Personal Financial Planning Is For Losers
Personal financial planning is becoming more and more popular nowadays. Almost all major national newspapers have a section on personal financial planning. Insurance companies has been trying to shift their marketing strategy, albeit slowly, from directly selling insurance to making people realize the importance of having a financial plan. As the economy of our country keeps improving and people have more disposable income, it seems cool nowadays to talk about having a personal financial plan, obtaining a three-letter designation in the field of personal finance or attending seminars on personal finance and investing.
So what’s the fuss about personal financial planning? Don’t you know that personal financial planning is for losers? Here’s why:
1.) Having a personal financial plan help you lose worry and stress—While it is not a guarantee that you will have a stress-free life if you have a personal financial plan, it will certainly help reduce the stress in your life of having to go through the rat race not knowing whether you saved enough for your children’s education, retirement and other dreams and goals that need financial backing. The future is always unpredictable and uncertain. Uncertainty causes us to worry, thereby causing stress. The way to reduce this stress is to have a financial plan. Just like any plan, a good financial plan must be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bounded). For example, if you plan to retire at a certain age with a certain amount of money on a monthly basis without having to lift a finger to work during your retirement, you need to know exactly how much you want on a monthly basis during the time of your retirement; how much that amount will be a number of years from now adjusted for inflation; how much you will save now on a monthly or yearly basis to obtain that amount; how much interest should the money you are putting aside for retirement earn on an annual basis; and what is the best vehicle of investment wherein you can put the said amount so that you will be able to reach the amount that you need when you reach the age wherein you plan to retire. Making sure that all these factors come together so that you will retire comfortably doesn’t just happen by chance; it needs to be planned precisely. The best thing about having a personal financial plan is not only achieving your goals or reducing stress in the future, it is also the satisfaction of making a plan, executing the plan and achieving your goals when the time comes.
2.) You will lose a lot of wasted time if you have a personal financial plan—We are all limited in the time that we spend on this planet, hence, it is very important to make sure that every moment we spend here is worthwhile. Since our goals and dreams need to be backed up financially, if you have a comprehensive financial plan, you will make sure that every second counts to reach that goal. If you don’t have a personal financial plan, you will just go through the motions of life wasting your time doing things that have no contribution at all to your dreams or goals. Having a financial plan gives you a sense of mission, purpose and direction.
3.) Having a personal financial plan will help you lose the negative things in your life—Since you become more concerned about achieving your goals as backed by your personal financial plan, you will end up becoming a better version of yourself as time goes on. Slowly, but surely, you start to lose the negative things about yourself. You become a more focused individual, concerned more about achieving what you want in life, and willing to give up the things that will stop you or will slow you down from achieving your goals and dreams. As mentioned earlier, our goals and dreams need to be backed up by finances in order to achieve them. If you have a goal or dream but you don’t have the finances to back it up, what good will it do? It will remain an elusive dream. Hence, the result of having a personal financial plan will eventually make you a better person.
With all these things you lose by having a personal financial plan, surely, you will want to have one. Indeed, having a personal financial plan will make you a loser, a loser for the better.
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Zigfred Diaz is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines based in Cebu City. To learn more about financial planning, attend the RFP program in Cebu this April. To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph or text <name><e-mail> <RFP> at
0917-9689774.
Source: http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/personal-financial-planning-is-for-losers/
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