I’ve been there before, freaking out as the end of the years rapidly approaches and frustrated that I hadn’t reached my financial goals. And, there is just a point where you just have to acknowledge that it’s likely that you won’t achieve your financial goals this year. Don’t panic, there are a few things that you should consider.
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Your Financial Life is an UltraMarathon
Recently, I am about 2 months away from paying off the remainder of my unsecured debt. As I wrap my head around this new reality that I’m working towards, I started thinking a lot about…what’s next? The reality is every single day I make financial decisions. Those decisions include, but aren’t limited to:
- Working more-Currently, I’m focused on working more and growing my income moving into the next year. In thinking about working more, I’ve spent a lot of time figuring out the best way to approach this work.
- Saving more-As a natural spender, saving money is a process that I will be focusing a lot of time on.
- Figuring out if I should make incidental purchases like cups of coffee or the occasional happy hour. Those small expenses add up, but I’m not one to deny myself beyond what I’ve
Here’s the thing, as long as you’re living and breathing you will constantly be confronted with financial choices. And, one of those choices is to be kind to yourself when you don’t achieve the different goals that you’ve set.
Didn’t Achieve Your Financial Goals?
Yes, it’s nice to hit your goal by the date that you set-but in my view, it’s just nice to actually hit your goal. I used to have thousands of dollars in credit card and other ridiculous debts at the beginning of my financial journey-now, I have $5,000 left to repay. That’s pretty awesome.
My hope is that I will knock this out in the next 2 months. But, it’s likely that it could take longer than that. Does a slightly longer timeframe negate the eventual outcome?
Nope. It doesn’t.
In a 6 year debt-repayment journey an extra month is painful…but, at least it got done.
Here’s the thing, you will need to reenergize and reboot each phase of your financial journey. Let’s walk through why I think that dealing with personal finances is an ultramarathon:
- First-Learn basic financial education at some point in your life. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, in my case it has been later than I would like.
- Second-Avoid financial mistakes so that you don’t have to clean them up. Oops, made that mistake too. Have spent years cleaning them up.
- Third-Saving aggressively for retirement starting from the womb. That didn’t happen either.
The Reality
All of the hard lessons that I’ve learned about money I can apply to my current financial life. And, as each year goes by, I can apply my additional wisdom towards making better financial decisions.
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I technically failed my main financial goal. I did not pay off my debt in three years. I guess the good thing is that I learned a lot and will make some good strides in the future.
I feel like you didn’t fail. Maybe if you were still accumulating debt…then I might side-eye you. But, you’ve been hustling and focused. I feel like you’re getting to kick a lot of debt to the curb in 2019.