Someone much wiser than I once said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” They were right!
When asked, most people will tell you they have goals, but when you dig a little deeper you’ll find out that many people struggle to plan around achieving their goals. Some of us naturally have more discipline than others, but regardless, everyone can benefit from exercising his or her planning muscle.
The key to financial planning is having more awareness about your finances—you don’t need to be an expert. A simple way to get started is by taking inventory of all your financial assets—bank accounts, real estate, retirement and investment accounts. Then track down all the things that you owe, such as school loans, credit cards, mortgages and other debt. When you take everything you own and subtract everything you owe, you’ve essentially come up with your net worth.