Turning Your Finances in the Right Direction

Dear Younger Me. 

The premise of the song, “Dear Younger Me”, written by the band, MercyMe, is to provide advice to a younger self.   I love the idea of writing a letter to myself filled with advice of what to do and not to do in life and with life.  My mature perspective would come from grounded experiences that taught me valuable lessons. 

Of course, my letter would be written with the anticipation that I would listen to myself.  But who am I trying to fool?  We all know when we are young we feel invincible. We have our whole lives in front of us filled with opportunities we hoped we would and could achieve.  Yet somehow life turns in the completely opposition direction than we predicted.

…Of course, we will make mistakes.  Sometimes, the worst mistake is mismanaging our finances.  Painful and sometimes devastating mistakes may destroy our credit and dreams.

I wished there was a magic fix to make our financial woes go away.  Unfortunately, there isn’t one.  Sheer determination and a solid commitment are the tried and true ingredients.  Let’s not forget…education is a requirement to turn your finances in the right direction.

When we desire to learn something foreign, a couple of basic examples instantly come to mind. To properly handle a gun, we would take a gun safety course.  If we were interested in quilting, we would sign up for a sewing class.  Naturally, when we are fine tuning our finances, we would look for suitable venues.

Three Options to Improve Your Financial Outlook.

1.  Dive into a book written about finances.  

Any one of these three might be of interest.  Remember to take the ideas which fit your situation best.  Not everything written is applicable to your needs. 

Moolala, Why Smart People Do Dumb Things with Their Money (and What You Can Do About It) by Bruce Sellery.

Smart Couples Finish Rich, Steps to Creating a Rich Future for You and Your Partner, authored David Bach.

How to Eat an Elephant, One Day a Month to Financial Success, written by Frank Wiginton.

  

2. Follow-up on helpful articles found at websites. 

The key is to find information which interests and applies to you and is easily understood and applicable.   Money matters do not have to be complicated. 

Get Smarter About Money     

Financial Planning for Canadian 

Retire Happy     

3.  Work with a Certified Financial Planner^® professional. 

When we need advice, the best place to find helpful solutions is from a professional.   You need to be assured your financial plan fits your goals and dreams.  When you are not certain whether you are headed in the right direction, you may check with a CFP® professional.


The Tools.

Napoleon Hill wrote, “Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right’.  Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”

This quote seems to fit with anything new we may try. We can’t expect perfection with our first attempt.  This is especially true about financial roadblocks. The language may be difficult.  Our understanding of the method may be awkward.  And even fear may hold us hostage, pushing us to talk ourselves out of turning things around with our finances.  Our willingness to try is the first step.  With some encouragement, know-how, and stamina anything is possible.  I believe our attempts will be worthwhile.

   

What is your roadblock stopping you from turning your finances in the right direction?  Please share your concerns.   

What Bugs You about the Pieces of Your Financial Puzzle?

Have you ever solved a jigsaw puzzle?  Anyone who has learns something through the process.  One thing is certain, puzzles require patience. Without patience you are hopeless especially when the puzzle has many pieces. The more complex the puzzle, the more difficult it is to solve.

Did you know there are appropriate steps to solve a puzzle? The first step is to begin with what we know.   We first look for the outside border pieces. These straight edges help define the boundary. Then the other pieces are sorted into piles by colours, patterns, and shapes.  Particular attention is given to the tiny details on each of the pieces. These intricate details help place the pieces in their rightful place creating a final beautiful image.

No doubt, we may not be interested at all in solving jigsaw puzzles.  Ever!  But perhaps we are interested in solving our financial puzzles. There’s a correlation between solving puzzles and fitting the pieces of our finances together so we achieve and create a beautiful image of our lifetime goals, dreams and aspiration.

Looking at the disarray of our finances may resemble looking at pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  We can’t see the whole picture when the pieces of our finances look like they’re broken and shattered into one big heap.  Debt here and there! Savings who knows where! Lifestyle expenses unknown! Consequently the more pieces to our financial picture, the more confusing and complex it can be.

Working slowly through the intricacy of our financial pieces is the same advice a puzzle solver knows only too well. When we work too long on any project, the tendency is to become overwhelmed. The frustration leads to giving up on the puzzle.  Most puzzle-solvers know their limitations. They walk away only to return later with a new burst of renewed energy and fresh eyes to see something new they hadn’t seen previously.

We know a myriad of steps could solve our financial puzzle.  Here are a few simple rules that we can extract from puzzle-solver enthusiasts and apply them to our needs.

1.  Grasp the big picture.

I am an advocate for putting your goals in writing.  When you refer to your list, you will not be swayed by distractions.  Your vision will be clear; and you will focus only on your concrete desires.

2. Be determined to see the picture come together one piece at a time.

When you first sort through your lifestyle needs, debt obligations, and savings plans, you may not see the whole picture.  But if you are persistent and determined to create a beautiful image with your finances, you will be astonished with the results.  You must tell yourself that giving up is not an option. 

3. Work with a partner.  

There are many advantages to having an accountability partner. Two such advantages are motivation and clarity.  When you find yourself in a slump, knee-deep in financial confusion, you need someone who will shine a fresh perspective on your circumstances.  We could all use someone to help us see what we can’t understand, analyze what we don’t how to fix, and especially achieve what we didn’t think was possible. Your spouse, friend, family member, or financial planner could be that person in your corner.

These three simple, yet concise, steps sound so easy when you are making sense of your financial puzzle.  The power is in knowing what to do and doing it. Any time you embrace knowledge, you are empowered to change your circumstances.  When you manage your money and debt wisely and save for the future, you will achieve what you want to achieve.

So one question remains…“What bugs you about the pieces of your financial puzzle?”  

Post your question below!  Every question deserves an answer.