Money Talks Podcast: How to take control of your finances in 2025

When it comes to financial resolutions, the common advice is to spend less and save more. But is it really that simple?

In this episode, author of personal finance blog SG Budget Babe Dawn Cher shares with Andrea Heng how to diversify income streams, overcome inertia to start investing and know when is a good time to review one's financial portfolios.

Here's an excerpt from the conversation: 

Andrea Heng, host: 
So we know the drill, Dawn. Spend less, save more - but surely it's not that simple ... and I think it's especially hard to do it this time around, because things are a lot more costly nowadays. Is cutting back the only answer to having more cash in the bank?

Dawn Cher, financial blogger: 
No, it's not. But I have to say two things. First of all, it is simple but it's not easy. It's easier to just spend. It's easier to indulge. It's easy to just go out for a good meal to reward yourself after a hard day of work ... but it's more difficult to prep that meal and buy groceries so that you save a little bit more. And it's even harder to do that consistently when you have many things running on your plate. 

The second thing ... is cutting back the only way? No, it's not. And in fact I feel cutting back is indeed getting harder. The cost of living has increased. If you dine out a lot especially, food costs are up by around 30 per cent. So for people who dine out really often, that's where you now need to start to decide whether you want to do the harder part of prepping your own meals, or potentially keep up that dining out experience, but cut back on other areas in life.

However, I always feel that there's always a limit (to cutting back) because the max you can go is just how much you spend. There is another way to it, which is to increase your earned income. 

Andrea:
Okay, talk to me about that.  

Dawn: 
So when you increase your earned income, whether through active or passive sources, you can actually get a lot more money versus what you spend.

So when you increase that and still keep your spending moderate, you can actually get a bigger difference than simply trying to cut back, because there will be also this point when you save until you're just miserable and (thinking) what's the point of life?

Andrea:
Exactly. Then it feels like, "Oh my God, I'm working so hard to save and nothing is coming out of it. Is this really the only answer?"

Dawn:

We cannot control if other people raise their prices, but we can moderate our spending and still keep to our budget. We might have to increase that budget goal, but at least we're still keeping to one.