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Welcome To The Course, Mastering Money The S.M.A.R.T Way Without Working Any Harder! 

Lesson #5

REVIEW YOUR FINANCES REGULARLY 

Welcome to part 5 of this course and congratulations on making it this far! You are well on your way to becoming a Money Master.

In this lesson, we look at reviewing your finances.

It’s all very well planning, saving, economising and setting up investments, but unless you review your plans on a regular basis you are likely to get off-track or come unstuck. Just like a ship’s captain, you have to review your course and make adjustments to reach your destination.

Remember to think of yourself or your household as a business in terms of managing your finances. 

What do well managed businesses do? 

Businesses:  

• Have a mission statement, or purpose, and a business plan.

• Review plans at least once a year to keep the ship on course.

• Hold regular board meetings to review plans, performance and targets.

• Hold annual meetings with their accountants, legal or financial advisers.

• Have a disaster recovery plan in case of a fire, flood, robbery or IT failure.

• Hold reserves and contingency funds to see them through the lean times.

• Project forward using a cashflow forecast to anticipate peaks and troughs.

• Review mortgages, loans or leases to ensure they are getting the best deal.

• Review their insurance policies, liabilities and savings rates on their reserves. 

• Review expenditure on their utilities, suppliers, water and broadband contracts

Your ‘head office’ is your home and your ‘board room’ can be your kitchen table. 

When I was running a business, we never wasted office space by having a dedicated board room with a big shiny oak table and leather chairs. You don’t even have to hold meetings in the home or office. 

We held our most productive meetings in the local café over a cup of coffee and a croissant. We also generated ideas and built morale by taking the staff away on team building weekends or buying pizza on a Friday afternoon and just sitting down with everyone to eat together.

The general principle is to sit down – with your partner, family or adviser – on a regular basis (monthly or yearly) to review your finances and plans. 

Most people never do this, and is it’s no coincidence that most people struggle with money.

If you have a family, make sure you include them in your plans and dreams.

The 3 R’s of Money Management TM

The 3 R’s formula, featured in my book, Yes, Money Can Buy You Happiness, gives you a simple, but effective, 3 step plan to stay on top of your finances.

1. Read or Review

• Read your bank, credit card and mortgage statements. 
• Read the list of regular payments going out of your account and credit cards.
• Read loan agreements and terms before you sign them and ask, take advice.
• Read a simple book on managing your finances or look online.

Whilst this may seem obvious, I can tell you from my experience in financial services that most people do not follow the above steps. 

Brian Tracy once said that reading for an hour a day on a subject will make you an expert within a sh