The 4 Most Basic Financial Planning Elements/ Personal Human Resources
There is an old saying
“Show me your calendar and your checkbook, and I will tell you what is most important in your life.”
Yes, it is wise to be careful where you spend your time and money; but remember, your energy and mind are limited resources too. If your mind fills up with anxiety or distractions, it is hard to be effective in the world.
Financial planning and life planning, as complicated as they can be, ultimately come down to basic human resources. Using these 4 elements the best way you can, with the cards you are dealt. Often we trade time & energy for money, or trade money for a piece of someone’s mind.
It is important to recognize all the resources. Often people find themselves in traps like being very “thrifty”, but not valuing their time enough. E.g. doing something themselves, that would have really been more economical to have someone else do.
Examples of trade-offs from managing personal resources.
- When we are young we trade most of our time, mind space, and energy for money.
- When we are in college we spend time and money to develop our mind.
- When we have small children, we are almost always low on mind space and energy; so we may spend money to have more things done for us.
- As we grow in our field of work, our mind can bring us more money than our time.
- As we first retire we have lots of time. If we are lucky, there is a window where we have our health, energy, and money to make the most of that time.
- When we are very old we may trade all of our money for a little more time.