Personal Financial Planning
I am a planner, I plan every little move I make. I am so good at it I only write down my mid term goals and long term goals. This has help me to complete almost every thing I have done through out my life financially and other wise. If you take a look around you everything you see was planned in one way or another. It was the plan of Sony, Compaq, Gateway, Dell, Apple, or which ever brand of computer you are using to get you to buy it. If Apple had failed to plan its design, manufacturing, advertising, and distribution you would be using another brand right now.
Everyone needs to have a personal financial plan, without it you will be flying blind, you would not know where your money needs to be or where it is going, but amazingly almost everyone I know has a stupid look on their face when the subject arise. Yes, it will take time and research to put together a good financial plan and yes it is just as boring as watching a box of printing paper, but take a minute and think of the alternative. Think about how much planning it takes to put together a decent birthday party, and think what would happen if you did not take the time to plan said party. Your little sister might end up being the DJ, Pizza Hut would be the caterer, your living room would be the dance floor and only the people that feel obligated to celebrate your B-day would drop what they are doing for your last minute invitations. Well, finances are far more important than any birthday party, but most people spend more time planning a party then they do their financial future.
The #1 answer I get when I ask why don’t you have a Personal financial plan is “I don’t know where to start.” In his book I will teach you to be rich Ramit Sethi makes two unarguably point. He states that you don’t need to be a financial expert and starting making your financial mistakes early is better than not starting at all (Not his exact words but I’m feeling too lazy to go and get the book right now). The odds of you making a catastrophic mistake is pretty much the same as not having a personal financial plan at all. So, my answer to everyone that gives me the “I don’t know where to start excuse” is “$1,000 in a Roth IRA will earn you no less that $3000 in profit you never have to worked for In 40 years. If you add another $1,000 a year you will earn over $100,000; now thats a pretty expensive excuse.”
I do not think personal financial planning should be an option, it should be taken out of people salaries along with taxes, but it is an option. It is left up to you to prepare for your future and you can make all the excuses you want because your not cheating anyone but yourself and your children.
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