Usually health and fitness top most peoples' New Year's resolutions – but for 2025 money and how to better manage is also a top priority for a lot of people.

That's according to a survey shared by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. The survey found that 45% of respondents said they wanted to save more money, while 32% said their goal was to reduce debt. Exercising more fell between those two responses, at 37%.

But often sticking to your goals is easier said than done, which is why several financial experts and advisers recommend you start small and simple to set yourself up for success.

"Slow and steady absolutely wins the race," said Thomas Nitzsche with the non-profit credit counseling agency Money Management International. The best-laid plan, he said, should begin with the basics.

Setting a budget

"Budgeting is the ground floor of it all, you can't have a plan without a budget in place," Nitzsche said. "Most people we work with haven't created a budget or haven't done one in a very long time, and they don't have a firm grasp on what's coming in, what's going out, and where they can plug some of those gaps."

After three years of inflation, any pay increases you might have experienced likely haven't caught up to your monthly expenses, warns Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.

"Make that monthly budget for 2025 and resolve to track your spending against it throughout the year," he said.

Track your expenses

You won't get far, Nitzsche explains, if you don't keep track of how you're spending throughout the year. How you do that is up to you – whether it's old-fashioned pen and paper, an Excel spreadsheet, or an app.

"Everybody's different," he said. "It really doesn't matter how you do it, it's just that you're doing it."

He recommends committing yourself to detailed tracking for at least a few months until you feel better about your spending in general and then you might opt to do it less frequently. For example, you might find you're paying for several unwanted subscriptions you didn't know you had, Nitzsche said.

McBride also cautions you may need to make adjustments during the year as certain expenses increase, requiring cutting back in other areas.

"Calibrate your spending with your income, and any month you spend less than budgeted, transfer the difference into your savings account, ideally a high-yield savings account," he said.

NerdWallet offers a free app lets you track your cash flow. Empower Personal Dashboard is also a free app with features to help you track your spending, according to NerdWallet.

Other tips

When it comes to tackling your credit card debt and high interest rates, you have more power than you realize, according to Nitzsche.

"Most creditors will work with you to reduce interest rates," he said. "That's just really important to make sure that the payments you're making is as much as possible, and going to principal rather than interest so you're able to make some progress on it."

Lending Tree found the majority of people who simply picked up the phone to ask for a lower rate got it, cutting it by an average of six points.

According to Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, a 0% balance transfer credit card is also "a good weapon" in the fight against high card APRs, or annual percentage rates.

Ultimately, Nitzsche says to take things slow and keep in mind setbacks along the way don't have to spell defeat.

"Especially after a prolonged period of inflation and high cost of living," he said. "I think it's just important to understand that you're not alone."

Experts also warn to beware of scams when seeking relief options. Scammers use urgency to trick people, so taking your time to make any financial decision can help protect you from losing money. CBS News Philadelphia previously warned that agencies charging upfront fees before offering services, employing pushy sales tactics, or promising big claims that guarantee to eliminate your debts could signal a scam.

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Home values are hovering at near record highs. For many homeowners, their home is their most valuable asset and home equity can be a significant source of their wealth.

Homeowners can leverage the value of their home, such as in the form of a home equity loan and home equity lines of credit (HELOC). They may use their home equity funds to try to increase their property value by repairing or renovating the home to prepare it to sell. They may also use home equity funds to eliminate private mortgage insurance (PMI). But consumers often find that home equity financing can be overly complicated. A 2022 survey of U.S. borrowers indicated that approximately one-third of respondents thought getting a mortgage was more difficult than buying a car (31%), applying for jobs (29%) and applying to college (26%).

Further, home equity loans and HELOCs are not without drawbacks. Borrowing against your home equity means the mortgage balance stays high, interest rates add costs, borrowers can find themselves owing more than their home is worth, credit scores can suffer, and, in the worst cases, homeowners could lose their homes due to missed payments.

Those risks beg the question: Are home equity loans and HELOCs the best options?

Leveraging Home Equity Without a Loan

Because real estate professionals are often trusted sources of information for homeowners, they may face questions over financing options. Agents should always advise their clients to speak with mortgage lenders and financial experts over their personal financing matters. But technology could help them find some answers, too. Financial technology (aka fintech) companies are offering real estate professionals and consumers alternative financing options that may be worth exploring.

For example, Unlock Technologies (a fintech company focused on helping consumers improve their financial status) has created a financing option—a home equity agreement (HEA)—that allows homeowners to leverage home equity without taking on a loan. The concept is fairly simple: Homeowners receive an interest-free lump sum of cash in exchange for a share of their home’s future value. Because an HEA is not a loan, there are no monthly payments. The qualification threshold is lower than traditional home equity loans and HELOCs, making HEAs an option for a wider population of consumers. Income requirements are also lower, so HEAs may be a better option for homeowners who are self-employed, retired or who may lack a steady income.

HEA funds can be used for any purpose, including home renovations or repairs, consolidating or eliminating debt, education expenses or funding a business. Homeowners can access the wealth created via their home equity while retaining the title to their homes and avoiding additional debt.

Other potential benefits of Unlock’s HEAs include streamlined application and approval processes, including an online estimate feature that takes only minutes and won’t impact credit scores. Unlike reverse mortgages, HEAs are available to property owners of all ages, and applicants do not need perfect credit to qualify.

An Unlock HEA includes a home improvement adjustment, which means that homeowners who make significant improvements to their homes retain the value added from those improvements.

An HEA is completed when one of the following scenarios plays out: A homeowner buys back their equity in one lump sum at any point during the 10-year term; a homeowner makes a partial buyout of Unlock’s investment; or, a homeowner settles Unlock’s investment when the home is sold.

Curious how it works? Assume your home value was $600,000. You choose an “Investment Payment” of $60,000—10% of your home’s value. Your exchange rate is 2.0%, so your “Unlock Percentage” is 20% (10% x 2.0). If you sell your home later for $750,000, the Unlock Share is 20% of that $150,000 gain in value. For additional examples, check out Unlock’s Product Guidepdf.

It’s also important to point out, that fintech companies like Unlock are not lenders. In fact, Unlock is a team of finance, mortgage and real estate leaders dedicated to helping consumers create more financial flexibility.

The Benefits for Real Estate Professionals

Home equity funds are plentiful. Current market data indicates that, as of August 2024, U.S. borrowers held $17.6 trillion in home equity collectively, with $11.5 trillion of that considered tappable. Further, U.S. mortgage data indicates that three in five homeowners have at least $100K in available equity.

Real estate professionals add tremendous value when they let clients know that they can have access to these funds, especially when home equity is used to repair or renovate homes. After all, every party in a real estate transaction benefits when top condition homes sell for market value in a competitive real estate landscape.

In addition to funding home improvements, homeowners carrying high debt loads can access their home equity via HEAs to pay down debt and qualify for better mortgage rates when buying their next home. Also, homeowners who are looking for investment or rental properties can use HEAs to fund down payments.

With high interest rates, growing personal debt and sky-high home equity values, homeowners are looking for alternative financing options. Innovative fintech solutions have the potential to expand beyond traditional home lending to include more people at more stages of their lives. Real estate professionals who are part of that financial transformation can build trust and relationships that benefit everyone.

Personal finance tops 2025 New Year's resolutions. Here's how to make it stick.

Setting a budget

Track your expenses

Other tips

The two big housing market trends to watch in 2025

5 New Year's Resolutions for Your Home