Alert Your Savings
Holidays, especially Christmas, can cause your savings account to shudder. While saving for gifts and other unusual expenses can be a great strategy, most of us tend to disregard that sage advice.
You need to give your savings account an emoji to help you remember that it is the guard at the gate of your financial security. When income does not cover all your expenses, your savings account can come to your rescue!
When you pay attention to your money, especially with gifting and emergencies that are outside your normal monthly obligations, you can be regular with setting aside a reserve to give your savings account ammunition to fight the attack of unusual expenses!
To Track Is to Act
It would be great if tracking your cash flow was automatic. There is software available that comes close. However, until you can find out more about that, you need to act.
You need to give support to your guard and make sure weapons are available to defend your assets. For that to happen, you must track your flows in and out and note your inventory of cash.
Awareness of your defensive position and the walls and trenches available to you is very important. There are many that will come to your door to offer goods in exchange for some of your cash. Then, there are those who will offer cash reserves for a fee to make you feel secure while putting your assets at risk. And there are some who seek to pillage all your assets, with no concern for your welfare!
You need a plan to set up a defensive perimeter!
A Plan to Live
Your defensive plan should include a plan to live!
Planning means you are actively trying to pay attention to your money.
Each day needs attention. Be thankful for each day available to you. Some days have more opportunities for progress than others. Will you fortify your defenses or allow your guards to vacate their posts?
Be aware of the elements of your financial life. Your cash flow should allow for your health, your pantry, your housing, your transportation, your employment, and your asset protection.
Your family, of course, is included as essential to your welfare. Mutual support is good for all concerned.
The effectiveness of your planning can be measured.
Effective Measures
Effective measures are those that reflect that your defenses are holding and that your savings are being built to cushion any financial blows.
Measures can be strategic. First, your income is essential for cash flow coming in. Work to keep that secure or look for a better income option. Second, spending is your greatest exposure to risk. So, setting limits is very important. Pay attention to what must go out and what needs to be delayed or restricted.
Third, consider savings an arsenal for long battles. Your ability to endure interruptions to income, illness, or major repairs will depend on your arsenal of savings. That is an essential part of your financial defense system!
A fourth measure is related to your investments. I am referring to investments outside your pool of money set aside for your retirement. Think of this area of focus as your troop reserves for any losses in defensive battles!
Long-Term by Short-Term
Like any General would, you need a long-term plan for resource preservation and a short-term plan to defend your resources against any onslaughts.
Be alert to those who try to convince you to invest in unreasonable things or buy things that are not needed right now. The testing process in your mind must be an evaluation of the cost of time and money to the known benefit. If you do not “know” the benefit, then withdraw to a safer position.
The long-term planning process will allow for many short-term battles and recovery from each one. Having reserves and reinforcements will help to shorten any recovery periods.
A Little Here Not There
There are often long periods between battles that can lull us into a feeling of complacency, a false sense of security. Training to keep your defense system ready for battle will include building walls and other barricades for defense.
Guard your spending. That will help you have resources for building your defensive position. A little here in savings is better than putting it outside your perimeter in exchange for an item that will not be a help during a hardship battle.
Most of our saving resources will come from defensive spending. And saving will lead to being able to invest. And returns on investments can help your resources compound.
Accumulate to Compound
Accumulation in savings is not easy. It requires military discipline! You must order yourself to control your spending. And, yes, that takes some fun out of getting a paycheck!
Remember, though, just because you have cash flowing in, such as with a job, that does not mean that your income will cover all your financial desires.
However, accumulation is your secret weapon for your financial battles and your financial security.
There is strong strategy behind the process of accumulation. When returns or earnings are invested, they help your investments to compound. That is, they grow at a faster rate than just the return on your original investment. That process is like recruiting soldiers into your financial army with a sign-on bonus! Each new soldier will bring their friends over time. Soon, you will have more resources than you expected!
May You Have Enough!
Always be thankful for what you do have. There are far too many who have very little. For them it is very hard to be thankful.
“It is more blessed to give than receive,” from Acts 20:35. I have been able to give help, and I have had to accept the generosity of others in difficult situations. And I can testify that it is more blessed to give than receive.
In either case, I have been thankful. Generosity is a blessing that is felt strongly by those in need and by the one being generous.
As your arsenal for financial defense builds, make note of others who need defending. Everyone struggles to reach some form of financial security. Do what you can to assist. They will be thankful and you will be blessed.
May you have enough to defend against financial onslaughts and enough to defend the helpless!