We celebrate Financial Literacy Month with our theme for 2023: It's Never Too Late. Check out how not giving up can lead to some wonderful things.
It’s Never Too Late…To Learn About Your Finances
Income brings money into your account; expenses pull that money out. While that’s a simple point of view, it’s often where many people stop when thinking about their finances. Most of us understand the concept of saving our money, but there’s often a roadblock on how and where we can save even more.
Seek out articles and blogs that focus on explaining financial terms and strategies to help you with your personal finances. Dozens of podcasts dedicated to this subject are available to you. YouTube has tutorials designed to walk you through more complex financial tenants.
Investigate your spending tendencies. Those coffee runs can add up. A quick bite at your favorite fast-food restaurant could be costing you more than you think. Dive into your expenses, seek out how others save, understand the concept of a budget.
You may know why your paycheck has 401k contributions taken out of it, but you may not understand the matching contributions policy your company offers. It’s never too late to learn all about your finances.
It’s Never too Late…To Tackle Your Debt
Being in debt can be a stressful experience. You may feel like you’ll never come out from underneath the pile of debt you have already incurred. A more optimistic person may disregard debt issues hoping their financial situation will improve. The truth is that bemoaning or ignoring our debt does not solve the problem of lowering our debt.
But it’s never too late! You can develop a comfortable repayment plan. There’s debt counseling and debt consolidation programs designed to help you get past your debt. The possibility of debt negotiation or settlement is available.
It’s Never Too Late…To Get Organized
With the continuing improvement and efficiency of banking technology, it’s easy to place all our bill payments and money transactions on automatic and not think about them ever again. This may lead to the false narrative that you’re organized. But bills go up, subscription services that you’re paying for become forgotten and you’re soon over-drawing from your accounts. Panic may set in. Disorganization rears its ugly head.
But there’s always hope. Take control of your automatic payments. Dive into your bill pays and subscription services. Yes, some hard choices may need to be made, but the more you’re making those choices, the more you’re learning about your personal finances and, the more organized you will become.
It’s Never Too Late…To Set Goals
Once you increase your knowledge in the personal finance space, plan to tackle your debt and make a concerted effort to organize your finances — the next step is set those goals. Family vacations that you might have thought out of reach. Big ticket items like a new vehicle or an edition on your home. The ability to pay for your child’s college education.
These goals and more are closer to reality now that you’re taking control of your financial situation.
It’s Never Too Late…To Have a Financial Plan
The strongest asset of a financial plan is its adaptability to the ever-changing world, so in essence, you’re always developing a new financial plan when the time comes to make changes. So, if you’ve never had one before, starting a financial plan later in life is not as rare as you might think. Which leads to…
It’s Never Too Late…To Meet with a Financial Professional
Many of us live in the present, sometimes stuck in the past, but very few of us think about the future. When we get a new job, our paychecks increase, we think about improving our lives in the immediate. Years pass, people get married, kids are born and soon you’re looking at your bank accounts, wondering how you’re going to pay for college. How will you save for your retirement? You’ve never had one conversation with a financial professional. What are you going to do? Is it too late?
You’re not alone. Plenty of people start late in their careers when they need to save for school and retirement. No matter when you start, the important point is to start. Click here to meet with a professional today to answer all your questions.
It’s Never Too Late…To Follow your Dreams
We all have dreams. You may have forgotten yours, but it’s in there somewhere. Gnawing at your psyche. Many people consider the practice of following your dreams a younger person’s game. Those are the ones that gave up on their own dreams.
It’s not too late for you. You’ve taken an active role in solidifying your financial outlook, which might have been unrealistic when you first started out, so why would chasing those dreams be any different?
If you take only one thing way from this article, it should be this: Nothing is impossible. All goals are attainable. Proper planning can lead to success. And of course, it’s never too late!
CRN202604-4140236