Leveraging financial planning

Our society is born to work and we work to live as if we have no choice. Although we can escape during weekends by doing what we want, whether it is to travel, sleep or shop, when Monday arrives, we are back to our daily almost mindless grind.

Money is actually everywhere. It helps us function daily: commuting expense, eating, social life and so forth. However, my point is that chasing more money is a futile journey that only leads us to stress and perpetual frustration. If our goal is more money, we will never have enough.

My frustration with our current financial information online and even offline (those spread or said by Financial Salespersons or so-called advocates) is that people seem to assume that when it comes to financial fitness, it’s going to be a really painful journey due to depravation, cutting costs, expenses or the like.

Although there is what you call “Lifestyle Inflation”, this is still controllable. Lifestyle inflation is a phenomenon which occurs when there is an increase in spending when there is an increase in income.

With proper financial planning and some “automated” measures, it really is not that complicated or even painful at all (unless you are in some sort of huge debt that is – which is a different scenario). With the right guidance, you can even set things up once and the money will then work for you.

We have to understand and accept that Money is a tool. If we can understand that it’s something we can use to help us achieve what we want, we can set more appropriate goals for ourselves. This way, you can take responsibility of your life and choose to live the way you want to live without exerting wasted energy on worrying.

Financial Planning is like having a coach

Coaches aren’t hired to flatter you, but rather to guide you and tell you if your journey is going to be fairly easy or difficult. Note that not everyone’s situation is the same. A person that has more assets (Jewelry, Real Estate) has a different path (or Financial Plan) than a person with a six figure salary only. Everyone’s path is different and the starting line is different too.

Then the goal setting takes place and we try to dig into what the client’s motivation is or their ‘Why’ for getting into this financial planning session. And when I ask people to put a ‘cost’ to their goals, most will be shocked or even cringe. This is understandable, but I always tell them that when we put a cost to a goal, it makes it even more realistic and we are one step closer to achieving that goal (Example: Dream House, Car, etc..).

You don’t have to keep doing something you don’t want to do for all your life. We can live a full life instead. Money is the tool, and investing will be the leverage.

Do you know how you’ll use your money, today and in the future, to help you create what you want in your life? Let’s make it happen!

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The writer is an RFP® — registered financial planner of RFP PH, Licensed Real Estate Broker and Director of CERTA, Inc.; To know more about financial planning and training services, find us on facebook.com/certa.inc or visit www.certa.ph