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The benefits of financial planning are huge! When you have a financial plan, you are significantly more likely to be financially successful.
Just think about the impact a financial plan (that you follow) could have on your life.
You would know where you are spending your money, you would have an emergency fund, you’d have money in your retirement accounts.
You’d actually have money to pay for vacations, car and house repairs and you wouldn’t be stressing about purchasing school supplies for your kids.
I know it sounds crazy, but the number one benefit of having a financial plan is the ability to plan for all of the expected and unexpected financial aspects of your life.
Why Personal Financial Planning Is So Important
From a young age, my parents taught me the advantages of personal financial planning. I’m proud to say that early indoctrination works. I’m not perfect as all my many financial mistakes show, but the foundation is there.
As I’ve grown, made poor money decisions and paid the price for those decisions, I’ve been reminded again and again how important knowing and understanding the benefits of financial planning can be.
I was recently discussing why I’m tired of feeling ashamed of financial success with a friend. As we were talking, I realized how much of a benefit good financial planning has had on my life and the lives of my friends and family.
We aren’t wealthy, but because we have consistently created spending plans, managed our money and lived with a budget our net worth is positive.
You can have a positive net worth if you create a personal financial plan for your family.
People who manage their money, tend to be happier.
It isn’t so much that they have more money (although that tends to be a nice side benefit), it is more they know how to manage themselves and set healthy boundaries. They have self-control.
Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does buy security and peace of mind.
If you want to create your first personal financial plan please download my Free PDF Personal Financial Plan Template.
To learn how to create a personal financial plan check out this post – How to Create a Personal Financial Plan.
6 Advantages of Personal Financial Planning
1. You’ll have money
This one seems kind of obvious, but when you plan with a purpose and manage your money effectively, you will actually have money. It may take some time to get out of debt and get organized, but as you learn to manage your money you will discover a whole new world of possibilities.
It is significantly more fun to manage your money than to have it manage you.
I’ve lived with money and without and I definitely like living with money.
I personally believe that the number one benefit of financial planning really is this simple – you’ll have money!
If you are struggling to save money I highly recommend, giving Digit a try. I seriously love, love, love this app. It is an algorithm based savings plan that automatically pulls money from your checking account into a separate savings account.
You can read more about it in my post – Digit Review: How to Automate Your Savings Plan in 5 Minutes.
For me the benefit of personal financial planning isn’t really the money, it is the peace and security that comes from having money. Money opens doors and allows you the freedom and flexibility to change your life.
When I got pregnant recently being debt free completely changed our decision making process. I can’t imagine the stress we would have felt if I had gotten pregnant when we still had $446,000 of debt.
Related Post: How Being Debt Free Can Positively Impact Your Life
2. Financial Plans Force You To Budget
When you understand the advantages of personal financial planning, you do a budget every month.
I know that some people say that a financial plan is another name for a budget. Yes, a budget is important, but a full financial plan takes you beyond your budget.
However, the budget is the key to having a successful personal financial plan
People hate the dreaded “B” word. I used to be one of those people until I actually learned to budget.
Hopefully, like me, you’ll find that once you began using a budget you’ll have more freedom.
I developed a spending plan which allowed me to pay all my bills on time. The extra money no longer disappeared into a black hole. I may still waste money, but I know exactly where that wasted money is going (I like to fool myself into thinking this means it is okay).
By prioritized saving and getting out of debt, I’ve found I had more money than I thought. When you pay off debt, you are essentially giving yourself a raise.
Budgeting is the single best tool you’ll find for developing a personal money plan.
If you are struggling to plan and execute a successful budget you may want to consider a Percentage-Based Budget. I personally believe it is the easiest budget to master.
These posts will help you get started:
- Is A Percentage Based Budget Plan Right for You?
- How To Set Up A Percentage Based Budget
On a side note, there is something magical about setting financial goals that you are excited to achieve. It makes it so much easier to avoid lifestyle inflation and stay on your budget.
3. A Personal Financial Plan Will Help You Get Out Of Debt
Most people who have a money plan prioritize debt reduction. I’ve told our story of paying off $293,000 in debt in five years. There is no way we could have done this without developing a plan.
When we started our plan, our monthly debt payments were $4,175, now it is just under $1,200 for our home. Think about those numbers for a few minutes. Yes, our income is decent, but we were paying just over $50,000 towards debt every year. Now we pay less than $15,000.
The decreased stress load is worth every sacrifice we made while on our debt free journey.
I promise that if you get out of debt you will be happier. Your marriage will improve, your stress will decrease and you’ll have more money.
Getting out of debt will completely change your life.
Check out how to begin your debt reduction journey for more of my story.
If you are looking for a simple resource to help motivate you to start dumping debt, I highly recommend this book. Because of this book, we paid off $293,000 in five years.
4. Financial Planning Helps You Start Planning for Retirement
I’m turning 40 in a few weeks, so this one is really hitting home for me. I want to retire in style. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees on this one.
Even though there is no way to guarantee returns, you should still begin your retirement planning as soon as possible.
The power of compounding interest is amazing and the sooner you start the better off you’ll be.
It is hard to save for a goal that is so far in the future. You have to constantly remind yourself of the benefits of putting money away and keep your vision of your retirement future in your mind.
If you are struggling to get started with retirement planning because you don’t know where to start I highly recommend this post – Is a 401k Worth it? Why I’m dumping my 401k and why you should too!
Knowing that you are prepared for retirement and will have income to live on is one of the major benefits of financial planning.
5. A Personal Financial Plan Gives You Peace Of Mind
I personally believe that financial stress is one of the hardest things for people to deal with. It can cause enormous strain on all of your relationships and negatively impacts virtually everything you do.
I know amazing couples that have ended up divorcing because of money issues.
When everything you do is focused on making ends meet, it is significantly harder to be happy. You literally have to focus all of your energy on just getting by.
An advantage of personal financial planning is the peace that comes from having a personal financial plan and working towards your goals.
Even something as simple as having an emergency fund can be life-changing.
Don’t underestimate the peace you’ll feel when you begin managing your money.
6. Financial Planning Will Help You Develop An Abundance Mindset
There is something about living on a budget and managing your financial life that causes a mind shift.
It is hard to explain, but I think financial planning helps overcome the whole keeping up with the Joneses mentality. When you have clear goals and are managing your money, you don’t care as much about what other people think.
You start to make a game out of keeping your vehicles as long as you can. You turn grocery shopping into a numbers game to see how much money you can save. You review your wants and your needs a lot more carefully.
You just have a different attitude about money, you understand the true benefits of financial freedom. You see the danger of overspending and debt and will make the sacrifices to keep yourself from those traps.
Most importantly, you’ll end up not caring about what the Joneses think.
The best part about an abundance mindset is the realization that you can achieve financial success. You start to see entrepreneurial ideas everywhere around you.
You start to see everything as an opportunity rather than a roadblock.
It is amazing how much money you can start to earn when you are looking for opportunities. If you have been thinking about starting a side hustle, you have to take a look at this post. I’ve got 50+ amazing side hustles ideas that will help you make extra money.
The True Benefits of Personal Financial Planning
As I’ve really delved into personal planning and managing my money, I’ve really come to realize how poorly I was doing before. I thought I was doing well, but can look back and see so many times when I was just plain stupid with money.
Unfortunately, this is a pretty common problem. Hopefully, you’ve made fewer mistake than me.
Just remember, that you will continue to make money mistakes, that is just part of life. However, your number one goal when it comes to personal finance plan is to always think through your financial decision.
Does this mean you’ll always make the best decision – no.
What it does mean though is that you’re making conscious decisions. Your thinking about and evaluating decisions at a higher level than ever before.
In my opinion, there are no disadvantages of financial planning. When you give every dollar a purpose and a mission, your attitude towards money will change and you’ll find yourself becoming more intentional with your decisions.
Don’t forget to download my Free PDF Personal Financial Plan Templateto help you get the process started.
Resources to help you get out of debt and create your personal financial plan:
Money Saving Tools/Classes:
- Free Downloadable:
- How to Find and Eliminate Spending Leaks – This is my class! Budgeting is great, but your budget will never work unless you can control your spending. My class teaches you how to find your random spending leaks and take control of your spending.
- Grocery Budget Makeover– This class changed my life. I thought I was great at grocery budgeting, but this class helped me save even more money.
- 5 Dollar Meal Plan– I’m still trying to get my meal planning right, but on the weeks I actually follow through with my meal plans I always save money (and eat more healthy).
- EveryDollar– Budgeting software from Dave Ramsey. I’m not currently using this system, but it is amazing – especially for newbies to budgeting.
- Envelope Budgeting System– The envelope system is great for cash spending.
- Digit – An automated saving program that takes all the work out of saving money. You can read my review of this product here – Digit Review: How to Automate Your Savings Plan in 5 Minutes.
How to Budget:
- Two Unbreakable Rules of Budgeting
- How to Budget If You Have An Irregular Income
- How to Set Up a Percentage-Based Budget
- How to Create a Budget
Money Saving Posts:
- 14 Money Saving Tips to Lower Your Grocery Bill
- 5 ways to Stop Spending Creep from Destroying Your Budget
- How to Cheat Your Clothing Budget and Still Dress in Style
- How to Avoid Busting Your Budget
Amazing Books to Read:
- The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
- If you are in debt, you need this book. Ramsey’s baby steps are one of the most effective ways of getting out of debt.
- The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy by Thomas Stanley and William Danko
- I love this book, it is a fascinating read on what set the truly wealthy apart based purely on the behaviors they exhibit. It really breaks down the behaviors you need to emulate if you want to be wealthy.
- The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
- If you’ve never read a personal finance book, I recommend starting here. It is a super easy read. The whole story is written as six parables that equate to the Six Laws of Wealth. I read this book for the first time when I was 13 or 14. To this day, I’ll always pay myself first because of the lessons I learned from this book.
