The turning of the calendar is both arbitrary and powerful. Each day is just another day, but when the year resets we feel like the slate is cleaned and we can begin anew.

That's especially true for our finances. For many of us, the holiday season may leave us a bit stretched, and not just at the waistline.

Here are five ideas to help you get a good start for 2010 -- not just a new year, but the start of a new decade.

1. Set up a savings plan.

Ever since the financial tsunami swept all before it in September 2008, many people have saved furiously. That's a good thing, but there's a temptation to lose that discipline once the storm clouds start to break.

While the economy remains fragile and many people are still out of work, signs of recovery are becoming more and more apparent. Among your New Year's resolutions include a savings goal that is a function of your regular income, even if it's not a large amount of money. Maintaining the discipline is crucial. The amount of savings can grow over time.

2. Build a rainy-day fund.

Advice on how to save for retirement or your kids' college is plentiful. Less plentiful is guidance on what kind of rainy-day fund you should have.

A rainy-day fund, which your savings plan can feed, should cover about six months of income. It's a form of personal insurance, valuable in these rapidly changing times.

This fund should be kept in safe and easy-to-tap assets. Laddering certificates of deposit out six months is one way.

That means buying CDs of one month, two months, etc. to six months. As each CD matures you buy another six-month CD to keep the ladder in place.

3. Migrate to a debit card or to plastic that must be paid each month.

Cutting up credit cards makes a lot of sense and eliminating all credit-card debt makes even more sense. The interest rates associated with credit-card debt can easily overwhelm the returns you can get elsewhere.

But the world is moving away from cash at a rapid clip. The notion of having no plastic is barely feasible. Try buying a plane ticket with cash and see what that sparks in the government computers.

So what kind of card to have? A debit card acts just like cash, which makes it the best option. You can spend only what you have.

Second best are charge cards that require payment in full each month. Ever since I paid off my last credit-card debt in 1996, I have only used a charge card or a debit card. It gets tough, especially around big events such as Christmas. But it's nice to not have a tempting and expensive option in the wallet.

4. Rebalance your investments.

Last year, rebalancing meant adding to stock exposure after a year of steep stock losses. That notion felt mildly crazy at the time, but it proved wise.

That's because stocks rallied from the March lows and put in a remarkably strong year. Now, most of us are probably too heavy on the stock side of the equation. Moving some of the money into bonds or even cash to regain balance would be prudent.

5. Plan to reward yourself.

New Year's resolutions usually don't stick and a big reason is that it's all like eating sawdust. Go on a diet, save money, don't spend. We start the year like ascetic monks and by February we discover that the monastic life isn't for us.

Therefore, it's important to have one resolution that is fun. A little sugar with the vinegar.

For myself, it means saving up money for a special family trip later this year. This saving is in addition to the savings plan established in the first resolution.

If we keep the first four resolutions, we'll reward ourselves for getting the new decade off to a good financial start.

日历牌的翻页既随意又意义重大。日子一天天地过去，但新的一年到来时，我们的感觉却是翻开了全新的一页，可以重新开始。

对我们的财务状况来说尤其如此。对很多人来说，过节可能让我们绷得有些太紧──不只是腰带绷得太紧。

以下五点建议可以帮助你2010年有个良好的开端，不只为新的一年，而且为下一个新的10年。

1. 制定攒钱计划

自2008年9月金融海啸将一切席卷一空以来，很多人都在疯狂地攒钱。这是好事，不过一旦风暴的阴云开始消散，这样的自律就可能丧失。

尽管经济依然脆弱，很多人仍待业家中，复苏的迹象却变得越来越清晰。在你的新年决心中，制定一个攒钱的目标，与你的固定收入挂钩，即使攒下的每笔钱并不很多。保持自律非常重要。攒下的钱能随着时间的推移而增长。

2. 建立一只应急基金

有关如何为退休和孩子上大学攒钱有很多的建议。但说的较少的是应该建立哪种应急基金。

应急基金的钱可以来自你的攒钱计划。它应该相当于约六个月的收入。这是个人保险的一种形式，在眼下这种迅速变化的时代非常重要。

这笔钱应该放在安全且容易变现的资产中。存入六个月的阶梯式定期存款是一种方法。

也就是说存入一个月、两个月……直到六个月的定期存款。每笔定期存款到期的时候，你就再买一笔六个月的定期存款，以便保持阶梯式存款的延续。

3. 改用每个月必须还款的借记卡或其他银行卡。

剪碎信用卡很有道理，消灭全部信用卡债务就更有道理了。信用卡利率能轻易地抹消你在其他地方获得的收益回报。

不过，现在世界正在迅速摆脱使用现金的年代。不用信用卡的想法几乎是行不通的。试试用现金买机票，看看这会在政府的电脑里引起什么样的反应。

那么应该拥有什么样的信用卡呢？借记卡就像现金一样，因此是最佳之选。用借记卡，你就只能量入为出。

第二个最佳选择是每个月需要全额还款的签帐卡。从1996年我把最后一笔信用卡帐单付清之后，就只用签帐卡或借记卡了。虽然不容易，特别是在圣诞节这样的大日子前后。不过钱包里没有诱人而用价不菲的信用卡，也不错。

4. 平衡投资

在去年，平衡投资就意味着在一年的股市投资巨亏之后增加股市敞口。当时这种想法感觉有些疯狂，不过事实证明是明智之举。

这是因为股市从3月份低点大幅上涨，一年的涨势都非常强劲。如今，我们大部分人的投资或许都过于偏重股票。把投资股市的一部分钱用于债市甚至是持有现金，以恢复投资平衡，这会是一种谨慎的做法。

5. 奖励自己

新年决心常常无法坚持下去，一个主要原因是这个过程味如嚼 .节食、攒钱、不花钱。我们以苦行僧的姿态开始了新的一年，而到2月份之前，却发现这种生活并不适合我们。

因此，制定一个有趣的新年决心很重要。要学会苦中作乐。

对我自己来说，这意味着为今年晚些时候的家人特别出游攒钱。这是在第一个决心中的攒钱计划之外的。

如果我们坚持前四个决心，就可以为给未来10年打下一个良好的财务开端奖励自己了。