DAY 1 – Financial Planning Week 2012.

What is money good for? The proverb says that “Money is the root of all evil”, but it’s a necessary evil. If you haven’t got very much of it you’ll probably want some more. If you’ve got lots of it you might have discovered that it doesn’t make you happy (apparently). As Spike Milligan put it: “Money can’t buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.”

Have you ever thought: What’s the point of Money? The only feature of money that is of any use to anyone is that it can be spent. It has no other useful properties. None. Absolutely none.

This is a fact we overlook all too often in our quest for more money. There is no point saving just for the sake of it.  If you are going to save, it must be for a purpose.

Picture Credit: Carl Richards (http://www.behaviourgap.com)

This leads us quite nicely to the question most often posed by reluctant savers…

What’s the point of Saving?

The point of saving is spending. But not spending now but spending in the future. Remember that the only useful feature of money is that it can be spent. So rather than saving why not think about it as “deferred spending”? Don’t spend it today so you can spend it at some point in the future. Perhaps you could think about not spending it today (when you’re income is higher whilst you’re working) so that you can spend it in the future when you’re income is lower (when you’re retired).

There is no point hoarding money for the sake of it. It’s designed for spending and so that’s what you should do with it. The BIG decision is to spend it today or spend it tomorrow. To answer that question you need a plan. But what if you can’t afford to save? What if every £1 needs to be spent this month?

Go to Day 2 ro read about the importance of a budget as the first step in deferring some of your saving ..

Day 2: I’ll explain why budgeting is essential and how it will help.
Day 3: I’ll give you four simple rules to follow to create spare money in your life.
Day 4: I’ll explain the difference between savings and investments and what they’re for.
Day 5: I’ll explain how using a financial planner can help you.