Start your

education civil rights health care social justice

Skip to content

The Half-Year Check-In: Are You on Track with Your 2025 Money Goals?

It’s FinTip Tuesday!

Believe it or not, we’re halfway through the year, which makes it the perfect time for a financial check-in.

While January 1st often gets all the attention for goal setting, midyear offers us an equally powerful opportunity to reassess and realign our hopes and dreams. Jon Acuff, author of All It Takes Is a Goal, shares in his book that our brains are wired to embrace new beginnings not just at the start of the year, but at any point that feels like a fresh start. This could be the beginning of a new month, week, or even day!

Behavioral economists refer to this as the “Fresh Start Effect,” where temporal landmarks (like the midpoint of the year) can boost our motivation to pursue goals by providing a psychological reset.

So, let’s leverage this midyear milestone to reflect on our financial journey! Here’s a short midyear money checklist to begin this fresh start:

🎯 Revisit your goals.
What were your financial goals earlier in the year? Do they still make sense or have life circumstances shifted? Now’s a great time to rewrite your goals so they reflect where you are now, not where you were six months ago.

📈 Check your progress.
How are things going? Whether you’re saving for a down payment, tackling credit card debt, or building an emergency fund, look at your data to see where you stand compared to where you hoped to be.

🔧 Make just one meaningful adjustment.
You don’t have to overhaul your whole budget. Even one small shift like canceling an unused subscription, setting up a new savings transfer, or reviewing your 401(k) contributions can make a big difference by year-end.

Remember: progress > perfection.

A simple check-in now can set you up for a strong and confident finish to 2025. Why not connect with an adviser to help? Just click the “Get Matched” button at the top of the screen to learn about our process and sign up to get matched!

“Where Did My Money Go?” A 10-Minute Spending Audit You Can Do Today

Ever check your account balance and wonder how it ended up lower than expected? You’re definitely not alone. The truth is that most spending surprises don’t come from one giant purchase. They come from small expenses that quietly add up…

Make Your Refund Work for You 💸✨

A tax refund can feel like a bonus, but in reality, it’s your own money making its way back to you. That’s what makes it so powerful. But your refund can do more than disappear into everyday spending. With a…

Let Automation Do the Work

If saving money feels harder than it should, it probably isn’t a discipline issue. It’s more likely a systems issue. Most people mean to save, but when life gets busy, saving becomes one more thing to remember. Automation helps by…

Tax Season Starts Now!

It may feel early, but tax season doesn’t really start when you sit down to file. It starts with preparation. Getting organized now can help you avoid last-minute stress, reduce errors, and even get your refund sooner.🧾 Why This Helps…

Don’t Leave Money Behind This New Year

If you have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), this could be your last chance this year to use those funds. FSAs are part of your benefits, but unused money often expires. Accidentally letting that money go is easy to do……

Why You Should Focus on Just One Financial Goal for 2026

You don’t need a long list of financial resolutions to make progress. In fact, trying to fix everything at once usually makes it harder to stick with anything. One clear goal can go a surprisingly long way. When you focus…

Financial Wellness Is More Than Numbers

Money can feel hard for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes it’s the math, sometimes it’s the stress, and sometimes it’s just the mental load of keeping track of everything. Not everyone’s brain loves numbers, and that’s okay. The truth…

Lifestyle Creep: When More Money Still Feels Like Not Enough

Ever get a raise and feel excited… for about five minutes? Then somehow your money disappears just as fast as before. That sneaky feeling usually has a name: lifestyle creep. It happens when spending slowly rises right along with income,…

What’s Your Money Script?

We all have little money beliefs we carry around in our heads. Some are helpful, some… not so much. They sneak into how we save, spend, and sometimes panic-scroll our banking app. Think of them as the background music of…

Let Gratitude Guide Your Spending

Gratitude might not be the first thing you think of when you open your banking app, but it turns out the two make a pretty great team. When you’re tuned in to what you appreciate, your money choices start to…