You Don’t Have to Know Everything About Money Right Away.
It takes time to get your finances in order, and it can be frustrating when you’re in the beginning. Let’s say you want to get out of debt , but it will take forever and you are ready to start investing. As Colin Ashby of Rebel With a Plan reminds us, you don’t have to do everything all at once.
Ashby explains her own experience learning how to clean up his finances. He started investing, but then found himself compulsively checking his accounts, focusing on his own capital. He writes (italics ours):
I started asking questions and micro-managing everything.
- Why is there such a low rate of return ?!
- Should I sell it?
- Maybe I should invest in some new funds. * explores obsessively for the next half hour * Let’s see if I can save a few dollars by doing it this way and not the other way around.
Personal finance, at least for me, is about keeping an eye out, focusing on the things in front of you, fixing them, and moving on to the next. Taking small steps one at a time to reach bigger goals … Those monetary “shoulds” immediately seem necessary when you read about them. I have to create a 10k, 15k, 20k, etc. Emergency Fund, I have to check my brokerage account a lot, I have to do this and that and so on. Sometimes we like to focus on too many things when it’s best to start with one.
I did it when I started saving too. I obsessively updated my accounts to see how much my funds increased, even if it was just a couple of dollars. I became obsessed with my budget and finances.
The point is, tidying up money is great, but money should be a tool, not a goal . This does not mean that you should not be aware of your next step – financial literacy is important! You just want to focus one step at a time to keep moving forward. Start with one aspect of your financial life and don’t be discouraged if you don’t fix it overnight – it’s an ongoing process and you’ll learn a lot along the way . Check out the full post to find out more.
Don’t look down | Rebel with a plan