5 Habits to Financial Success

During my career, I have had the opportunity to work with people from all aspects of life.  I learned very quickly that financial success is defined differently for everyone.  I also found out that there are common habits for people who achieve their unique vision of financial success.  In this blog I will share five of the most common habits:

1. Giving Back – Most people will tell you to save your money.  Save early, save often and save a lot.  While saving is important (and I will get to that later), having a deep connection to society and your community will give you a much deeper fulfillment.  Giving back will look different for everyone.  We all have causes we are passionate about.  And we can give our time, our money or just help build awareness.

2. Set It and Don’t Forget It – My favorite infomercial of all time is the Ronco Rotisserie.  He has the catch phrase, “set it and forget it!”.  While that may work for a delicious meal of rotisserie chicken, it will not work for your finances.  I found most people are very good at creating a budget, but it is more difficult to monitor that budget and adjust as needed.  There is plenty of technology now that can help track your expenses and if you are against putting your information on the web, simply opening your monthly bank and credit card statements is a great place to start.

3. Save for Most Impact– Most of us understand we need to save.  The hard part is figuring out how much and for what purpose.  Lucky for you I have developed a Return on Life questionnaire you can fill out HERE.  Ideally, you want to address all areas of your life and what provides you the most joy (now and in the future).  And that is where you should devote most of your time, money and resources.

4. Auto Save– Once you know how much and why you are saving, now is the time fire up the Ronco Rotisserie and “set it and forget it!”.  If you can automatically save from your paycheck or transfer from your checking account on a regular basis you will be more successful in saving for those important items.

5. Ask a Lot of Questions– My most successful clients are the ones who ask me a lot of questions.  They try to gain perspective from all angles before making big decisions.

With all these habits, the one thing to remember is your definition of financial success is going to be different than everyone else.  Try not to get trapped in keeping up with the neighbors and stay focused on your unique path to fulfillment.

Please feel free to contact me anytime to discuss this topic or any other in more detail.