Starting 2025 with one of these common resolutions? Here’s how it could benefit you and your wallet

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Some new year’s resolutions seem to come around every year (particularly if we didn’t achieve them last year…or the year before). And while it’s a good idea to focus on making a positive change for yourself, it can pay off to think about how your chosen 2025 resolution could make an impact in other areas of your life too – like your finances.

So if you've set yourself one of these common resolutions for 2025, here’s how it could help improve your finances too.

1. Get (financially) fit

Working on your health and fitness in 2025? Don’t forget about your financial health.

Just like physical fitness, building financial fitness takes time, commitment and consistency. So while you’re keeping your health in check this year, take some time to check in with your finances too. 

You can even use similar methods to keep your money in shape: be more disciplined when it comes to your spending, set goals for your savings, and bring in boundaries when it comes to debt and borrowing. 

And don’t forget to regularly check your progress. Reviewing your finances (and making healthy changes where needed) is a great habit to get into and could make all the difference in 2025.

You can find out more about budgeting, saving and other healthy financial habits in our article.

2. Have a declutter

Looking for that satisfying feeling of knowing everything is in the right place? Well, what about your pensions?

With 3.3 million pension pots now considered lost, some of your pension savings could be out there waiting to be claimed. So while you’re tidying up your space in 2025, think about how you could tidy up your pension savings too. 

Need some help? We can help you track down your old pensions for free. All you need to do is tell us a few things about your old plans, then you can leave the hard work to us. You’ll then be allocated a pension assistant who will track down your pensions for you and we’ll keep you up to date along the way.

Find your pensions for free

Once you’ve found your lost pensions, you could think about bringing them together into one neat and tidy place, if that’s right for you. Combining your pensions with Standard Life is easy – visit our website to find out more.

3. Be more organised

Got your 2025 planner at the ready? Having a plan and being organised can help you feel more in control.

But while you’re preparing for the big dates coming up in the year ahead, don’t forget to pencil in the big ones in your financial year too.

For example, the end of the tax year is just a few months away; you’ve got until 5 April to make the most of any remaining tax benefits on your pension or savings. 

When it comes to your pensions, you can usually pay in up to £60,000 in a tax year and still get tax benefits on your payments. So using up as much of your pension allowance as you can is one of the most tax-efficient ways to save for your future. 

There’s still time to make a payment into your Standard Life plan – you can usually do this easily online or on our app. Simply log in, or register if you haven’t already. Or visit our contact and support page for other ways to get in touch. 

4. Cut back on bad habits

If you’re looking to cut back on unhealthy habits, you’ve probably considered things like quitting smoking, drinking less, or eating better – but have you thought about your spending habits?

It can be easy to fall into bad habits when it comes to money: signing up to a subscription service that you don’t use enough, using your credit card a little too often, or simply living a bit beyond your means and having the monthly ‘week-before-payday’ panic. 

So while you’re making improvements elsewhere, reflect on your spending habits over the last year and make a choice about which ones you think would be better off left in 2024.  

Any money you manage to save by doing this could be put towards any savings goals you have for the year – you might be surprised at how quickly it could add up!

5. Learn something new

Learning a new skill or picking up a new hobby can be a great goal for the year – and it can be a lot of fun too.

But learning something new can help when it comes to your finances too. Are there some money topics you feel you could be clearer on? Do you know how your pension works, how to invest or how to improve your credit score? 

Growing your financial knowledge could put your future self in a better position. It’ll help you make better and more informed decisions, which could benefit you in the long run.

Try setting yourself a challenge to help you stay on track. You could start by putting aside 30 minutes each week to listen to an educational podcast, read an article or guide, or even do a deep dive to get to the bottom of a financial topic you’ve been uncertain about.

If you want to learn more about how your pension works, we’ve got plenty of helpful pension and retirement guides on our website, or you can keep up to date with the MoneyPlus website where we cover new topics every month. 

The information here is based on our understanding in January 2025 and shouldn’t be taken as financial advice.

A pension is an investment and its value can go down as well as up and may be worth less than was paid in.

Your own personal circumstances, including where you live in the UK, will have an impact on the tax you pay. Laws and tax rules may change in the future.