When was the last time you sat down and drew up a plan for your finances? 

 

We all have colorful dreams and ambitions. Buying a new car, owning your own home, going on that long-deserved vacation, getting married or self-sufficiency during working and retirement years but somehow there just never seems to be enough money to do any of them.

 

Surprisingly however, most of your financial fantasies are actually less “dreams” and more achievable realities, all you need to do is identify and set your priorities in a process we like to call “personal financial planning”.

 

 

Personal Financial Planning is nothing more than the practice of making the most of your financial situation, regardless of what it is. The goal here is to achieve personal economic satisfaction through the most efficient and effective money-management habits. Through this process you control your financial situation by dealing with what matters most first.

 

 

Because a penny saved is a penny earned that can be invested. A well thought out financial plan can and most certainly will improve the quality of your life and with it, your personal satisfaction. This is achieved by reducing the uncertainty you may feel about your future needs, brought on by what you can and can’t afford. Some of the specific advantages you can get from personal financial planning are:

 

Become effective in obtaining, using and protecting your wealth throughout your lifetime. 

Get control of your financial affairs by avoiding excessive debt, bankruptcy and dependence on others for economic security. 

Develop a sense of financial optimism by looking to the future, anticipating expenses and achieving your personal economic goals.  

 

 

 

As is the case with every new practice, before you jump in with both feet it’s always advisable to fully examine your current situation while weighing the pros and cons. In this first step, you must assess your current financial situation with regard to income, savings, living expenses and debts. Keep it as detailed as possible, “how much you make”, “how much you owe”, how much you save (if you save at all)”, “how much you spend on upkeep”, etc. A great place to start is by listing your  current assets and debts, if you have any.

 

 

After determining your assets and debts, you have to set your objectives. Do you want to pay off debts or build more assets? What level of financial security are you looking to achieve? 

 

The key is to properly prioritize in setting your goals. Differentiate “what you want to do” from “what you must do” and then set your goals. These goals must be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.

 

You may have to cut back a bit on some of your already established practices to achieve your goals but don’t fret, the juice is definitely worth the squeeze.

 

 

Full disclosure, the key isn’t to “get rich”. As attractive as that sounds to most people, becoming rich is seldom practical or long-lasting. The goal is to achieve and maintain financial comfort. Now that your goals are in place, you want to determine how you can effectively meet them. At this stage, it is important to outline all the various resources and logistics currently available to you as well as considering any new opportunities available.

 

 

In all things, always have a contingency plan. Making a foolproof plan B is an unspoken part of making the most foolproof Plan A. With that said, you should craft an alternative means to achieve your financial comfort should your first measure not pan out as and when you’d like it to. Remember, having a back-up plan does not make you a pessimist or imply that you don’t believe in yourself; it’s only a way of reducing the risk of losing everything in a worst case scenario. Your backup strategy is your insurance policy--it protects you in financial contingencies.

 

Having established the plans you have made to achieve your dreams, you must now ensure that you take the necessary actions to see them realized. All the preceding planning we’ve mentioned before now will prove to be utterly useless if not even a single action is taken to make them happen. 

 

At this stage, you may need assistance from others. For instance, you may use the solutions and services provided by a universal bank to mobilize savings and grow your investments with their bancassurance products to support your cushion (back-up) plan.

 

The final and also one of the most important steps is to continue on your journey in a disciplined and unflinching manner. Stick to the plan and practice your financial planning habits to the “T” in rain or shine. Periodically, you may have to revisit and revise certain aspects of it depending on new developments in your life or finances to make it more practical and achievable. However, your consistency, your ethics and your priority of achieving financial comfort must always remain a constant.

 

And that's all there is to it, complete financial comfort within arms reach. A mere 6 steps are all that stand between you and your dreams coming true.

 

Enjoy some of the world’s top class global investment opportunities right here in Ghana with Fab Investing.

 

At FAB, we are happy to be your companion on your journey into financial freedom. You're more than welcome to choose from our wide range of day-to-day banking services and investment products fashioned to guide you towards your goals as quickly and efficiently as possible.