While knowledge isn’t really a hindrance to success, you don’t need to know everything to accomplish your goals. After you reach a basic understanding of an area you want to be successful in, you need to start taking action. Continuing your learning after that point is wise, too. But if you never act on what you learn, you’ll never be successful.
First, Learn the Basics
This is especially true in personal finance. You don’t have to be a seasoned financial planner to begin finding success. You don’t even need to spend a ton of time to understand the basics. They’re simple. Spend less. Earn more. Save and invest. Be wise and cautious when making purchases (goods, services, or investments). Plan ahead. Don’t pay things you don’t have to (like extra taxes). And so on. A basic education is all you need to start finding success in your personal finances.
You don’t need an accounting degree to make a budget. You don’t have to be Warren Buffet to start investing. You don’t have to go to law school to get your estate documents in place.
Then, Take Action
Success in personal finance is not necessarily about knowing all the right answers. It’s about taking action. Those who only read about the benefits of budgeting will never be as successful as those who actually try to make a budget and stick to it. This is true even if the doers are not successful the first time.
You can learn by reading about the experiences of others – but only so much. Until you start creating your own experiences, the information will just be knowledge in your head. You must start using it yourself!
Don’t think I’m discounting the value of learning, education, and research. To be truly successful, you’ll have to keep learning. But you can’t get started on the road to success unless you follow a pattern of learning, doing, learning, doing, and so on.
Avoid Danger Areas!
I’ll end with a few cautions especially true in personal finance. In some areas of personal finance, there are unscrupulous people who will try to take advantage of your lack of education. Insurance, investing, and debt are the most common places you’ll run into this, but you can really find it anywhere. Here’s the key: Before doing something, make sure you’re aware of the possible problems/pitfalls and educate yourself on how to avoid them.
Here’s an example. In investing and insurance, you must be aware of how advisors and salesmen get paid. If it’s commissions, know what conflicts of interest might exist. In other words, learn how people might try to rip you off and be on the lookout for those techniques.
Even though there are risks to the learn, do, learn method, you can avoid most major mistakes by learning first about the danger areas and how to avoid them. In personal finance, be aware of those who earn commissions, learn the math of debt, and read the academic research on investing.
Now Do Something!!!
So get out there and start doing the needed things to achieve success. Stop reading about budgeting and do it! Stop worrying about having enough for retirement and start saving! Stop dreaming of starting your own business and do it! You’re never going to get anywhere until you take action.
P.S. I think I wrote this as much for me as for anyone else. I have the curse of perfectionism, and I must battle it every day. There is no such thing as perfect in this world. Only God is perfect. So I need to stop worrying about doing everything perfectly and just start doing. What about you?
