New Year's Resolutions

Are your New Year's resolutions still intact? According to Statista, these are the most popular resolutions for 2025 (ranked in order):

1. Save more money

2. Eat healthier

3. Exercise more

4. Lose weight

5. Spend more time with family and friends

Unfortunately, most people who make these resolutions will fail this year. How do we know? All of these resolutions were listed in the top-10 most popular resolutions in the year 2000. And probably the same 25 years before that. So, why do people keep failing? We're not going to try to offer a masterclass on structuring habits that help you reach your goals. However, we do want to dig into the meaning of "resolution," which is defined as a firm decision to do or not to do something.

A resolution is a choice, and with that choice to do or not to do something, we're choosing to do or not to do something else. For instance, if you aren't saving more money, you're choosing to spend it. If you aren't eating healthier, you're choosing to eat poorly. If you aren't exercising more, you're choosing to be lazy.

Free will doesn’t mean resisting the flow; it means consciously choosing to align with the flow that serves your highest good. - Ryuu Shinohara

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Instant Gratification

Saving is the process of delaying consumption. It's saying, "I don't really need this thing right now, so let me hold onto my capital for a better use at a better time down the road." The truth is that ALL of these resolutions, and probably any others you could think of, also relate to delaying instant gratification for positive long-term results. While those Shake Shack cheeseburgers, especially the SmokeShack® burgers (you'll thank me later), are SO good, they're really only good RIGHT NOW. Choosing to pass on the 50+ mystery ingredient entree and opt for whole foods cooked at home is a choice to delay instant gratification and prioritize the future.

One reason these resolutions might fail, given our own experiences, is that these feel too much like sacrifices in our minds. And they are sacrifices, but when we think about those sacrifices, we limit our thoughts to the inputs. We limit our thinking to RIGHT NOW: Do I want the SmokeShack®, or don't I? Do I want to work out, or don't I? But, if we're thinking long-term, we wouldn't think so negatively of the sacrifice. We wouldn't think, "Aw, man. I have to lose weight so I can become healthier..."

Because our society is increasingly being driven by short-term gratification through things like 3-second TikTok videos, INTRA-game play-by-play sports betting, and 10-minute DoorDash deliveries, it becomes much easier to numb ourselves of the real issues. Therefore, perhaps the only way we can change our actions is to change the way we think.

How to Save More Money

If you share the most popular 2025 New Year's resolution (save more money), there's a way to succeed. However, it requires a change in your thinking. And generally, those who fail lack at least one of three things:

1. The discipline

2. The capital

3. The right vehicle

Long-term success is based on the inputs TODAY. If you commit to doing the right thing with your capital in the right vehicle, you will succeed. You need a plan to stick to. You need the capital (income) to save. And you need to be saving in the right place. This is where Infinite Banking comes in, which we define as the process of safely growing and leveraging your capital using a specially designed, dividend-paying Whole Life insurance policy from a mutual company.

The discipline comes from signing the contract, which requires you to pay premiums monthly, quarterly, or annually, for example. Randomly telling yourself you'll save $100 each paycheck doesn't work. Additionally, the capital comes from your job or income. If you have zero income or savings, that problem needs to be addressed first. And lastly, you need to use the right vehicle. Banks who offer near-zero yields on your savings while charging you high single-digit/low-double digit rates on your loans aren't the solution. Infinite Banking provides the tool that grants you long-term results for delaying instant gratification.

Infinite Banking is similar to any other plan to achieve one of these longer term goals. The difference is that the inputs and outputs are guaranteed (no, really, a contractual guarantee). It says, "If you save X amount, you will have X amount in the future." It's the only financial product I've seen that offers guarantees like this. Think about it. It's so much harder exercising when you can't see the tangible long-term impact of working out for 20 minutes every day. With Infinite Banking, both the required actions and results are explicit.

Conclusion

The actions you take today shape the Downstream results of your future, creating a flow of opportunities and outcomes that mirror your intentions and efforts. Yes, it requires discipline and a change in thinking. You aren't sacrificing a cheeseburger for bland food. You're sacrificing poor eating habits for a much healthier future.

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