Closing the Gap Between your Financial Reality and Goals
Most of us are failing miserably with our finances. Personal savings rates are at an all time low, retirements savings are non-existent, and overall net worth is diminishing.
Nobody wants to be terrible with their finances, so why are we failing? We’ll take a look at some of the reasons and some small steps you can take to get back in financial shape. It’s never too late to be Smart With Your Money.
What keeps us from succeeding?
There could be a multitude of reasons why we’re not hitting our financial goals. Below are some of the most common.
- A Lack of Personal Finance Education
- Use of Money as a Status Symbol
- More stuff = More happiness
- Lack of Discipline/Responsibility
- Lack of Gratitude
- Negative Impact of Debt
- Choosing Convenience over Savings
- Fear of Missing Out
Sometimes we can get so caught up in our financial fantasy that we lose ourselves in it. When the gap from our financial reality widens we can become overwhelmed and stressed. Managing this gap starts to look like a mountain we’ll never summit.
Most of us have set financial goals for ourselves before. Whether that goal is getting out debt, saving for a house, or paying that credit card down we can find ourselves unable to reign in our finances.
Closing the Gap
When we’re looking at closing the gap between our financial goals and our reality we all have to start somewhere. Sometimes that somewhere is the very bottom, but there is hope.
Even if you have no savings, no retirement, and no net worth you can start to take little steps now to close that gap.
Start by setting short-term, but daring goals. Here’s the process:
1) Keep the long-term goal in mind, but set short-term goals to get started
2)Track your efforts and progress
3)Persist
4)Repeat this until you reach your long-term goal
This seems like a simple process, because it is. The hardest part is getting started, but once you start to see your progress improve that will motivate you even more.
Becoming Smart With Your Money takes persistence in doing the small, daily and weekly goals that you set for yourself. This, in turn, will help you reach those long-term goals that once seemed too lofty to reach.
Listen to the audio below!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
[…] and allowing them to guide our actions. July 4th weekend marked the midpoint of the year. If you created a set of goals at the beginning of the year, now is a good time to review them and measure your progress. If your […]