So much has been talked about several times about financial management in books, articles, videos and many more but I discovered that many of us still struggle with Financial management. I actually realised it is not enough to just talk about Financial management when you don't have proper or what I called the effective Strategies towards that financial management. It is very important that we come to a point where we grow to understand that managing our finance is critical to the Financial security that we want at some point in our lives.
It is not just acceptable to spend based on emotions and societal pressures as many of us always interpret it to be but it actually goes beyond that actually and which often makes us live above our means and puts us into debt.
I will have loved to talk about managing debt issues today but let me stick with the topic and probably my next post will actually address that in a well detailed manner. We should make sure that we plan our Finances and what we can afford to spend before our salaries comes and also plan for miscellaneous too so as not to get very rigid.
I will be actually talking about setting strategies that can help you achieve financial management most especially this year. One of the things that actually affect my finances in person is because I was not living with strategies to manage my finances. I have made my mind not to repeat that same mistake this year and I believe it is necessary that we should look into this together also.
The first strategy I will mention or talked about is the need for you to actually set your priorities straight. Truly, I can say that this is where it all begins. How we spend depends largely on our individual priorities per time. Now I am not denying the fact that there is a need at times for us to attend to some essential needs, of course there are essentials like food , rent , Family etc , but variables like , fashion , career , personal development, and social life , etc depends on our individuality and priorities. So it's important that we sit down and first of , set write down things that are important for us in order of their importance and allocate percentage to them. In all make sure some fixed percent is allotted for savings.
The second key strategy which I strongly believe everyone or majority of us is aware of but still find it difficult to cope with is for us to actually avoid unplanned spending. It is necessary we do our best so as to avoid unplanned emotional spending like night outs with friends you're not expecting to meet , or buying a product you just saw randomly on social media , etc. We have seen people get into debt I mean huge ones due to impulsive spending and social pressure , a night out with friends taking an awkward turn and everyone being pressured to spend beyond what they are willing to in a quest to impress one's peers. We should actually come to a point where we understand that not all our wants we should attend to. Not everything you should actually spend on, it is dangerous living life like that actually.
The third strategy we will discuss is for you to have this mindset that You are not everybody. This is very key because the truth is, competition and this mentality of trying to prove a point has actually affected a lot of people to the point that they don't realise that they are unique on their own. One of the enemies of our Financial management is essential Social and Community pressure. Everyone goes to see the Superbowl game , everyone goes to the Club , everyone has that Bently and so on. A way to avoid this is to associate with people with the same priorities and goals as yourself , that way you create a healthy environment for yourself that shields you from all the outside noise which is mostly fuelled by Social media.
The last point I am actually going to mention before dropping my pen today is for you to stay ay Focused and flexible where necessary. Most times it gets mentally difficult following a strict spending habit and all so it's important to alternate your spendings, what it means is , setting aside more money for certain needs at different times, it's okay to spend more money for heating the house during the winder and Ok to spend more money for roof repairs during the rainy seasons. In essence , know when to vary your spendings to soothe the conditions at hand for your own comfort.
I believe strongly that I have been able to establish that effective Financial management is critical to living an overall comfortable life. One should set their properties right and avoid impulsive spendings , social pressures and buying unnecessary things. We have also stressed the need to be flexible and not hold on to one formulae for spending but tilting it improving our fund allocation to fit conditions as they Change. Above all, for you to stay through to all these strategies which I have mentioned above is for you to remain discipline. There will be temptations or urges that might want you not to keep up with those strategies, you need to be disciplined that no matter what, you are staying true to what you have achieved.