Grey Bruce Kids Fall 2021

THE PLAN
Goal setting. Have an honest conversation with yourself and
your partner about short-term (one to five years) and long-term
goals (5+), and always write them down.
Build a balance sheet. Create a spreadsheet to outline
everything you own and everything you owe.
Organize. Automating your income and expenses will save you
hours down the road.
Sound terrifying? It doesn’t have to be. Let’s take a closer look
and see if we can slay that finance monster.
Goal setting: Studies have shown that what gets written down,
gets done. Grab a glass of wine and do some blue-sky thinking
about the future. Start a binder (or electronic folder, but I think
paper is better) listing your short- and long-term goals.
For example:
• Pay off and cancel credit cards within the next three years.
• Start regular, monthly retirement savings of $500 per
month on Sept. 1.
• By the end of next week, call to make an appointment
with your lawyer to start drafting the will and powers of
attorney you have been avoiding.
• Open a separate account to save for vacations once every
two years.
• Have $50,000 in savings for each of the kids by the time
they are 18.
Goals need to be clear and concise, with defined timelines
attached. You will likely also have to prioritize these goals. Is a
vacation every two years possible while building your retirement
nest egg? What are you willing to give up for that vacation? It
can be tough to commit to long-term goals like retirement at
the expense of short-term goals like a holiday. It is important to
find a balance so you can enjoy life now, but also enjoy life later!
Balance sheet. Also known as a net-worth statement, the
balance sheet helps to clarify where you are in your financial
life right now. Some items will be ballpark figures (the value
of your house). Others, like your bank balance, mortgage, and
credit card debt, can be more precise. If you are in a private
pension plan through work, determine your total deposits plus
interest online or on your most recent statement and add it to
the balance sheet. Once every year or so, this can be updated to
see actual progress in your finances! Sometimes it is tough to see
the forest for the trees, but if the bottom line is increasing from
year to year, then you are going in the right direction. If not,
speak to a professional to see where you are going wrong and
what your options are to fix it.
Income and expenses. The good news is there’s an app for that!
Taking a monthly or annual look at your income and expenses
is critical to controlling your finances. Better the devil you
know than the devil you don’t. There are budgeting apps such
as ‘Mint’ or ‘You Need a Budget’ that allow you to link to your
bank accounts, credit cards, etc., and help to categorize and
notify you if you are going off the rails. If you don’t want to be
that committed, almost all online banking systems allow you to
download your bank account and credit card transactions into a
workable format. Once your information is there, you can sort
20 GREY-BRUCE KIDS • FALL 2021