STEPS FOR PERSONAL FINANCIAL SUCCESS

                   

Many dream to have a life of financial comfort and bliss, this sweet dream goes unfulfilled for many as they live a life of financial struggle and misery, indebted, and unable to meet their financial obligations.

Many have been able to achieve this lofty dream of financial success. The modern socioeconomic system we operate makes our daily lives revolve around the acquisition and spending of money; we pay for food, housing, transportation, clothing, health-care, educational services, entertainment.

Here are some steps that can help you to achieve personal financial success:

1. Right mindset; your actions are a reflection of your thoughts, and your thoughts are a reflection of what you know. Various misconceptions about money does exist, examples are, money is evil, money is not important, some people are destined to be poor, you have to be corrupt to be rich, and you have to sell your soul to the devil to make wealth. The cure for these misconceptions is to get adequate knowledge about money, you need to learn how to make, grow, and invest money.

2. Plan your finances; you need to have clear, realistic, and achievable (written) personal financial plans, made up of midterm, short term, and long-term plans. You should know 'if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.'

3. Regular savings scheme; a vital step for achieving personal financial success is to have a regular and consistent savings scheme. A simple rule to achieve this is to deduct your savings from your income before you start spending. To make the habit of regular savings easy, spend less than what you earn, the amount to be saved should not be less than 10% of your income. A good amount of money saved can be a life saver in times of personal financial crisis, it also provides the needed capital for future investment opportunities.

4. Avoid "get rich quick" schemes; many have lost fortunes, some their life savings to various types of schemes that promised to make them rich within a short period. The only people that get rich from these Ventures are the promoters of the schemes. You should avoid these schemes despite the promise of high returns on your investment. Riches are not acquired overnight, it takes years, hard work, proper planning, diligence, and perseverance.

5. Avoid illegal and criminal acts in making money; legitimate and genuine ways of making money should sought for. Criminal, illegal, and fraudulent means of making money can lead to legal prosecution by the authorities when caught, imprisonment and forfeiture of assets would occur if the person involved is found guilty.

6. Avoid debts; borrowing of money, and indebtedness through purchase of goods and services should be avoided, if you need to borrow money or owe for goods and services, it should be done when you have no alternative, and such amounts should be restricted to what you can conveniently pay. Debts can create serious emotional and psychological problems for individuals. You should borrow or owe only when you really, really need to.

The payment of debts can create great challenges for your finances, it makes it difficult for you to save, financial plans may not be achieved, and denies you needed funds for future in vestments.

7. Diversify your source of income; an effective way to grow your finances is to have more than one source of income. Options to be explored include investment on housing, farming, stock market, high interest yielding bank accounts, purchase of government bonds, and operating small businesses. As a general rule invest your money in what you understand, and in businesses where your investments are safe and protected.

8. Plan for your retirement and old age; retirement and old age will come to everyone except in the case of an untimely death. You should put in place a secured source of income for your old age, during your active years of working, make out adequate financial plans for your future.

Many argue that money cannot give you happiness, love, or security, there are merits in this argument, but no one which to live a life of financial misery and lack. 

Achieving personal financial success will offer you some measure of comfort and ease.