Have you ever decided to go on a diet?
At 9pm on a Wednesday, laying in bed, feeling bloated and uncomfortable after binging an entire family-sized bag of chips, you decide to make a change. Tomorrow, you are going to start eating healthier.
But tomorrow is Thursday. It doesn’t make any sense to start something new on a Thursday. So you make a plan to start your diet on Monday. Monday is the start of a new week, and it feels good to start a new week with a new mindset.
But then Monday comes, and your partner surprises you with a Venti Caramel Macchiato (your favourite), extra whip. You can’t turn down such a generous treat, that would be rude. And since that one drink will make up almost half your daily calories, you might as well start your diet tomorrow.
The funny thing is, there will always be some reason to start “tomorrow”.
Suddenly it will be halfway through July and you’ll still be talking about your plan to eat healthier. All that time will have passed, and you will not have anything to show for your goal.
I have heard similar justifications from potential clients about why they want to delay working with a financial advisor.
“I don’t make enough money. After I get my year-end bonus/promotion/raise then we can talk.”
“We need to accumulate some savings first.”
“We are having a baby soon – it doesn’t make sense to start this when one of us goes on parental leave.”
“I need to pay down some debt or I won’t have enough cashflow.”
“Once we buy a house, then we can focus on other goals.”
But financial planning is about maximizing what you have now.
The strategic decisions you can make as part of your financial plan will actually allow you to accomplish goals and overcome hurdles more easily.
You won’t need to rely on a year-end bonus or raise to increase your cashflow.
Your savings will accumulate much faster.
Your budget will be more manageable on parental leave.
Your debt can be repaid faster and with the least interest paid.
You can save for a down payment much more quickly.
Instead of trying to check a (potentially endless!) list of boxes before you feel you can start a financial plan, your financial plan should help you check those boxes.
It would be like working with a nutritionist when you start your diet. When your partner brought you that surprise Starbucks drink, instead of sabotaging your diet entirely your nutritionist could have made a strategic adjustment. To compensate for all that sugar in the morning, you would eat a protein heavy dinner. Your diet would stay on track. You would stay motivated. You would not have lost another day of progress to procrastination.
You can always find reasons to put off financial planning. But those “reasons” are exactly what a financial plan can – and should – help with. So if you’re wondering: yes, now is the right time to start financial planning.
Schedule a call with me to discuss how a financial plan can help you start achieving your life goals now, instead of “tomorrow”.