Makes good cents! MASTER OF YOUR MONEY

Have you resolved to be better with finances this year? Set yourself up for success with these strategies from property pro Andrew Nicol

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Scare yourself into investing

Ask yourself three questions:

1. "How old am I right now?"

2. "How long have I been working?"

3. "When am I going to stop working and retire?"

If you're 45 and plan to retire at 65, you could be halfway through your working life. So add up your KiwiSaver, any savings and your home equity, then double it. If you repeat the first half of your working life, that's roughly what you'll have for retirement.

Some people will find that reassuring. For others, it's a wake-up call. Perhaps enough to stick to that New Year resolution to be better with money.

This is a bit overly simplistic because your income typically goes up as you get older. Generally, you're not earning very much when you are very young and starting out. But putting that aside, there's often a gap between what people think they'll have in retirement and their future reality of what they'll have.

Get your income up

A lot of people tell you to spend less so you can save more, but that's hard. It's much easier to save if your income goes up – that way you don't have to cut back.