For those making resolutions, better money habits top the list. In the Money Matters report, Spectrum News' Tara Lynn Wagner asked financial experts to weigh in their best advice for those looking to step into 2017 on the right financial foot.
Nick Clements of Magnify Money says ditch your credit card debt.
"As quickly as possible," says Clements. "With nearly half the country in credit card debt, now is the time to build a plan to make sure you can become debt-free forever."
CPA Lisa Greene-Lewis says the best way is to go after your smallest balance first.
"If you created credit card debt, start with your lowest credit card," says Greene-Lewis. "Try to pay that off and work your way up."
That strategy applies to other financial areas as well. Paul Golden of the National Endowment for Financial Education says the number one reason resolutions fail is that people set unrealistic goals.
"If you want to have a significant emergency savings set aside, start with $500," says Golden. "Start very low, achievable, show yourself that you can reach that goal, and then move on and set that bar higher and higher. That's going to be more important."
Certified financial planner Howard Hook suggests you take a similar approach if you resolve to boost your retirement savings.
"Do incrementally 10 percent more, right, every year so you don't feel it as much," says Hook. "But then if you turn around five, six, seven years from now, if you increase your 401k contributions 10 percent a year, you've doubled the amount you put away."
Finally, Coupons.com savings expert Jeanette Pavini says to hold on to more of your money in the New Year, start paying with cash.
"It is very easy to pull out the plastic and then we almost unconsciously will spend, whereas if you are using an amount of cash that you've allotted for that particular purchase, whether it's grocery shopping or clothes shopping, you will really stay within your budget and it will allow you to save money," she says.