Write it down!

I have written previously about how, if it’s not written down, how do you know it happened (a phrase I stole from Tom Clancy), and last week I wrote about financial plans (and revisiting them mid-year), and that is another excellent example of something you should write down somewhere. If you’re just thinking up a financial plan but not writing it down or building a spreadsheet to monitor it (or some tool like that), how can you tell if you are succeeding? Write it Down!

Without writing down your goals and plans, your mind can play tricks on you, or worse you can forget essential goals you need to achieve to reach Financial Nirvana (as it were)? You don’t need to journal or anything like that; simply creating a document where you write down your goals may be enough to keep them in mind throughout the year. It’s not hard and is a beneficial way to keep yourself focused and motivated.

Examples of areas where you should keep track of it :

• Your financial plan, and goals for the year and maybe for your life
• Every cheque you write, as well as every monthly withdrawal from your bank account
• If you don’t know where all your money goes, write it down every time you spend money, and then at the end of the week, look and see where you spend your money.
• Use a calendar to remind you about when bills are due, monthly payments, birthdays, and anniversaries too (maybe reminders before those last two about when to buy presents)
• Many, many other things that you think you might forget financially!

Modern Tools for Writing It Down

You no longer need a giant ledger book.

Today you can use:

• Google Sheets
• Excel
• Budgeting apps
• Calendar reminders
• Your bank’s spending tracker
• Notes apps
• AI tools

Use whatever works.

The best system is the one you will actually use.