The other day I read in a book about personal finances a phrase that read more or less like this: “I never know how young you are to think about your financial future”. What a lovely and true phrase! We all trust that the future is far away and then, we never take precautions about it.
How many of us have friends who think about their retirement since they were young? Surely almost nobody, realistically, as a young person nobody thinks about that, because we think that at the age of 20 we have a determined life. The problem comes later, when you turn 30 or 40 and you begin to see that you have to deal with other things. You would like to return the time.
On the other hand, who has friends who spend their money and time squandering in their youth? Everybody! They will not let me lie, we all have those friends who during the first years of youth, where energy is never consumed and productivity is higher, they do not take advantage of it in good things. Most likely, many of us have also been like that.
And of course, this has nothing wrong, it is always good and necessary to have fun. The downside is when those incorrect decisions of the present will greatly affect our future, such as the time of retirement, for example.
By experiences very close to me I can say with ample assurance that people regret not having financial awareness during their youth. It is not even necessary to reach a higher age to do so, I know of cases in which at 35 or 40 years are already suffering the ravages of poor financial decisions.
Many say “If I had saved a little” or “If I had not spent so much on parties”, among many other complaints. And if you, who are reading this, you felt identified with the previous examples, do not worry, you can always find a good solution that will help us face the days of the past.
Let’s see 3 steps that will put your present finances in order:
1.- Analyze your current situation: To be able to put a solution to your current financial situation, it is necessary to first make an analysis of what is happening. Not only is it enough to say “I do not have money” or “I can not afford to buy the car of my dreams” because that does not tell you anything about the situation.
The important thing about doing this analysis is that you can have enough data to develop an action plan that will lead you to the best solution. Remember that it is not only about improving your present economy, but about doing it to have and enjoy a better future.
2 .- Define where you want to be in a specific time: Surely this is the easiest point to make because we all know or imagine where we want to be someday. The most important thing is to put specific things and times, for example, in a year I want to be traveling in Europe for a month.
You can set various goals, the important thing is that all are realistic and achievable according to the analysis you did in the previous point, but you should not abuse the number, it is best to make a small list and as you keep complying, update that listing .
3.- Create a budget: Once you have done the previous steps, you know where you are financially and also where you want to be, it is time to define the path you must start to follow to achieve all the goals you set.
For this, the most advisable thing is that you work on making a budget as specific as possible. Make columns where you keep track of your monthly income, your monthly expenses, the extra expenses that may appear, as well as your savings. It does not matter if you spent a single peso, you must register any movement that your money has, only then you will have total control of your money.
Remember that the mistakes of the past can not always be corrected, however, the economy and personal finances tend to take radical turns that benefit our pockets. The best thing is to save the beautiful and fun moments of the past and put together a good plan of action that allows us to resurface in the near future.
