January is Financial Wellness Month, a time to revitalize and regroup after the spend-a-thon of the holiday season.
We caught up with Tom Klaameyer, EWU’s new financial literacy coordinator, and asked for tips on how to get 2026 off to a great start.
Klaameyer says January is the perfect time for a yearly financial health check-up. As the calendar flips, it’s a great opportunity to review finances, adjust goals and improve financial management habits. Your review can become a financial reset if need be, or give you the confidence and peace of mind that comes from knowing you’re on track, he says.
Klaameyer offers the following tips and reminders:
- Review or make a budget that reflects your financial goals for 2026. This might include:
- Paying down credit accumulated during the holiday season.
- Increasing your savings to
- Restore or create an emergency fund.
- Make significant purchases in the upcoming year.
- Consider making a larger downpayment or paying cash entirely, rather than financing the purchase. This will increase your buying power by reducing money that you would otherwise waste on interest.
- Step up your retirement savings. You work hard for your money — saving and investing puts your money to work for you.
- Reduce unnecessary expenditures.
- Review subscription services (phone, streaming, etc.) and other recurring expenses that we often set and forget. Are you using those services as much as you originally intended? Should you cancel or perhaps reduce your plan to better match your actual usage?
- Consider a New Year’s Resolution to quit smoking and/or cut back on drinking, junk food consumption, or caffeine intake. It will not only improve your physical health, but your financial health as well.
- Prepare more meals at home instead of eating out.
- Make coffee at home rather than going to a coffee shop every day. Doing this three times a week could save over $500 per year.
- Check your credit report.
- This can save a lot of heartache by identifying discrepancies, fixing mistakes and potentially spotting identity theft early.
- You can request a free credit report annually from all three major credit bureaus. To get yours, call 1-877-322-8228 or go to AnnualCreditReport.com.
Stay tuned for part two of our financial wellness series later this month. In the meantime, if you know of a student who could benefit by improving their financial wellness, please refer them to Tom Klaameyer at financialwellness@ewu.edu, or call extension 2029.
WELLNESS NOTES
- President McMahan is leading a free step aerobics class for faculty, staff and students on Feb. 11.
