If your finances went haywire in 2021, you were not alone. A lot happened during the past year, including a full-blown pandemic, working from home, red hot real estate, and more. Here are 5 smart tips to bring back your financial focus, so you are better aligned with your financial goals in 2022.

Get organized with a yearly review.

The first step to managing finances better should always be to get a clear view of your current finances. Make a list of your savings, debts, and assets. Then, use money management apps to track your spendings and investments across categories. You'll find things that may surprise you, like a gym membership you don't use or a streaming subscription that you haven't touched for months. By tracking where your money goes, you'll be able to cut back and handle your finances better.

Automate long-term savings or investment

Automate savings that will help you in the long term, even though they don't seem like a viable idea right now. Automating is the safest and most efficient way to make sure that you have a steady cash flow. In your yearly review, track your spending patterns to figure out how much you should be investing monthly, quarterly, and annually.

Automate your retirement fund investment or health insurance, so your biases don't stop you from making these investments at any point of the year. You can set up automatic debit with your salary cycle to make these investments as soon as there are sufficient funds in your account. Automation also ensures an explicit limit on your spending potential, thus building financial discipline.

Transfer extra money into an emergency fund

The pandemic has clearly shown us the importance of having savings and a nest egg to help you through the tough times.

If you have idle funds sitting in your savings account, go ahead and move some of it over to your emergency fund. It can be set up into a separate bank account for another savings goal. With money sitting in your account, you may be tempted to spend on unnecessary purchases—especially those who have a high number of liabilities. Your emergency fund should withstand at least a six-month-long loss of income. If the money is entirely out of your sight, it is more likely to be there when you need it for a future expense.

If you fail to build an emergency fund for some reason, you could also try taking out a personal loan in urgent situations. Online personal loans are a low-cost option that can be disbursed quickly, so you don't mess up with your other saving goals.

Work on your debt

Thinking about your debts can sure be stressful but ignoring how much debt you have is a sure shot way to plunge into troubled financial figures in 2022. Therefore, take some time to outline all of your debt and the interest rates. In this way, you will prioritize which debt you should focus on paying off first. A smart tip is to pay off the higher-interest debts first. Once your debts are eliminated, you'll have more flexibility to save for future expenses or invest.

Set financial goals

Goals are a solid way to keep you accountable. Figure out what should be your next financial achievement in 2022 and set up your finances towards that. Perhaps you want to get over with your credit card debt or set up an emergency fund for your parents. If a goal appears too big, break it into smaller actionable tasks.

The bottom line

A strong financial portfolio allows you to live life on your own terms, and who wouldn't like that? Keep these 5 financial tips in mind as you step into 2022.