Written by Frankie Barnet
I don’t know about you, but I think a lot about going on vacation. Not a long weekend away, or a holiday with my in-laws, but a real, once in a lifetime adventure with no expense spared. And one day I’d love to own a home, an old fixer-upper out in the country where I can while away my retirement years, which, you know, I’ll have also saved money for.
You might be rolling your eyes, but the thing I’ve learned about personal finance is that we’re all allowed to have lofty goals, especially when time is on our side.
Small things like budgeting, making modest credit card payments, or contributing to an RRSP all add up over a long period of time—meaning that all these big, adult things you might have once thought were out of reach are no longer quite so impossible. That doesn’t change the fact that “time being on your side” can feel like a nice way of saying you’ve got a long wait ahead of you. But there are things you can do now to make those goals feel tangible.
HERE ARE FIVE HEALTHY CHOICES YOU CAN MAKE NOW TO BRING THAT BIG MONEY STUFF A LITTLE CLOSER:
1. Make a plan
If you haven’t already, it’s time to look your money in the face. Sometimes we feel like ignoring something that's bothering us will help reduce stress, but often keeping our worries in the periphery only allows them more room to fester. So, be honest with yourself about what you really want and what it’s going to take to get there.
2. Stick with it
That means being patient. Easier said than done, but there’s simply no way around it. Once you’ve laid out a budget that works for you and your goals, you need to have a little faith. This means not going over, but not going under as well. Allow your careful planning to do its magic over time. There’s no need to subsist on Kraft Dinner just because you feel impatient that those zeros aren’t adding up as fast as you’d like.
Are you really buying a pair of shoes after a rough day or are you actually in the market for a feeling? The feeling of being in control, of having a life more exciting than your own, of renewal: I’m not me anymore, I’m someone who owns these shoes!
3. Don’t save your credit card on your devices
This one’s easy. Those five minutes it takes you to dig through your bag to find your wallet might be some of the most lucrative of your life, considering the money you’re saving on impulse purchases. Especially when we’re feeling discouraged by how far away the future feels, what’s more tempting than next-day delivery?
4. Cut yourself some slack
Maybe your savings aren’t as high as you would have hoped by now, but you’ve been helping out a family member or your cat needed emergency surgery. Maybe you threw budgeting to the wind this week, but these past few nights of eating take-out means your shoulders aren’t up to your ears anymore. Life is just as much about the small stuff today as it is the big stuff decades from now.
5. Be honest
What are you really expecting from that new gadget or crystal incense holder? I once spent over a hundred dollars on foundation because I thought my boyfriend was about to break up with me. He did—and the makeup didn’t even match my skin tone. While our long-term goals can feel impossible, our short-term desires are a whole other can of worms. Are you really buying a pair of shoes after a rough day or are you actually in the market for a feeling? The feeling of being in control, of having a life more exciting than your own, of renewal: I’m not me anymore, I’m someone who owns these shoes! But if we’re willing to take a breath and think carefully, are there other ways to satisfy these impulses? Maybe they’re not even worthy of so much attention in the first place.
Allowing yourself the freedom to want big things can be an incredible act of kindness. But on days when our long-term goals seem agonizingly far away, these types of dreams can start to feel downright cruel. At the end of the day, maybe our relationship to our goals isn’t meant to be a static fixture in our lives. It’s just that, a relationship: inspiring, tedious, and thrilling all at once. But like the commitments we’ve made to our friends, family, career, the family commitments you make to yourself are also worth sticking with for the long haul.
We can help
Lawyers Financial is a not-for-profit organization that offers free financial planning to every member of Canada’s legal community. A written plan can help you stick to your budget—especially on those days when the distance between what you have and what you want feels impossibly far.
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Frankie Barnet is a Montreal-based writer whose new book, “Kim: A Novel Idea,” is available from Metatron Press.
