Financial Plan Aversion?

Reason 2: Planning makes it all too Real!

People seem to prefer to have their “head in the sand” and are reluctant to plan for the future. In New Zealand we call this a “she’ll be right” attitude. It’s like the future is too far away to worry about, and thinking that things will magically come right in the long run.

Perhaps some people feel it’s too depressing to think about how poorly they are prepared for the future. Or, they may think they’ve “missed the bus”, or worse, think they’ve got plenty of time before they need to worry about getting their financial future sorted.

Creating a financial plan and analysing where you are at on the journey does “make it real”. It requires you to put numbers and timeframes down on paper and take responsibility. However, rather than ignoring the situation, how good will it feel to have a plan in place for how you will meet your financial goals? How good will it be to know you will not be a burden on others when you grow old? It’s certainly not anyone else’s responsibility, so I recommend you jump in and commit to your future financial success.

Reason 4: Fear of Failure

This may seem like a weird reason for financial plan aversion, but a lot of people are afraid to set goals. As they don’t want to be seen as a failure if they don’t achieve them. However, without clear goals it’s hard to plan and even harder to achieve.

Please don’t let fear hold you back. I challenge you to face your fear. You can do this by taking small steps. Little steps are a lot less scary than trying to tackle a goal in one giant leap. You will see in the financial plan worksheet, available on the Planning Worksheets page, I ask that you break your long-term goals into a series of shorter stages.