88. Financial Procrastination

According to recent statistics, around 1 in 3 Americans have some sort of household budget plan, only 30% have a long-term financial plan that involves savings and investments for the future, yet 70% of us acknowledge that our financial plans need work. So why do we neglect such important elements of our lives and how can we motivate ourselves to do better? That’s the conversation I have with Emily Guy Birken, Financial Expert, money coach, and co-author of Stacked: Your Super-Serious Guide to Modern Money Management, on this episode of CFO at Home.

Key Takeaways

• Many of the things that we procrastinate about financially (saving for retirement, investigating a questionable credit card charge, etc), fall into the category of “important but not urgent”, so there are no short-term consequences for not getting them done.

• Reasons for Procrastination
• • Anticipation that dealing with a situation is going to be unpleasant, time consuming, etc. 
  • All or nothing thinking (unless we have a certain dollar amount to apply towards our goal, we choose to do nothing)
  • Guilt/shame
  • • Shame of dealing with old mistakes
    • Guilt that we haven’t been managing our finances closely enough

• Strategies for beating financial procrastination 
• • Put tasks on your calendar (and set reminders) 
  • Break tasks down into small component parts (work on it in 5-10 minute increments)
  • Bribe yourself! Give yourself a treat for completing the tasks (indulge your inner 10 year old)
  • Treat your financial past like you have amnesia. Focus how you deal with the issues going forward
  • Start by taking small steps towards your goal
  • • Allocate a small amount of money to paying extra on your credit card balance, contributing to your 401k, etc. each month 
    • • Helps to create a sense of empowerment about your future
      • Sets you to take advantage of the time value of money
      • Helps to view yourself as being more responsible with money
  • Perform a cost/benefit analysis 
  • • Often the tradeoff for procrastination in the long run is having to repeatedly put out fires

Resources

• EmilyGuyBirken.com/CFO

• Stacked, Your  Super Serious Guide to Modern Money Management
• End Financial Stress Now
• Atomic Habits

Ways to contact:

• EmilyGuyBirken - Twitter
• Author Emily Guy BIrken - Facebook 
• EmilyGuyBirken - Instagram

Contact the Host - vince@thecfoathome.com