Do you have a life dream or goal, but don’t know how to achieve it? Do you find it difficult to envision yourself on the right path to your life-long goals? Sometimes it can be difficult to even know where to start, but financial life planning can be helpful.
If you want to take real charge of your financial life, this article is for you. Here you’ll learn what financial life planning is, why it’s important to establish a financial life plan, and where to start with your plan. Go ahead and move on towards your goals!
What financial life planning is?
Financial life planning is the process of formulating a life-long financial plan to achieve your life goals. It’s about understanding your relationship with money, aligning your actions, and establishing steps to move towards your life goals.
In short, financial life planning is a holistic way to plan your life and finances. To be successful, the financial life plan must ensure that you develop healthy financial habits that can be carried for the rest of your life.
Life plan
To successfully make a financial life plan, you need to know your priorities and life-long goals. These might not always be about money and finance. They’re also about asking questions about your values and mindset. A way to get to those answers is by designing a life plan.
Life planning is about painting a picture of the life you want to live. It may include retirement, more travel, helping your community, or just making your loved ones happy and taking care of them in a more comfortable way.
A life plan is a roadmap to your goals in life, a personal guide to living your life the way you want it to be. Life planning will help you make decisions based on your priorities and what you need to do to achieve your goals.
Financial planning vs. financial life planning
A traditional view of financial planning focuses on a specific goal. It may be purchasing a house, paying off debt, paying for wedding festivities, or a dream vacation. Anyhow, a financial plan lays out the steps to achieve a specific financial goal.
On the other hand, financial life planning is about making permanent changes in your life to achieve your goals. It focuses on redefining your values and actions in a way that helps you get where you want to be.
Financial life planning complements traditional financial planning: each one covers an important part of the pathway to your goals. Traditional financial planning it’s important to make immediate changes, while financial life planning is what drives you to make permanent changes.
Why should I make a financial life plan?
Taking care of your financial life is more important than ever — especially in the aftermath of the pandemic: 89% of Americans had negative changes in their lives after the pandemic began, according to a survey by Pew Research Center.
Whatever the circumstances, it’s crucial to know what’s possible for you: reassess your goals and priorities, keeping in mind any permanent changes you want to make in your life. This is where financial life planning comes in handy.
Financial life planning benefits
Financial planning is about more than just saving the most money you can. It’s about taking charge of your actual situation and making the best outcomes from it. When designing (and following) a financial plan, you will be able to see a clear path to your long-term goals.
It’s also about having peace of mind. By aligning your financial life to your values and goals, you get a sense of certainty and fulfillment in your actions. Plus, there are actual monetary benefits to it, such as being able to build a nice savings cushion, investing money, or building assets — whatever may be important to you.
Savings
An important part of financial life planning is establishing a savings plan. It can start as little as a few dollars a month — the important thing is maintaining a habit of putting money aside.
A lot of people get intimidated by the idea of starting a savings plan because they believe they don’t know how to save money, but that’s not true: everybody knows how to save money.
When you stop and think about your priorities, you know where you can cut corners. It may be the daily latte, the takeout meals, or the urge to go to a big sale. Whatever the case, it’s about small changes that add up to big savings.
Investments
When you already have a comfortable amount of savings, it’s useful to start thinking about investments. Even though investments can be intimidating for beginners, a financial life plan can help you make sense of it according to your own goals. That way, you aren’t just investing money, you’re making an investment in yourself.
Assets
A financial life plan can make it easier to build assets: buying a house, or a vehicle, and securing a financial future for you and your loved ones. These big-ticket purchases can be hard to achieve — that’s when a solid financial life plan can help you. If you need a little push, a loan might be a good option.
Where should I start?
You don’t have to follow a definite roadmap to financial life planning. A successful financial life plan it’s more about what works for you. When starting your financial life plan, it’s important to incorporate the following key elements:
- assess your financial situation;
- establish your life-long goals;
- design a pathway that can take you from A to B.
There are many professionals dedicated to working with you to formulate a financial life plan, but if you can’t or don’t want to seek professional advice, start your financial life planning by yourself — all it takes is the will to make that move.
OneBlinc can help you!
If you need a little to start your financial life planning, OneBlinc has a Toolbox designed to help you evaluate all important aspects of your financial life. At the OneBlinc Toolbox, you’ll find a complete list of services that can help you save money and achieve your goals.
OneBlinc is a financial agency that specializes in providing financial solutions to all kinds of people. At OneBlinc, you’ll find a team of experts dedicated to helping you make the best decisions for your financial life.
About us
Unexpected things happen more often than we would like them to. That’s why OneBlinc is here to help, whether you have an emergency or just need that extra cash to go through the end of the month. We believe in people, and we understand that everyone might need money someday, somehow.
