Fourth Friday Financial: Work the Plan!

You have probably all heard those catchy quips like “people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan”.  Another popular one especially in the corporate arena is “plan the work and work the plan”.   Having run several full and half marathons, I can tell you the importance of having a good training plan.  When I first started running, I just went out and ran whatever felt good, but after a few months I realized I really wasn’t getting any better and had more or less plateaued. So I decided to pull together a 21 week running plan that would help me improve.  I will tell you this took some serious getting use to.  Initially, I really struggled with the plan because my body was not used to the discipline.  But a funny thing happened.  About 4-6 week into the plan, I saw a steady improvement and now the miles were starting to go by a bit easier.

The same is true with your finances.  You have to have a written plan.  Some call it a budget, others a spending plan or a cash flow plan.  You can call it whatever you want but if you do not have a written plan “you are planning to fail”.  I know that for most of us when we hear the word budget it conjures up about as much fear as going to the dentist for a root canal.  I confess when Mary and I created our first budget there were some challenges (Mary butting in here- challenges mostly from me digging my heals in about the “B” word) but just like running, over 4-6 weeks we hit our stride together and man it felt good!  Getting a budget in place is work, but like most things in life if you have discipline and perseverance you will succeed.  Proverbs 21:5 says, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit…”

So I would encourage you to get a budget in place.  Keep it simple, know that it will change, and don’t hesitate to ask someone for help!   I (we) am a big Dave Ramsey fan and he has lot of great resources.  And stay tuned, next month I will give some more details on just how to create a workable budget.  As always please shoot us an email if you have questions or have suggestions for our next FFF.

Fourth Friday Financial (FFF) is written by Mary’s Dear Hubby Andy, because he was “voluntold”. 😉 We have been together for 2 decades and you will begin to see that our differences compliment each other well.  Through this monthly series we hope you find practical information for taking control of your finances.