepare for your retirement. Aim to save at least 15% of your salary (including any employer plan contributions) across your retirement accounts.

Take required minimum distributions (RMDs). Whether you're working or retired, if you turned age 73 in 2024 or earlier, you must take withdrawals from your Traditional, Rollover, SEP, and SIMPLE IRAs. Pay special attention to the provisions of any Inherited IRAs.

Streamline your holdings with a T. Rowe Price Asset Allocation Fund.

Contact a Financial Consultant at 1-800-401-1819.