If It Isn’t Broken, Don’t Fix It!

Recently, I was talking to someone about money management programs.  The question on the table was, who had the best personal finance program?  Was it the folks with the steps and task sheets or the folks with the affirmations and meditations?  Which advice was better, paying off your mortgage as soon as possible or paying the minimum monthly payment on it while you divert a larger portion of your income to investing?

To be honest with you, I can’t say for sure.  That question is a little complicated because personal finance is not one size fits all.  Your life goals and situation may call for a different course of action than the conventional wisdom dictates.  I also believe that, as someone else said to me recently, you need to “marry the woo with the do.”  So, affirmations and meditations definitely play a role in all areas of your life, not just the practical parts of day to day money management.

If one size doesn’t fit all, what’s the magic solution that will make you independently wealthy and financially sound?  While I can’t give you a specific answer as to the right course of action for you, I can tell you this, there is no one right way to skin this cat.  And believing there is one right way to do it can be a one way ticket to serious disappointment and frustration. 

Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.  For years, I was beholden to the idea that “personal finance” was for people who lived in the nicer part of town and got to eat blueberry pancakes for breakfast.  (Funny side note, as a kid I thought blueberry pancakes and tuna salad sandwiches were rich people food).  I had two fundamental beliefs about money that were wrong, wrong, wrong. 

First, I believed only rich people were privy to the secret language of money management.  I really did think that.  To make matters worse, my second flawed belief was that there was only one RIGHT way to manage your money.  If you didn’t know it and couldn’t do it, then best to not even try, right?  After all, you could fail and look like an idiot in front of some blueberry pancake eating rich person.  Then where would I be?

I labored under these delusions until I got out of law school.  By that time, I was a little more confident about my smarts and decided it was high time to have a look see about this money management stuff.  I went to the library and checked out every book on the “personal finance” shelf.  I read them all and didn’t stop there.  I started buying books, too.  From there, I started paying off my unsecured debt, opened my first IRA, saved up a small amount of emergency money and bought a house.  These days I’ve achieved most of my big money goals, including paying off my student loan debt early.  Yay money management!

Did I do everything the way I was supposed to?  Well, no.  One benefit of going to law school is learning how to think outside the box.  That skill helped me figure out what I’m telling you now.  General advice is just that, advice designed to assist the broadest possible audience.  You can tailor it to fit your needs once you get started and figure things out a little.  However, allowing yourself to believe you don’t belong to the money management club or aren’t smart enough to figure out how to manage your money is the first hurdle many people need to overcome.

You begin to overcome this personal finance block by finding your purpose and figuring out what you want (find your magic number!).  Then you set about paying for it and whatever plan accomplishes that goal for you.  Remember, personal finance isn’t one size fits all.  So if something is working for you, by all means, keep at it.  If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it!

Does this sound familiar: “I’m an all or nothing person, one slip leads to complete failure.”  I’ve had many, many people tell me that about all kinds of things, their finances, diets, housekeeping, gardening and etc.  I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to fall off the wagon.  It’s okay to blow your diet once in a while or to forget to pay a bill.  It happens because life happens.

The problem starts when you allow yourself to drop anchor right in the wagon rut where you fell off that tailgate.  You’ve seen all those goofy motivational posters and heard all the tired sayings about getting back on the horse and not giving up?  Well, the funny thing is, they are right.  You only well and truly fail when you stop trying.  I’ve beaten this drum plenty in all of my content and it’s as true now as it ever was, failure is inevitable and perfectly okay.  What isn’t okay is quitting and giving up.

Now that we’ve cleared up the which way is the right way to do things question, I do want to leave you with two important rules that you need to stick to, no matter what.  First, you must, MUST, learn, understand and apply the rule of compound interest.  Time and compounding are how janitors and librarians become millionaires.  Nothing against janitors and librarians (had both in my family, just sayin’).

The second rule you need to stick to is paying off your debt and staying out of debt.  Unsecured debt is the killer of long term financial prosperity.  The longer you have it, the more it costs you and that means less money you can save (read invest to harness time and compounding), for the future.  These are the critical things you need to know.  Of course, there are three more rules that make up my five basic rules of personal finance but, to get those you’ll have to get a copy of my book!

I hope you will feel more confident about managing your money and less afraid of making mistakes.  Now go out there and open up an IRA.  You’ll thank me in a few short years!

See you later, alligator!

Joy Alford-Brand

The Dollar Lama

P.S.  Make sure you check out my online courses, books and resources, too!  Investing in your money management education is an investment in yourself.  That’s the best investment you’ll ever make, I guarantee it!  Don’t forget my weekly Facebook live videos on Facebook.com/newcashview, Instagram @joyalfordbrand and on my YouTube channel NCVTV. You can catch me twice, on Mondays between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. for my Monday Money Management Minute and Thursday evenings between 7:00 and 9:00 (Eastern Standard time), for my weekly NCVTV episode. They are packed full of useful and entertaining money management information! If you’ve missed any NCVTV episodes, you can see the latest on newcashview.com or you can check out my YouTube channel and get caught up! You can get there by clicking here. Remember, like and share the NCVTV videos on Facebook and all your social media platforms, so others can benefit from them, too!