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Jeffrey Hutton is a Morningstar contributor.

Last month, Geoff Missen, chief executive officer of MBA Partnership on the Gold Coast, took on a new client.

She is a recent graduate of medical school. Among her aims is paying off her credit card debt - all $50,000 of it that is spread across nine cards.

Missen drew up a budget that would see her finally repaying the last of the debt in over two years.

"As a doctor she thought she would be making good money and could afford to pay it off," Missen says.

"That money could be put to better use. Now she is going to struggle to get debt free."

Missen's experience underlines an apathy among some when it comes to financial planning and even goes some way to belie notions that Australian consumers are being more careful with their money, stashing up cash piles, and paying down debt should the world economy suffer another serious shock.

That's a pity, say financial planners, because lower interest rates and lower limits on superannuation contributions means that 2012 provides a golden opportunity to make consumers financially fit.

"With interest rates coming down it will be easier for mums and dads to meet their monthly obligations," says Viviane Parsons, senior financial planning manager with NAB Financial Planners.

All financial planners stress the importance of setting a budget. And just as important is being rid of high-interest, unsecured debt like credit cards and other consumer finance, Parson says.

"Being aware of what your outgoings are is very important. If you have savings and you have debt it's better to put it towards your debt. You're only going to be getting a lower rate of interest on your savings and higher interest on your debt," Parsons says.

"I come across that quite often. People have $5000 or $10,000 in savings and outstanding credit card debt. That money would be better used against the credit card debt."

But talk always comes back to budgets.

"Spend less than you earn," says Gavin Latz, director of financial planning at CBC Financial Advisers in Sydney.

"It's about cashflow management."

Latz says setting a budget isn't something you do once on a rainy day at the kitchen table. Monitoring spending over a period of time, say, a week, will provide an accurate snapshot of spending habits.

Give yourself a cash allowance of about 10 per cent of income, set aside money for fixed costs such as your phone, mortgage or rent and other bills, and then use a credit card to monitor the rest of your spending.