We’ve all been there. You make a promise to yourself that you’re going on that revolutionary new diet starting TOMORROW.
However, by the time Sunday rolls around you don’t even remember the promise anymore, or you may have kept it for 2-3 days but the hamburger discount coupons were too good to pass up on.
Starting a plan can be incredibly easy and everything seems to work at first, but as time passes, your motivation may begin to dwindle. The same thing happens with money. Financial planning at the very start is miles apart from maintaining it years down the line.
Despite this, you can still get yourself to stay motivated. To save and invest efficiently, you must press on until the very end. Keep reading and this article will walk you through the process!
Why is personal motivation in finance so important?
Everyone has started a project that they set aside for later. By the end of it though, the frustration that this leads to usually causes it to never be completed at all.
Financial management isn’t an exception to this rule. But have you ever stopped to think about how personal motivation influences your financial health? Starting something new can be extremely challenging for some, but persisting in it can be even harder.
Saving money isn’t a 100m dash, and it’s closer to a marathon. It takes time, financial education, patience, and the ability to focus on your goals.
What are the obstacles to personal motivation in finance?
Staying motivated in the long run isn’t the simplest thing to work towards. You will also have to prepare for the unexpected, and once you do, you’ll have to be ready for it at any point in time.
Murphy’s law dictates that if the worst possible thing can happen, it likely will, at the worst time possible even. This can discourage many, and it’s completely normal to feel this way, which is exactly why only the strongest of us manage to press on through adversity.
However, financial planning may allow you to dance around all of these contingencies with ease. This is an important step, but it needs to be accompanied by other things. If you have an emergency fund, a problem may pop up out of the blue, and the money you saved to accomplish your goal will be gone.
Let’s go over some of the obstacles that can stop you:
Earning little: It’s common to earn less than you’d like, but you can’t let that stop you from achieving your goals. In fact, with planning, you may be able to maximize the use of your money. Matching your lifestyle to your paycheck is the key to financial success.
Impulse shopping: Ever heard the phrase, “don’t go to the grocery store hungry”? Yeah, buying stuff can be therapeutic at times, but if you do this without thinking, your budget will suffer.
Lack of financial education: This is a point that we keep coming back to. Financial education is not just a theoretical study of economic terms and acronyms. The bulk of it is learning to make good choices with your money. You can then use this money to save or invest.
These are just a few points, but with a thorough analysis of your financial habits, you’re sure to find more.
Now let’s move on to how to deal with these challenges. Below are 5 of the best tips on how you can stay motivated through this process. Let’s get started.
5 tips on how to save and invest without losing focus
One of the important things about motivation is learning to do things even if you’re not excited about them. We call this discipline, and the sooner you adopt it, the better you’ll be at financial management.
Most of us don’t want to wake up early and head to work, but there’s no good reason to validate that sort of behavior. In fact, most people do it because they know their work will pay off in the end.
Now for the tips:
1. Make goals possible
Set short, medium, or long-term goals. What usually happens is that we have a hard time thinking about the future. Because of this, having a 5 or 10-year goal becomes much more difficult.
But to reach your financial goals you will have to make use of the time you’ve got at your disposal. When you have a long-term goal, the ideal way to stay focused is to break it down into smaller goals.
If you’re planning on saving $100 a month, you could potentially set a shorter goal to cut $25 a week.
2. Renegotiate your debts
One thing that can get in the way of progress is having a massive amount of debt. You must also include them within your financial organization, and the sooner you pay them off, the faster you’ll get the ball rolling.
If you want to stay motivated, you’ll also want to catch up on your bills. A spreadsheet will help you keep track of everything.
This way you can visualize what you still have to pay and how long it will take. It also allows you to negotiate and get discounts while knowing that you’ll meet the deadlines.
3. Have an emergency reserve
Having an emergency reserve can get you out of a load of trouble. Even if you plan for contingencies, you cannot control everything eventually you will have extra expenses.
But, by being prepared for anything that may pop up, you’ll feel much more secure and stay motivated through adversity.
4. Increase your knowledge of the financial market
Maybe you’ve already invested a portion of your money, or at least understand how interest, fees, and other things work. On the other hand, you may just be starting out and are at a loss as to how investing works. Regardless of which applies to you, there’s always more to learn, and if you’ve got the time for it, it’s never a bad thing to read up on.
Reading, studying, watching videos, whatever you think is necessary, will help you remain motivated.
This way you will know where you’re going and how to get there. Instead of feeling lost with every situation you face, you’ll know how to get around them all with ease. And even when you don’t know, you’ll go back to studying and learn something new from your experiences.
5. Invest your money
Saving is a good practice, but increasing your income is what’ll help you reach your goals.
At this point, you may want to put all the tips together. Start slowly, study, and gradually increase your involvement in the projects. One of the things you can do to get started is an EOBI plan.
That’s because this modality can be used as a tool to help you do two things: save and invest. In addition, you can diversify your goals, whether it’s leaving an inheritance for your children, buying a new house, or as a supplementary retirement.