Planning Finances
Create Your Financial Plan
to Match your Future

Planning finances - this is the next step to achieve your future. You looked at what your dreams are, now you can get a good idea on what you would like your future to be.

Once you have determined what you want your future to look like, you have to plan your finances and create your money management plan to match your future. You need to ask yourself "what is it going to take to reach that future?"

Does your future include:
A big house or nice car?
Getting married?
Starting a family?
Travel the world?
Pay for your kids college or Wedding?

Be Clear on Your Future

Whatever your future holds, the most important thing is to be clear on what it is. You have to know what it your prize is. You want to know what it looks like to "win your game" before you can define the game plan.

When planning finances, you have to know what it looks like to win. Just like in a tennis match - i.e. how many points you need to win. If you don't know what you are playing for then how will you be motivated. Just like when Jeff Probst says in the challenges on the TV show Survivor "You want to know what you are playing for?" - the contestants motivation to win multiplies!

So before you go any further in creating your plan, write down the future that you are playing for. Write it out in detail - visualize it.

If you are more visual (picture wise) then do a "Futures Board". Work with your partner or family members. Call over some friends and do it together! Take a piece of cardboard or Bristol board, and spend an afternoon going through magazines cutting out pictures of your future or symbols that represent that future. This is a really fun experience and helps in dreaming. Be as out there as you want to. Remember that saying "If you shoot for the moon, you will land in the stars!" Doesn't sound so bad does it?

What Will it Take to Reach that Future?

So now you know where you are - as you worked on in Step 3 - and you know what you want your future to look like, what is it going to take to win that prize?

Will it mean that you have to:

• earn more money?
• Cut your expenses?
• Cut out needless spending?
• Pay off your credit card debt?
• Start saving?
• Start investing?
• Taking some risks? or maybe being more conservative?

Choices to Make When Planning Finances

While looking at these options you may find that the choices are getting more difficult. You may find that they are easy to make as you are committed to your future. In planning finances some more choices to look at are:

• Getting more training to get a higher paying job
• Starting a low risk business to create passive income in the future.
• Creating a plan to pay off your debt
• Saving more
• Analyzing your spending
• Creating a spending plan
• Learning about investments
• Finding an investment planner
• Learning how to be frugal (not cheap - frugal)
• Opening educational savings plan and using government incentives
• Spending more (maybe you are saving too much and mission out on your dreams?)
• Finding a financial coach to help you with your plan

One of the most important things in creating your plan, is that you get everyone who is involved to buy into the plan. That doesn't mean twisting their arm and doing what you want. It means discussing it with them and showing them what it will take to reach the dream future that you have talked about. Create a team! Make sure that everyone is working towards the same plan, understands what you are playing for and buys into it - or it is doomed to fail.

Now that you have know what it will take to create your plan, the next step for planning finances is to commit to that plan and future.
 

Overall Game Plan
To Return to the Overall Plan

What's Your Dream?
To return to Step 4 - Determine your dream

Commit to your Future
To go to the next step in the Game Plan - Commit to your future.

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