For many of us, dealing with financial matters is emotionally stressful. Bills in our mail, notices in our email inboxes, voicemail messages – all of these have the potential to add up to one major headache. Equally difficult is the research we need to perform to get ahead with our finances – 401k options, mutual funds, stocks. Often, conventional wisdom suggests that we should try to keep our emotions out of money affairs, since they’re often negative and only lead to more stress, or worse, less action.
Don’t get mad or frustrated. Consider the very obvious, but rarely taken alternative path: get *excited* about your money.
Set up your environment so you’re in the mood to make some progress.
Do you feel upset or depressed when it’s time to pay the monthly bills? Put on your favorite music when you sit down to write those checks, and remember what benefit you get from the service you’re paying for instead of thinking about how you could spend that money differently. Take your laptop to your favorite pub when it’s time to do internet research on investment options. (Don’t make any permanent decisions while having a pint or two!) Think positively about the money you’re putting away in savings, because that ten percent is an investment in *your* future, not some bill collector’s account. Get excited about the progress you’re making every month when you pay down your credit cards because you’re a few dollars closer to being debt free.
At first, this will be a challenge. Organizing your financial house can seem about as much fun as any of your other “chores”, but consider this: which affects your future more? Ten years from now, it won’t matter whether or not you kept up with the autumn leaves piled up on your lawn, but you can’t say the same about your credit card debt or your lack of savings.
Don’t listen when you’re told to keep your emotions out of your financial affairs. Just make sure you pick the right emotions!