Welcome to Actionable Personal Finance where we help you navigate the journey to financial freedom with ideas and concepts you can act on today! Personal finance is a topic that a lot of individuals do not learn anything about until it is forced upon them after leaving their parent’s house. Additionally, most families do not talk about money openly which leads to a lack of knowledge transfer from generation to generation. Our goal is to help you fill in your knowledge gap whether you are a seasoned expert or just starting your journey.
We break down personal finance into four main action areas:
- Know
- Plan
- Reduce
- Grow
First, we must KNOW our individual personal finance situation. Everyone’s situation is different. Often individuals try to copy another person’s success and fail. That happens because there are numerous variables in everyone’s life that they have not accounted for. That is why it is important to learn your individual situation so you can create a plan to help you succeed.
Second, we must PLAN so we know how to reach our goals. The easiest way to do this is thru life stage planning since we all tend to follow the same path. A key part of this is creating a wealth plan that will outline your journey to financial freedom. It should be a living document that needs to be updated periodically to not only hold you accountable but show your progress.
Third, we must REDUCE our expenses. This is where you can see the largest and most immediate impact. Some personal finance blogs recommend frugality to reach financial freedom but with a family this becomes increasingly difficult. It can work for some but it is hard for a lot of people especially in our consumer driven economy. Values based spending is a better approach and we will discuss this in more detail in future posts. If you already have your spending and debt under control great you are ready to move to the last step.
Lastly, we must GROW not only our income but ourselves thru career growth and personal development. This is the area that can have the largest long-term effect on your journey to financial freedom. Not only will we discuss saving, investing, and different income streams but we will also focus on you. Your personal development can lead to opening numerous doors you may have not ever considered.
This process is continuous and you will move between the four action areas all the time as your life changes. If you have any questions please comment or contact us and we will get back to you. We are looking forward to helping you achieve financial freedom!
We are just starting this blog and will post multiple times a week so check back often or sign up for our weekly newsletter. Thank you and have a great day!
Navigating the Blog:
Every post will start with what action areas it pertains to so if you are looking for a post on planning then search for PLAN in the search bar. (Example Post – PLAN: Creating a Budget)