Managing money and personal finance is not often ‘front of mind’ when it comes to thinking about lifestyle. This Series of Articles covers the 14 ways in which the brain segments financial spending, the 10 aspects of money happy people, and the 6 critical skills in achieving wealth. By covering the knowledge, skills, and attitudinal aspects, the series seeks to provide a holistic, well rounded series of articles to inform, and educate. Whether thinking about personal finance budget software, or thinking about personal finance in Excel, what matters most is following a system.
How to Stop Worrying about Money – Forever
Worrying about money is pointless, worrying is pointless full stop. better then to take action and by taking action to understand and follow a system to managing money properly, is the first step. When current behaviour is translated into black and white numbers, and the consequences of that behaviour can be seen, and projected forward – it can be a shock for many. It is, however the first step to removing worry forever because it gives a starting point from which to make changes and take action
The Seven Simple Steps
- The first step involves understanding which life stage, you are at, and which lifestage event you are living. Not only that, but also which ones are most likely to have an impact in the near future. For example, newlyweds might consider starting a family, the newly divorced might consider moving home, the recently promoted might consider making investment choices.
- The second step is about collating all the income streams into one place, and making these streams all monthly equivalents by smoothing out the bumps and holes in the financial road ahead.
- The third step is to create a personalised budget which reflects current lifestyle, by tracking spend and where it goes over time, again as monthly equivalents
- Fourthly, creating a budget comparison between the two balances, allows sensible decisions and evaluations to be made about the deficit or surplus.
- The Fifth step is to set and make financial goals as a result of action decisions coming out of the balance displayed,
- The Sixth step is to project a cash-flow forecast and make decisions on the basis of both immediate and near future expectations, balancing the available money and prioritising on spending and investing.
- Finally, the last step is to review progress of forecasts, budgets, and goals over time, to identify further opportunities, and risks to financial happiness in the immediate future.
Hire a Money Coach?
Of course, many people can do this themselves. Some however would benefit from the additional support and assistance of a money coach. Money coaches know how to help people get through life changes, and re-balance the priorities, especially if the life event is a traumatic one, when the last thing needed is financial difficulty on top of emotional stress or grief.
Hiring a money coach is advantageous when tough decisions, complex decisions or painful decisions must be made about money. Also, if there is any risk of ‘giving up’ or ‘leaving it until later’ Money Coaches offer accountability, and an arm to lean on figuratively.