Sharing your money goals and values with those in your life helps you achieve your goals quicker than if you keep them to yourself. But if you’re not up to talking to others about money, why not start by having an honest money conversation with yourself?
What are my long-term goals and aspirations?
The things you want usually need money, so it’s important to think about how much you’ll need and how you can get it. Take a look at our guide How to set a savings goal for the first step.
To help you take control of your spending, so you can achieve your goals, it’s useful to make a budget. To work out how much money you have coming in and what you’re spending it on, use our free and easy-to-use Budget Planner.
Are there any immediate problems I need to get to grips with?
Join our Facebook group
We’ve set up the Debt Support Community private Facebook group to help give you new ideas to tackle debts and keep you motivated.
Are you worried you have debt or might get into debt? Are you concerned your money worries are affecting your mental health? Or worried about your relationships? There are things you can do before you talk to your loved ones.
Find out more in our guides:
How to prioritise your bills and payments
Money problems and poor mental wellbeing
How can I make my goals happen?
What are the first small steps you could take towards achieving your goals?
For example, how about looking at ways to cut back or save money, or putting a bit extra into your pension?
For money-saving tips and ways to cut back, see our guides on Managing money well in our Budgeting section.
If you’re thinking of putting a bit extra in your pension, see our Pensions and retirement page.
What’s stopping me from achieving my financial goals?
Join our Facebook group
Join our private Budgeting and Saving Facebook group for money-saving tips and support from a community of savers.
Do you find it hard to talk to your family about money? Or are you worried you’ll say or do the wrong thing? If any of these are a problem, you’re not alone.
Lots of people struggle to talk about money and it’s often because they don’t know where to start.
Talking through our money plans with friends and family can make us more likely to keep our promises. If you want to reach a savings target, telling friends or family about your goal, and reporting back on progress, can get you there quicker than going alone.
However, talking to a professional, can be a great first call.
Why not talk to one of our trained staff? They’ll help you get over any barriers and put you on the right path to making things happen. And they cover almost every money topic you can think about, including savings, borrowing, mortgages, pensions and debt. And if you need more help we can pass you onto other organisations that you can trust.
Find out how we can help on our Contact us page.
When you’ve made a list of the things you’re going to do to help achieve your goals, you could even take this a step further and show what you’ve written down to the people who matter. This will help them understand how you’re feeling.
They might want to fill in their own version of the checklist. You can then use each other’s answers as a starting point for more detailed conversations.
How to talk about money
If you need to talk to someone about money but aren’t sure how it will go, download our printed guide How to talk about money (Opens in a new window) (PDF/A, 8MB) It includes tips on how to get a good result, share money goals and what to do if you think the conversation might be tricky or it doesn’t go as planned.