New Year, New Finances: Spring Financial’s Tyler Thielmann Shares His Top Budgeting Secrets For 2025

As the clock ticks down to 2025, many Canadians are reflecting on their financial goals—especially with over half feeling the pinch of holiday spending. To help you kick off the new year with confidence, we sat down with Tyler Thielmann, President and CEO of Spring Financial, to discuss simple yet effective strategies to manage your money. From smart budgeting to cracking the code on cash flow, Tyler offers actionable tips to set you on a path toward financial success in the year ahead. —Noa Nichol

What are the most common financial mistakes Canadians make when setting New Year’s resolutions, and how can they avoid them?

The most common mistakes we see people make when setting New Year’s resolutions are either setting goals with no purpose or setting goals with no plans. My advice for each scenario is:

Goals with no purpose: We often see people setting goals they think they should set. For example, save $1,000 or contribute $2,500 to my RRSP this year. But having a financial goal that is pulled from thin air is really difficult to commit to long-term. Rather than picking a number that sounds good, I always encourage people to set a goal that means something to them. So, if your goal is to travel this year, set a budget for your trip and save money to that specific goal. If you want to retire with a certain amount in your RRSP, work backwards to determine how much you should save each year until retirement. 

Goals with no plan: Similarly, if you have a goal to save $1,200 this year but you don’t set out a plan for how you’re going to achieve that goal, you’re likely to find yourself scrambling to save a lot of money late in the year which would be quite difficult. Instead, I recommend building out your plan as part of your resolution setting. If your goal is $1,200 this year, open a savings account and set up auto-deposits of $100 per month so that the savings happens automatically throughout the year. The easier you make it on yourself to save the money, and the less work you actually have to do throughout the year, the more likely you are to achieve your goal. 

Can you explain the importance of creating a realistic budget and share some tips for aligning it with individual financial goals?

Absolutely! It can be so easy to look online and see how other people seem to spend their money. My recommendation is to try to stay off social media when determining your financial goals and, instead, take an audit of your finances. Determine how much money you make every month and your set expenses (like rent, groceries, gas/transit) that aren’t likely to change much. 

Once your hard costs are accounted for, decide what your goals are for the year. For example, do you have a big trip you want to make happen in 2025? Then you’ll want to set a monthly savings goal that is high enough to afford that trip. Maybe travel isn’t a priority but going out for nice dinners with friends is. Then adding a line to your monthly budget that accounts for dinners out is important. 

There is no one-size-fits-all budget so sitting down and determining what your goals are for the year, and what matters most to you, is so important. This ensures that you can enjoy time out with friends if that’s your priority for the year, rather than saving an extra $1,000 with no plan for where you want to spend that money. 

How can tracking expenses help people identify surprising spending patterns and make more informed financial decisions?

People who budget are better able to manage day-to-day finances and are less likely to fall behind on financial commitments. With 31% of Canadians saying they are short on money at the end of the month, tracking expenses is the best way to understand exactly where your money is going each month to be able to make financial decisions that can improve your financial situation. 

It is surprisingly easy for streaming subscriptions or your morning coffees or little treats to add up super quickly by the end of the month. By tracking your spending, you get a very clear picture of just how much money is going to the little expenses that seem reasonable individually. Once you have a clear picture of your expenses, you can make decisions that best work for you. If your morning coffee is a non-negotiable, then maybe pairing back on one or two paid streaming services can help alleviate some financial strain. 

What advice would you give to someone trying to balance saving for the future with spending on themselves today?

I love this question because I think it’s something that everyone struggles with to some extent and it can be so easy to get caught up in the feeling that you need to save every penny for the future when that might not be the best decision for you. Saving for your future is important, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also important to make sure you’re enjoying your life now. 

My advice is to assess what you think your long-term earning potential is. Are you in the early stages of your career but you know your career trajectory comes with a much higher earning potential? If so, rather than saving every last penny now, you might be better served by using this time to enjoy your daily life and prioritize saving more when you’re earning more. Particularly in your younger years, I’d encourage saving for shorter-term goals like travel or simply enjoying experiences like concerts, shows, and dinners. Focusing on the wealth of experiences now can provide as much, if not more, value than scrimping and saving small amounts of money if you know that saving will be more feasible in a few years. 

Why is it important to evaluate your earning potential, and how can individuals determine whether it’s time to invest in their personal growth or education?

This is a great question and, for anyone facing this question right now, I’d encourage you to use this time to look at longer-time life goals rather than just 2025 resolutions. Looking at your earning potential can help you determine if that potential is in line with your larger life goals. If not, then perhaps investing in further education is the right choice. If you’re happy with the earning potential in your current career trajectory, then you’re probably best served investing in personal growth. 

What tools or apps do you recommend for Canadians looking to simplify and stick to their financial resolutions in 2025?

There are plenty of helpful tools out there. I recommend trying to simplify the process for yourself by finding one app that can do as much as possible for you in one place. Apps like Bloom can track and categorize expenses, manage personal budgets, and give you a clear picture of your financial situation across all accounts. Being able to see your entire financial situation in one place makes it easier for you to make the best decisions for your current situation.

I also recommend pairing your goals with plans. The best way to stick to a financial resolution is to have a clear plan of how you’re going to achieve that goal from day 1. Taking out any uncertainty ensures you’re best set up for success.   

How can someone identify and prioritize their financial goals for the new year to maximize their long-term success?

This is where I like to recommend starting with your big picture goals and working your way backwards. Some goals are easy to identify – perhaps paying off student loans or credit card debt that have a clear, shorter-timeline dollar amount tied to them. Other goals, like retirement or being mortgage-free, can feel daunting to tackle year-by-year. 

Identifying how much money you want saved by retirement, or when you want to (and can realistically) be mortgage free, are great places to start when setting goals for 2025. Using those big, long-term goals, work your way backward to determine how much you realistically need to save/spend each year to achieve those goals. By breaking them down by year, the monthly commitment within one calendar year can feel much more feasible. 

What are some small, actionable steps individuals can take immediately to reduce financial stress and feel more in control of their money?

There are a few things individuals can do right away to help reduce financial stress. 

The first is to audit their spending habits. Having a super clear picture of one’s monthly expenses can often shed some light on areas that can be cut back quickly. Making your morning coffee at home, or packing your own lunch, can help reduce spending pretty significantly. As can cutting down to two streaming services instead of four or five.

The second is considering where you’re spending your money. Groceries have gotten extremely expensive recently. Opting for smaller produce stores rather than big box grocery stores, using coupons and taking advantage of weekly flyer deals, and looking for deals through apps like TooGoodToGo can significantly reduce your grocery expenses. I also encourage everyone to sign up for any loyalty programs that a store offers. The points might accumulate slowly but, eventually, you’ll get a credit that helps alleviate some financial strain. 

Finally, consolidating debt can be a great way to streamline your payments and reduce your debt quicker. Assessing the interest rates on different types of debt you hold, and consolidating as much debt as possible into the lowest interest rate possible can help streamline payments so you can start focusing on saving rather than debt repayment. 

In your experience, what are the biggest barriers to achieving financial resolutions, and how can people overcome them?

The biggest barriers come down to two things. The first is high costs. The cost of nearly everything has gotten so high in recent years that it can be difficult to do more than just breakeven. Unfortunately, high costs are out of individuals’ control, but what people can control is setting realistic goals, and making plans to achieve those goals. This is the second barrier. 

When setting goals for 2025, I encourage people to get specific with how they want to achieve those goals. Break it down by month if you need to but just make sure your goals are realistic, specific, and your plan is clear. Auto-depositing funds each month, taking on a second job, or reducing expenses are all tangible examples of how to help improve your financial situation to achieve those financial goals. 

What trends in personal finance do you predict for 2025, and how can Canadians use them to their advantage when setting financial goals?

A bigger move to digital solutions: As Millennials and Gen Z get older and more established in their careers they are also becoming the biggest users of credit and financial services in Canada. There is already a clear trend that these demographics are expecting digital first financial solutions and I expect that in 2025 this trend will continue to accelerate.This generation is already leading the way in being digital-first so I anticipate that 2025 will see financial leaders better catering to this demand with more online-exclusive financial products. 

Loud budgeting 2.0: This past year we saw financial trends like Girl Math, Soft Saving, and Loud Budgeting. Despite interest rates coming down, many Canadians are still feeling the financial strain of our current economy. I anticipate the Loud Budgeting trend, in which people openly share with friends and family when an expense pushes them out of their budget, will be the one that continues into 2025. Going beyond simply sharing individual expenses that are out of budget, I think we’ll see this growing to people sharing larger financial goals with friends and family and making decisions within their social circles that are more fiscally responsible.