As we head into the new year, people are making resolutions which will promptly be forgotten within a few days (hours) as more comfortable (for them) and routine behavior sets in. The reason for this is that apart from habits being comfortable (they wouldn’t be habits otherwise), the commitment to change is usually a commitment to obtain a result rather than a commitment to the process that would obtain the result. For example, a resolution to “lose 20 pounds” is not the same as a commitment to “spend one hour at the gym every day while maintaining my current intake of food”. One is a goal (and once one obtains that goal, then one goes back to the old habits with the same result), and the other is a habit. Without changing the habit, the accomplishment of the goal will not be permanent.

What is an appropriate New Year’s resolution for badass? In short, to be financially independent. Think of almost every movie badass out there. He/She is independent. Nobody is out there crying for help, or begging someone to put their own interests aside to come to his/her rescue. Can you imagine John Wayne whining about not having an adequate retirement because of a bunch of jerks who crashed the Social Security Program? How about Clint Eastwood crying for a bail-out because of his own irresponsibility? True, these actors portrayed an ideal, but it was (and is) an ideal worth pursuing; that of independence.

In order to be independent, one must have money and not be dependent on others. In other words, one must save money, save more money, and save even more money. In my upcoming book “You, Inc.”, I talk about how to achieve personal financial independence. At its heart is the act of saving money. For many people, it requires a change of mindset. It requires a mindset that says, “I don’t care what happens to Social Security, I am going to save enough money so that I will be okay whatever happens”. The year 2014 is sure to be bumpy. The world is a dangerous place and the economy, while improving, is still not what I would describe as smooth. Becoming a saver and taking control of your financial destiny will eventually lead to that most badass of badass qualities: financial independence.

Happy New Year.