To many people, this is just a date on the calendar. A day to give your kids a pinch and a punch for the first of the month – unless they beat you to it.

But it’s also a great time to set financial goals. What do you want to achieve this financial year? Do you have goals, targets, a plan, a spending and saving budget?

How are you going to make this year count financially?

If you haven’t already, spend some time thinking about this. Grab a pen and paper, look at your payslips, your bank transactions and balance. Are you mindlessly frittering away your hard earned cash or are you making it work for you?

Is this the year you will buy your first home? Will you buy an investment property? Will you do your best to make extra repayments even though rate increases are hitting us hard? Do you need to review your home loan to try to spend less on mortgage repayments? Can you be making some extra super contributions?

Make this time of year meaningful and put some thought into your finances.

Your future self will thank you for it!