There’s a great quote that has stuck with me over the years, and it has offered me simple kick-in-the-rear motivation when I need it.
”It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
With a new year upon us, it’s a great opportunity to stop wishing to be financially organized and start planning how to be financially organized. Projecting, wishing, and agonizing over what needs to be done or what you wish to be done has never gotten anyone anywhere, so make 2023 the year you get financially organized; that’s goal 1.
It’s human nature to gravitate towards the tasks we’re most comfortable with or passionate about in the first place. Common, we can all admit it! When you start the work week, do you ease in by accomplishing the tasks you’ve conquered many times before? Or do you start with the tasks that need a calculated approach and a developed plan of action before they begin? Well, if you’re human like the rest of us, the latter is the least preferred.
There’s nothing to be ashamed of; the mental energy it takes to get organized for a task can be even greater than executing the task itself; this is why so many people hesitate to get financially organized and develop a financial plan of action. The lift feels too hard.
As a family financial planner, I’ve witnessed all different degrees of financial organization, and let me tell you, no matter how lost you feel, there’s always a way to get collected and start fresh on the right path.
Learn About What It Takes to Live a Middle-Class Lifestyle – Read One of My Most Consistently Popular Articles.
Organizing Finances – Different Circumstances, Same Fundamentals
I hate to sound like a motivational speaker or little league coach, but quite honestly, whether you’re fresh out of college or a 30-year career man, the same fundamentals and disciplines of financial organization apply.
Setting up systems to input your financial information is critical. When these systems aren’t set up properly, people tend to let their data sit in various places without much reconciliation or visibility. I understand the resistance – people simply hate data gathering; it’s a pain for most. The key is to do the heavy lift once and have the paths clearly laid out to input information the next time.
Open up Google Maps and try to find directions to Florida. What is the first thing Google asks you? Your current location, right? It is only possible to find where to go if you know where you are starting. From there, Google can offer a bunch of different routes, and you can pick the one that is the fastest, most scenic, and avoids tolls!
Learning to Fly
There’s that timeless proverb about fishing, “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” While that’s a nice sentiment, and I completely agree with the message; I personally like using Tom Petty and Heartbreaker’s song “Learning to Fly” as a substitute for the fishing analogy.
If you’re not familiar with the classic rock song from the early-90s, a lyric goes, “ I’m learning to fly, but I ain’t got wings, and coming down, is the hardest thing.” I find this highly relatable for all learning experiences in life.
Many tasks are more complex than learning the skills once and being prepared for life. Staying in control of finances is often like learning to fly; they’ll be turbulence, unexpected weather, and ups and downs – no one should feel alone when navigating the skies.
As a financial planner in Boston, I aim to help my clients get organized and then set goals for themselves as their lives evolve and expectations change.
All my clients get access to a secure digital platform called “The Vault.” It’s a place for secure financial data storage and an access point for information and insight on a different topic. To put it simply, The Vault=organization.
Please reach out if you’d like to focus on financial organization; I’d love to speak with you and further elaborate on how I can help you feel confident in your financial future.
