continued from last week…

Get up!

Having set your goals properly the next thing is how do you wanna go about achieving them…Here we consider your plans and strategy to make sure you do better this year financially… Plans are a written out system on how to achieve an objective while strategy is a carefully devised plan of action to achieve a goal, or the art of developing or carrying out such a plan. The task of strategy is an efficient use of the available resources for the achievement of the main goal.
We go back to those goals you have set already. Your plans and strategy have to be in line with your values and your goals and they must be truly yours not what someone else wants you to do and they should be able to motivate you to action… You wanna earn more this year? Fine. How do you wanna go about it? Do you want to get a second job, do business by the side or get a higher qualification and then get a better paying job? What is your plan and how do you wanna go about it…have it written down and then follow it…If you do some type of business and you intend to increase your profits this year one of your strategies could be to sell more of what people are buying rather than what you expect them to buy… observe and then act…
Do you want to save more, manage your money better, invest better? It is possible. But you must have a plan and strategy to achieve this. Sometimes it might be better to talk to a personal financial planner or a personal finance coach (I can help… @vycade) as regards this they will help in guiding you if you are just starting out on your personal finance strategy or not.

Brush up!

Here we will take a look at some strategies…
– to earn more, another job paying higher than what you currently have could be the way to go or you might want to joggle two jobs. I have a friend that does this, actually two friends, believe me when I tell you it takes a lot to do this. You could start a small business by the side selling a few things folks need. Look around you what are people needing and wanting that is what you should be selling.
– to save more you need to do a budget and stick to it. All most of us know about a budget is the definition. A good number of us think it is only for the government. Sorry to disappoint you. It is for everyone. You are in charge of you own government here…abi? Come to think of it… most of us budget ooo but we do that only when the money is almost finished! Then we start doing some serious damage control. Make a plan for your monthly expenses- to buy this, to pay that also add to save this or that. It might be good to save a particular percentage of your total income e.g. 10% but it should be something that works for you…
Try not to spend all you earn. Avoid impulse spending or buying, use a list. Try not to copy the ‘Jones’ or be like them they don’t know you exist. You can also keep another percentage aside to invest with say 10%. Then you can reinvest the profits you get from the investment.
-have an emergency fund. This is an account that has about 3 months living expenses. It helps in emergencies just like the name says. It is better to prepare and not have an emergency than to have one and not be prepared.

For the concluding part of ‘7 ups’, see you next week