Money-Magnets.Net

I know that title may sound strange but there is some sense in there – honestly! People tend to take personal finance very personally, to the extent that they won’t even ask for help if they have any issues.

Money is still a taboo subject in some families and even close friends don’t always talk about it. But we’re not taught personal finance in schools so why do we seem to assume that we’ll be great at it? Some of us may be taught personal finance at home but those ideas may be out dated or very basic. I certainly wasn’t taught about property investment or share option trading from my family or friends. Once I found out that there were easier ways of making money other than a 9 -5 job that I didn’t enjoy, I had to find out the rest for myself. I’ve read books, attended seminars, taught seminars and put it into practice.

Why did I do all this? Because I was (and still am) determined not to rely on the state for my future income. There is a pension time bomb waiting to go off, where there will be too many people claiming pensions in relation to the number of people working.  People have been writing about the pension time bomb for years but governments are doing very little. At the moment most governments are focussed on beating the recession as quickly as possible and not on pensions.  So if the governments aren’t doing anything then you need to be responsible for your personal finances so that in a down turn you won’t be too badly affected.

If you know people who are financially secure and you feel comfortable talking to them about personal finance then ask them what they do. They may be willing to share information about how they became to be secure financially.  If you don’t feel comfortable talking to people that you know then there are other solutions such as personal finance books, personal finance courses, teleseminars and even personal coaching. I learnt a lot from books and seminars but I really started to learn when I was around like minded people and started to put what I had learnt into practice. Be prepared that you may (almost certainly) make some mistakes but that’s okay. Yes it is okay to make mistakes it really is the way we learn. What you can do is minimise your risk so that any financial mistakes you make will be small ones. When it comes to share trading most online share platforms have virtual trading systems where you can practice.  I used virtual trading for months before I actually placed a live trade. I also used spreadsheets to make sure that I knew what I was placing and what my profits could be, before placing the trade.

Remember that in personal finance it’s good to be committed but not attached. This means that you are committed to taking responsibility for your personal finances, but not so attached that it keeps you from taking necessary steps. When we become attached we can often let fear get in the way of what we want to do.

So don’t take personal finance too personally, simply decide what you want and then find out how you get there.