"You hear this all the time, lose weight, save money, pay off debt. These resolutions are easy to make and perhaps hard to follow through," he says.

"I’d offer three suggestions: First of all, have a specific plan. Say you are going to save this amount of money or you are going to pay off this amount of debt. Make it reasonable, but give yourself a clearly identifiable, measurable goal.

"Secondly, make that goal or implementing that goal as automatic as possible," he adds. "For example, utilize automatic withholding from your paycheck so your money doesn’t go through your hands -- so it automatically gets deposited, for example, in a savings account.

"And then lastly have some consequence for you if you don’t meet that resolution. For example, if you save the amount of money that you say you are going to save, tell yourself, 'If you are going to do this, I am going to spend some amount of money,' say $150, 'on a gift for myself.' So give yourself some prize that you can work toward if you do follow through on your financial resolution."