The world of personal finance is huge. In fact, it may seem overwhelming. Don’t be alarmed, though! As with any subject, beginning to learn personal finance can be overwhelming, but you don’t need to try to learn everything at once.
You may have a multitude of problems in your financial life and it may seem like you’re fighting hundreds of fires all at once. In situations like that, sometimes it is best to just get started on simple tasks, and accomplish one thing at a time, until eventually all the fires are put out. It’s true that some of the fires will grow bigger as you’re focusing on the one, but that may be better than spreading yourself (or your resources) so thin that all the fires slightly diminish, only to come back at a later time, leaving with you nothing left to deal with them.
In order to get started, and focus on one thing at a time, you might want to take a look at the basic steps of personal financial planning.
There are five basic steps to financial planning.
- Figure out how you are doing financially.
- Set a goal. (It’s a bit hard to plan if you don’t have a purpose, now isn’t it?) You might want to include both short-term and long-term goals.
- Figure out how you’re going to accomplish your goal.
- Act upon what you figured out in step 3.
- Regularly (and not infrequently) reevaluate your goals and your financial situation.
Seems simple, right? Well, that’s because it can be! It might not be easy, but beginning to learn about financial planning but it is definitely doable. And no matter where you are in life, you can benefit from following these five steps. They might help prevent unpleasant surprises, or they might help you figure out a plan for quenching those fires in your life.
Some useful resources for beginning the process of financial include:
- A 16-minute PowerPoint video presentation from professors at CSUN about the financial planning process.
- Information about how to get started from the Financial Planning Association’s official website.
If it all still seems overwhelming, and you would like professional help, you can get more information about Certified Financial Planners, and other financial planning professionals.
Continue to the Basics.
