Check out the 5 financial tips for the first week of January 2014 and start your New Year with a bang.

Resolutions are just fragments of your imagination. They are not concrete and hardly do any good to you. You make plenty of resolutions at the beginning of your career and then forget them within a few weeks. Set clear goals for your life. The goals are specific, realistic and they do have a deadline.

The deadline induces you to give your best effort. For instance, if your goal is to pay off debt by the end of 2014, then you'll start taking measures to pay down your debts within the next 11-12 months. You'll look for ways to pay back your creditors and strengthen your finances.

You've achieved financial freedom truly when you can give loads of money to your family without any anxiety. Your family will have various kinds of financial requirements from time to time. If you can meet various monetary requirements of your family without worrying about your savings, then it means you've gained financial independence in the truest term of the word.

Several restaurants organize Happy Hour events at restaurants. You can save a lot of money on drinks, food and other things if you go at restaurants during the Happy Hours. All you need to do is check out if the good restaurants are offering Happy Hour events to people. You can even drop in the idea of organizing Happy Hour meals at your favorite restaurants. This will help you avoid exhausting your entire paycheck when you've meals at restaurants with your friends and family.

The cost of the cellphone plans has increased a lot in the past few years. It is not rare to spend around $100 (every month) on the cellphone bills. This amount of money can eclipse the cost of other utility bills as well. Negotiate with your customer service representatives for a cheaper cell phone bill in this year so that you can pay less and save money in 2014.

It's certainly not romantic to ask your spouse show his/her credit report. However, life is not all about love and romances. You may not be able to buy a house just because your spouse's credit score is terrible due to overwhelming debt. You need to check the credit report of your spouse for your own financial well-being. Check out the financial health of a person before walking down the aisle since you would never want to get into unnecessary financial troubles later.

It may happen that your spouse may want to review your credit report too. Show your credit report to him/her. Discuss both of your strengths and weakness so that both of you can work accordingly and have a brighter financial future.

Buy a piggybank and keep it in your house to build your emergency fund. Buy a cute piggybank and keep a certain amount inside it everyday. You can give this piggybank to your kid as the New Year gift. Ask your kid to save whatever he/she can every day or every week. This will help your kid develop the habit of saving from a tender age in a fun way.

Avoid taking out fresh loans if you don't have any intention to increase your debt-to-income ratio in 2014. Don't borrow unless you have no other way to arrange money.