Even a piggy bank where coins or small denomination bills are kept fulfills its function of programmed savings, but likewise, a goal, an objective, must be assigned to that money.
SANTO DOMINGO. – This Tuesday, January 6th, is the first working day of the year for many people, and it is well known that every change in the calendar comes loaded with good intentions, including financial ones.
Besides being a symbolic moment to start from scratch, January is a good starting point to evaluate where we are and where we want to go financially, with specific, measurable and achievable goals, so we must build a plan that includes both saving and investing.
Before “dreaming big”, it is essential to take an honest inventory of your finances, as Fidelity recommends in its guide to financial resolutions for 2026: first review income, expenses, debts and interest, to prioritize goals and know how much can really be allocated to saving or investing.
Part of personal success within 12 months will be ensuring that those goals do not fade away, and to achieve this, specialists recommend having a simple, flexible and measurable plan that can be adapted to both executives and employees with different income levels.
Starting point: knowing your reality
Before setting goals, it is essential to honestly answer three basic questions. The answers will provide you with an initial diagnosis, allowing you to define achievable goals and avoid unrealistic plans that lead to early frustration:
- How much do I actually earn each month?
- What are my fixed and variable expenses?
- What debts do I have and what interest rate do they have?
Clear and achievable goals
Experts suggest limiting yourself to two or three major financial goals per year, such as creating or strengthening an emergency fund, reducing high-interest debt, and starting or increasing a savings or investment plan.
The important thing is that goals must be specific and have defined deadlines. "Saving more" is not the same as "saving 10% of your monthly salary for 12 months," with a specific goal assigned to that money.
Budget with human margin
An effective budget shouldn't be rigid. A good guideline is to distribute income as follows:
- Essential expenses: housing, transport, food, services.
- Personal expenses: leisure, well-being, minor unforeseen events.
- Savings and investment: a fixed monthly percentage, even if modest.
The important thing is not the amount, but consistency. Saving small amounts, but steadily, is usually more effective than ambitious, impossible-to-achieve goals.
Emergency fund: the foundation of balance
Experts agree that every financial plan should include an emergency fund equivalent to three to six months of basic expenses. This cushion protects you against unexpected situations and prevents you from resorting to debt that destabilizes your personal and family finances.
Scheduled savings
Automating savings through monthly or bi-weekly transfers helps you stick to your plan without relying on willpower. For employees and executives, setting aside savings immediately after receiving their paycheck is one of the most effective strategies.
Investing with sound judgment
Once your emergency fund is covered, the next step is to think about investing. This isn't about taking unnecessary risks, but about getting informed, diversifying, and thinking in terms of the medium and long term.
Responsible investment contributes to structural well-being because it strengthens individual stability and, by extension, that of the work and family environment.
Quarterly review
A good plan isn't static. Reviewing it every three months allows you to adjust goals, correct expenses (especially those so-called "small expenses"), and take advantage of new opportunities.
In any case, flexibility is key to maintaining financial balance throughout the year.
Keys
- A financial plan is not a punishment, it is a tool for freedom.
- Economic well-being is built with discipline, not with promises.
- Businesses and individuals benefit when personal finances are in order.
Recent data from Motley Fool Money shows that, for many people, the most frequent goals for 2026 are not ambitious in an abstract sense, but very practical: paying off debts (25% of respondents), saving for a major milestone such as a home or car, and improving retirement savings.
This aligns with local experience: personal finance experts recommend not overloading your list of goals, but focusing on two or three key priorities, such as reducing high-interest debt, building an emergency fund, and starting to invest for the immediate future.
The golden rule: make it achievable
An internationally promoted formula among financial advisors is the so-called 50-30-20 rule, highlighted by experts such as Javier Linares, which advises dividing net income into three blocks:
- 50% for basic needs
- 30% for personal and leisure expenses
- 20% savings.
Although this method originates from American or European contexts, its essence is also applicable in the Dominican Republic, where discipline and consistency are more important than the absolute amount: allocating a fixed percentage to savings every month helps create a cushion against unforeseen events and promote medium-term goals such as traveling, buying property or investing in education.
There are also progressive savings projects, such as the 52-week challenge, which proposes saving increasing amounts each week of the year, and have proven to be a simple but effective strategy for internalizing the habit of saving.
Small expenses: the silent enemy
No one budgets for them or raises immediate alarm, but at the end of the month, they add up—and how! These so-called "small expenses" are small, everyday outlays: takeaway coffee, app orders (impulse buys), forgotten subscriptions—which, when added up, can represent a significant portion of your monthly spending.
Personal finance experts agree that it's not about eliminating them completely, but about making them visible and keeping a record of those expenses for one or two weeks allows you to measure their real impact.
In many cases, partially reducing them is enough to free up resources that can be allocated to savings or higher-impact investments.
In contexts of tight income or with a tax burden, as occurs from certain income tax brackets, small, recurring expenses become a constant drain that prevents meeting goals, even when income seems sufficient.
Modern piggy banks: small actions, big habits
Faced with hidden expenses, piggy banks, whether physical or digital, are resurfacing as a simple and effective tool. It's no longer just about saving coins, but about creating scheduled micro-savings: rounding up payments, setting aside digital change, or automatically transferring small amounts each week.
Believe it or not, some financial advisors agree that these modern piggy banks work because they don't compete with the main expense, but rather operate in the background, turning saving into an almost automatic habit.
For employees and executives, this system is especially useful for small, concrete goals, without drastically altering the monthly budget.
Having a piggy bank with a single opening, with a set savings plan of, for example, 50, 100 or 200 peso bills each day, will allow you to treat yourself when it is full and you empty it to count what you have saved.
Structural well-being in everyday life
The difference between a financial plan that succeeds and one that fails often lies in these details.
Controlling small, everyday expenses and saving money doesn't require huge sacrifices, but it does require awareness and consistency. These are small decisions that, when sustained over time, strengthen personal well-being and, by extension, the financial stability of both work and family life.
