Procrastination is part of human nature. When it comes to financial planning, it’s easy to do the same. But the consequences of delaying financial planning can be direr than in other areas of life.

This article will highlight the potential danger of over-procrastinating in financial planning and how you can make it easier for yourself to get started on the journey.

Why do we procrastinate?

Awareness is often the most critical first step. We need to be able to self-diagnose before thinking about any treatment. So, why do humans procrastinate? It turns out that procrastination is innate. We all procrastinate one way or another; it is part of our coping mechanism to prevent mental burnout. Additionally, many studies and tests have shown that humans are cognitive misers; we will always choose the path of the least resistance when doing something complex.

To many, financial planning is complicated and daunting. If you think about it, our entire life before we officially become an adult and enter the workforce, financial planning may not have crossed your mind. But if you were one of the luckier ones, who had to take on the financial planning role pre-adult, you’ll now see it’s a blessing.

For the vast majority, financial planning is a new skill. Taking charge of your financial planning is essentially opting for the path with more resistance. But, if you are reading this article, you are already taking a small step in the right direction :).

Application

If you understood the message above, you’d get that it helps when the task you aim to do, isn’t the one with the most resistance. Taking baby steps can help you take charge of your financial planning eventually.

Financial baby steps

1. Follow financial content pages

Personal finance is a big topic, and it can be challenging to navigate around it yourself. Here’s where financial blogs (like ourselves) are helpful. The content published can help you to know what you didn’t know. After all, you’ll need to know what to google…to google! And whenever any topics interest you, be sure to dive in deeper. As time pass by, you’ll find that you have acquired a fair bit of knowledge.

2. Budgeting

Budgeting what you do with your salary is more important than how much you earn. Your salary is like the oxygen in your blood; your vein is how you budget. A good budgeting plan allows you to slowly build towards your goal while not feeling suffocated.

It would be ideal to start tracking your expenses for a start. But if that’s too difficult, take a piece of paper and list the stuff you spend on every month. After that, make use of the list and plan your budget around it. It may not be the best budgeting plan, but it is the baby step to get you started. Finally, if that sounds too much, visit your monthly bank statement and understand what you’ve been spending.

If you wish to get a deeper understanding of how to budget, this article that we wrote previously may help.

Initially, don’t be too hard on yourself in getting the correct budgeting ratio. Instead, focus on understanding your money flow and build up the discipline to control where your money flows.

3. Build up an emergency fund

An emergency fund is a stash of money that you can easily access in times of emergency. Everyone has a different ideal amount that the reserve should be. If you are just starting, have an honest chat with yourself; how much do you need in your bank to feel financially secure? Typically, it is a multiple of either your expenses or income. (ie, 6 months of your monthly expenses) If you already have your emergency fund saved up, that’s great! Otherwise, saving towards your emergency fund can be a rewarding process. It can help to build up your capability to save up and delay gratification.

4. Sorting out your insurance

Insurances are essential to your financial planning process simply because their lack can drastically affect your financial health. Sometimes all it takes is one unfortunate event to wipe out your savings. That’s why it is an important first step. Initially, focus on the essential insurances, namely hospital, critical illness, and accident plans.

To make things easier, you may seek a trusted advisor — otherwise, there are plenty of online sources to guide you through the essentials.

If you need a trusted advisor, do check out our profile to find out more about Dare to Finance insurance services.

5. Understanding Investment

Once you have covered steps 1 to 4, you are ready for investment. Investment can be complicated, and many people stop at this step. It will help if you don’t aim to be an investor from day 1 (spoiler alert, it never starts this way). Similarly, in this case, baby steps to ease into it helps. Start with just understanding what investment is.

If you have no interest, you will be better off outsourcing this step. After all, not everyone needs to be an investor, and it’s always better to be invested than not.

6. Map your financial journey

After doing all these, fine-tune what you are already doing. Without an end goal, it can be challenging to stay motivated in the long run. That’s why this step is essential.

This step focuses on coming up with a price tag for the things or milestones that matter to you in life. For example, it could be yearly travel, retirement at 50, or even a monthly shopping fund.

Once you’ve come up with a list, open up an excel sheet, start putting in the numbers, and see how much you need to set aside, either savings or investment, to achieve your goals. Of course, we understand that it is easier said than done. (That’s why we’ve created software to help you with this. The software is still in beta, but if you want to try it, feel free to drop us a DM. You can skip this whole step and get guidance on it)

Next steps

Financial planning is an ongoing process. Even the most well-thought-up planning will need to change from time to time. Nevertheless, having an outdated map is better than having no map. You’ll be better off with some planning.

If you can build on your plan consistently, you’ll be in better control of your finances in no time.

If you ever need someone to speak to, to navigate through any financial mess you find yourself in, you may speak to our dedicated team on it.