As Christmas arrives the week before the calendar year-end, many of us will enjoy a week’s shut down and have time to relax and enjoy the break with our family and friends.

The break also gives us time to consider our plans, personal and business, for the coming year.

Readers of this post who have not seriously considered their finances would be well advised to dust off their laptops and evaluate their “what-if” choices for 2024.

• If your present income exceeds your outgoings will that enviable state of affairs continue?
• How will you be affected by continuing upward pressure on prices?
• Is it time to consider creating new income streams?
• If your planned outgoings exceed your planned income, how will you fund the shortfall? From savings, by drifting into debt?
• And don’t forget to include debt repayment in your cashflow forecasts.

We have all experienced tough economic challenges as the effects of the banking crisis, Brexit, COVID and the war in Ukraine have impacted our daily lives. High inflation, high interest rates and a depressed economy are a direct result, and it is not clear if 2024 will see a significant reversal in these trends.

And so, if you get the time, give a little serious thought to your prospects for 2024 over the coming holiday. The scouting maxim, be prepared, comes to mind. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.