When we reach the end of a cycle, it’s always good to take stock. to see what went well (to maintain or improve) and what went wrong (to correct or not repeat mistakes). I usually do this every year. In financial terms, a simple way to know if it has evolved or regressed is recover your bank balance (of all your financial accounts and tools) on December 31, 2021 and compare with the value it has now in exactly the same savings and investment tools (plus the ones you subscribed to in the meantime). I use an Excel sheet where I do this every month, so now it’s enough for me to see the December totals, after another year. My first conclusion – and I assume it will be similar to many of you – is that 2022 was a year (once again) atypical. The war completely changed our turns. Inflation skyrocketed more than we expected and the Euribor rose very quickly to values we had not seen for over 10 years. That is, it was called the “perfect storm” in financial terms. Try to understand where you made mistakes that made you waste money this past year and correct them. Don’t be complacent with yourself. Own what went wrong and be determined not to repeat it.
How has your heritage evolved?
Even so, there may also have been things that went well, or better than we expected. It is very important that see if your assets actually grew, decreased or remained unchanged in 2022. This portrait is important for us to understand where we are as we enter 2023. Be happy if you at least maintained your assets. If you did, that’s already a victory. Personally, my investments suffered a big hole in 2022, mainly because of the war. I lost almost all of the profits I accumulated over the last few years. On the other hand, I took advantage of these declines to invest in new products (plus a PPR and Savings Certificates) and reinforced some products I already had. Therefore, I hope to reap the fruits of this effort in the future. My cryptocurrencies are at a 50% loss, but I decided not to reinforce those. Never forget that the crises are excellent opportunities if we know how to take advantage of them: this is when PPR, Investment Funds, shares, ETF, etc are in “balances”. This is where financial literacy comes in. Of course, in order to do so, we must first have created savings with the aim of investing when the opportunity arises. Now there is an opportunity. Whether you take advantage of it or not is up to you. Even for the less daring, Savings Certificates are yielding like never before. They’re almost maxed out. Evaluate.Read more: How to subscribe to savings certificates?
Get ready for the new year
While taking stock of 2022, make your 2023 planning now🇧🇷 Do the math on how much your home loan will go up and how much that will cost you more per month and per year. You’ll have to find that money somewhere. Don’t push the problem with the belly. That money will EVEN come out of your account. Renegotiate all your fixed expensessuch as insurance, electricity, gas, annuities, etc. AND cut off anything superfluous🇧🇷 Try to start 2023 without financial “fat”. Decide to earn extra money in 2023. Decide how much per month and find ways to reach your goal. You must have a talent that you can monetize. Do not be shy. Go ahead! Your “future self” will thank you when you get to December 2023. It may even be that the year goes better than we’re expecting. At least, it doesn’t hurt to try to be optimistic. Don’t sit idly by and see what happens. Also read: Is it worth investing in a PPR before the end of the year? 
Pedro Andersson was born in 1973 and fell in love with journalism as a teenager, at Rádio Clube da Covilhã. He graduated in Social Communication at the University of Beira Interior, and began his professional career at TSF. In 2000, he was invited to be one of the founding journalists of SIC Notícias. Currently, he continues at SIC, as a coordinating journalist, and has been responsible since 2011 for the heading “Contas-Poupança”, dedicated to personal finances. He tries to bring the reality of everyday life to the reports he makes.