It’s never too late to start…but early is always better!

BooksBooks2Recently, I finished a simple, quick read that had a profound impact on the way I think about money. I mentioned it in a prior column, but it bears repeating because the messages were so simple and to the point. “The Secret of the Millionaire Mind” asked me a question that I have callously incorporated into my repertoire like a boy who wears his mom’s bra. When you get done thinking about that one, think about this question, “do you have reasons, or do you have results?”

Often, certain clients will give me every reason a human can warp their mind into believing for why they “just can’t” pay themselves. From medical bills to vacations, (this, of course, with enough alcohol leads to more medical bills), big screens to big problems with the dog’s health, and, my personal favorite, a client who just purchased a shiny new Ford Mustang and cannot afford the enormous burden of a $50 monthly retirement plan while he’s roaming on his mobile!

Ever hear this phrase, “if I only knew then what I know now…”? I think it may be fear-based, but when we begin to notice how we don’t have much time on this earth, keeping up with The Jones’ and balancing it all on the week we never seem to have enough time to enjoy, we look at our lives and say, “it’s too late.” It’s too late to start whatever plan we have intended for all these years because all these years have slipped away. Just like everybody before us said, just like everybody around us says.

Well, I say that the saying “it’s too late” is merely a reason you’ve made up and I hope to be living proof that it’s never too late, but early is always better. Remember, you can have reasons or you can have results.

I recently became the first in my family to walk down the aisle. No, not that aisle; they don’t allow that in my state quite yet. The graduation aisle is what I refer to. I, at the prime age of 30, received my Bachelor’s of Science in Business Management and last Sunday, I received my certificate from the University of Phoenix, in Portland, Oregon. Sure, it’s not the UC Berkeley or Stanford I intended at the innocent age of 18. Nor does it have the prestige of some of the private schools in Oregon like Reed, Pacific or Willamette Universities. But I got it done. I could have hung up my gloves of effort and decided, I’m a financial planner, I don’t need this degree. Or, worse yet, I could have been resigned to the fact that I’ve already gone ten years beyond high school (I did start some community college out of high school) and I just didn’t have the time. Or, even worse yet, it wasn’t the “right” time to go back.

But I made the choice to do it and, determined as I was, I got that degree. The confidence I felt when I entered back at the University was only surpassed by the realization two years later that I did what I set my mind to and little by little, I got what I desired.

This column isn’t about you going back to school, although it could inspire you to do so (and I hope it does, if that is what is appropriate for you). I write to you on a personal note with the hopes you put your reasons aside for why you haven’t gotten to a goal, specifically a financial goal, and ask your self this simple, yet profound question, “do I want reasons, or do I want results?”

There will always be “emergencies.”

There will always be “unexpected expenses.”

There will always be “setbacks.”

These three statements will only impact you to the degree to which you allow them. In the meantime, get yourself started with your retirement plan, with your college plan, (whether it be for you or your child), with your first-home purchase, with your rental purchase, with whatever you have been telling yourself you’ll “get around to.” Out of these three factors, which do you think is the most important to your financial picture?

Money

Interest Rate

Time

Many said money, I guessed interest rate, but the most important factor in determining your financial picture is time. By starting early, you have to work so much less later on, when often you can’t work. Something is always better than nothing. And most importantly, little-by-little is so much better than waiting for that day of when you’re going to…come up with some other reason why you can’t save.

You owe it to yourself to be full of results, not reasons.

Remember, it’s never too late to start, but early is always better!

Marc