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Personal Finance And Momentum: Keep Moving Forward

By Peter Anderson 7 Comments - The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited November 17, 2017.

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The Ebb and Flow of Financial Life

I’ve been thinking about my financial life a lot more these past few months, and one thing I’ve been noticing is that there is an ebb and flow when it comes to positive changes, and negative backsliding. Things go in spurts.

For example, I recently read up on saving for retirement and decided that I was going to make some positive changes in that area. I set it up so that I was saving 15% of my income towards retirement, and I started reading up on how to make good investment choices. I gained some knowledge, applied it and made some positive changes. I was moving onward and upwards towards my goals.

Ascension

And then we backslid. We recently set up a zero-based budget at our household, which in itself was a positive step. We stuck to it for a couple of months, and things seemed to be going pretty well. And then this past month instead of sticking to our budget we kind of just blew by it, allowing our spending to go back up in certain problem categories, and just thinking to ourselves, “hey, we’ll do better next month”. So far this month, we haven’t done better, but worse.

There Will Be Ups And Downs – Keep Your Eyes On The Prize

I’ve come to realize that when it comes to our financial lives, it isn’t going to be all up or all down. Some days will be up, others will be down. The key is to keep in mind where you are, and where you want to go.  As long as you’re moving in a positive direction overall, you’re doing better than most.

On a daily basis try to take stock of where you are, what your problem areas are, and where you can improve. Set goals, and keep them in mind when you’re having those down days. As long as you acknowledge when you’re having a down day and resolve to fix it, you’re well on your way to turning things around.

Have you noticed an ebb and flow in your personal financial life? Tell us about it in the comments!

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Last Edited: 17th November 2017 The content of biblemoneymatters.com is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Visitors to biblemoneymatters.com should not act upon the content or information without first seeking appropriate professional advice. In accordance with the latest FTC guidelines, we declare that we have a financial relationship with every company mentioned on this site.

This article is about: Commentary, finance, Miscellaneous

About Peter Anderson

Peter Anderson is a Christian, husband to his beautiful wife Maria, and father to his 2 children. He loves reading and writing about personal finance, and also enjoys a good board game every now and again. You can find out more about him on the about page. Don't forget to say hi on Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook!

Comments

    Share Your Thoughts: Cancel reply

  1. Mo Money says

    I am glad to hear of others that have this problem. You must keep on top of things each and every month.

    Reply
  2. John says

    This is the hard part to all of this – when you start out you are excited and motivated and it’s relatively easy to follow the plan. After some time, it gets harder and harder to stay focused – it just gets tiring. The best technique I’ve come up with thus far is to automate as much as possible…so even when you’re not paying attention, the right stuff happens. That works for some things, like investing and paying bills, but won’t help with preventing me from going out and buying something and busting the budget. If you figure out a good and easy way to handle that – please let me know!

    Reply
  3. otherdeb (Deb Wunder) says

    Heya Peter —

    Believe me, I know the feeling. It seems as if every time I get myself back on track, the roommate does something stupid that blows my planning to smithereens. There are weeks when it feels like no matter how carefully I plan things I will never get ahead. But I try very hard to keep my eyes focused on where I want to be, and I’ve developed a decent network of friends for emotional support when it looks hopeless. And, while I’m not a Christian, I do believe that God doesn’t put us through things without having a purpose even though I might not understand that purpose, and that He never gives us more to carry than we are capable of. Small comfort sometimes, but very essential comfort at all times.

    Reply
  4. PT says

    Oh for sure. I’m constantly setting goals, making promises, and moving in and out of the next big idea for our finances. Two things seem to stand the test of time though…1. my desire to live below my means, and 2. my automated retirement savings. No matter how much I screw up at the register or with my financial organization, my retirement will be funded at the same percentage every pay check and on time. I have comfort in that. Also, no matter how bad our spending gets, I still desire to be doing better. I think if I were to ever lose that desire I’d be in trouble.

    PTs last blog post..Our Financial Goals: Savings and Debt Reduction

    Reply
  5. Matt says

    Yes definitely, right now we’re in a low point I think. We’ve been spending a lot on things for the house since we bought it a year ago (recently put in a patio, got new kitchen cabinets and counter tops, light fixtures, etc.) But our last CC payment nearly cleaned out the bank account (usually there is plenty of buffer cash even after putting a boatload into savings, we don’t keep an actual budget but just watch what we spend, seems to work for us most of the time).

    So now we’ve cut off the spending for everything except essentials. We can still work on the house though, there are quite a few projects waiting to be done that require little or no additional expense (painting, actually installing light fixtures, etc). So the plan is to stop spending until all of these remaining projects are completed (maybe 3-4 months from now) and build buffer cash back up in the checking account.

    Matts last blog post..Seminary Woods

    Reply
  6. Peter says

    @ Matt – I know how things go when you have a new house. You always spend more than you think you’re going to.

    My wife and I never did a budget until recently, and after we started – it was amazing how much money we had left over than we used to. I’d suggest starting one, you’ll be glad you did!

    @ others above – good ideas on automating as much as you can to make sure you’re doing what you need to.

    Reply
  7. ChristianPF says

    Peter
    yep – you are right on, we all fall off the wagon in some sense from time to time, but the key is to keep moving forward and like you said keep our eyes on the prize!!

    ChristianPFs last blog post..Resa Design Giveaway

    Reply
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