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There is no more important time to consider the need for financial success. More and more we are seeing examples of financial instability at the highest levels. To be financially successful, we must grasp some simple principles that can help us on our journey. With the right learning and the right doing, we can make financial success a reality.

To achieve financial success you should consider following these steps:

• Start with a Plan

• Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt

• Learn All You Can About Finances

• Spend Less Than You Earn

• Maintain Good Financial Records

• Look for Opportunities to Invest

As a start, this animation reminds us of of three key ways to realise a successful financial journey. This is achieved through discipline, dedication and commitment. Stated simply, it shows how you can be financially successful. Notice how the three runners are working, both, in unison and in unity.

Likewise, each runner, or component, is important to your success. Consider them as running a marathon for your financial freedom. They are running for you!

Start with a Plan

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” – Benjamin Franklin

This is the time to look at what you’re doing financially. Have you been making the right decisions in the past? A financial plan helps you establish accountability for your spending. And it helps you place proper focus on what you’re doing with your money.

It’s a lot easier to lose track of money that you’re not paying attention to. Without a plan, it becomes easier to spend money unnecessarily too.

One of the worst feelings to experience is to see your money gone and you can’t really account for how it was spent. This is a clear sign of not having a solid financial plan. Our recent blog on financial commitments for 2021 shows how you can commit to your plan with four simple steps.

Pay Off Your Credit Card Debt

Part of your plan should include reducing credit card debt. This is one of the best decisions you can make financially. When you free up your money that’s tied into credit card debt, it enables you to have money to invest, save and grow financially. 

We discuss proven strategies for eliminating credit card debt in our blog linked above. Whichever method you choose, know that your discipline and commitment is what’s required to make it work.

Learn All You Can About Finances

Never fall for the get-rich-quick shortcuts that promise financial success in 1 or 2 easy steps. There’s a reason that those who offer those (false) opportunities are rich. They are (literally) banking on the ignorance of those who come to them. In this case, what you don’t know can hurt you.

You owe it to yourself to learn all you can about your money!

“But I don’t have time to learn about money.” There’s always time! Learn or lose.

“It’s too hard to understand all those numbers.” If you can understand a simple credit card or bank statement, you can learn to make sense of the numbers. Learn or lose.

In this information age, there is no excuse for not knowing anything. All information, any information, can be right at our fingertips in a matter of seconds. You don’t have to spend hours upon hours on it. You can commit to just a few minutes regularly to your financial success.

Maybe you’re thinking you don’t have much time to sit down and read. Well how about time to listen? Are you into podcasts? You can listen to them while driving, relaxing or doing chores at home. How simple is that?

Here are some of the best financial podcasts you can listen to and learn the how-to’s of financial success. Next Advisor provides a list of the Best Finance Podcasts of 2021. Give them a listen and see what you can learn.

Spend Less Than You Earn

Whether you know who the Jones’ are or not, there’s no need to try to keep up with them. The idea of spending money to appear to have it altogether is a sure formula for financial failure. But we want you to be financially successful.

When you spend less and save more, it enables you to have money for emergencies, for investing, for paying off your children’s college, for your mortgage, or for a dream vacation. Spending less is the discipline of the wealthy.

You can always find ways to spend less. To do so, take a look at how you’re spending your money now. One simple method is the 50/30/20 budget guideline. This approach suggests that 50% of what you spend should be on needs and necessities, 30% should be on wants, and the remaining 20% should go into savings.

This spending rule was made popular by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in her book, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan, written with her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi. The book is a “personal financial guide…that offers a new way of thinking about and managing your money that will allow you lifelong emotional peace and financial well being.”

Maintain Good Financial Records

There’s nothing like scrambling through your financial records when it’s time to file your taxes, only to find you lost out on allowable claims. I know I put that receipt somewhere!

Keeping good records will help you stay on track. This is important when filing for any income tax deductions. This simple step can help you when it comes time for filing taxes. Yes! Good financial records can help to put money back into your hands.

It is vital to keep these three components (discipline, dedication and commitment) active and integral to your journey.

Remember financial success is a journey not a destination.

Maintain the discipline that got you where you wanted to go, remain dedicated to the goal, and continually commit to the process. Just like a marathon, there are some turns in the road that may prevent you from seeing the finish line while you’re running. But if you want to obtain financial success, you must keep going, you must keep pushing and you will reach your goal.

Once we get a strong grip on these vital components, the journey will become easier and financial success will not just be an idea but it can and will become a reality. Thus the key to becoming financially successful is to begin the process of rehabilitating your finances through discipline, dedication and commitment.

Let 2021 be the year that you decided to do all that was needed to secure your best financial future.

We would love to hear how this information inspired you. We enjoy sharing these insights to further your success. You can learn more about how to do so by contacting us directly at Empowering the Possibilities, or through our Facebook page. Please feel free to share this information with others, and enjoy your best financial success possible.