At the end of the day, you and only you, are responsible for your personal finances. Only you can fix your financial situation and put things to order. Only you can be your own Director of Finance.
Imagine yourself as the director of an orchestra. Each person playing each instrument knows what they need to do, but only you can direct them. Only you can tell them when to stop and when to go. Only you tell them how loudly or how softly they should play. Only you can unify them so that they make a beautiful sound together. Even if you aren’t doing the work of playing the instrument, a unified orchestra can not exist without you.
The same goes for directing your finances.
Only you can set up a direct deposit and tell how much should go toward savings, investments, charity, and regular checking.
Only you can decide when to invest, what to invest in, and how much to invest in an investment.
Only you can decide the percentage you will allocate to savings.
You are fully in charge of your expenses, and largely responsible for your income.
You are the one responsible for making your balance sheet show black instead of red.
And you know what the best thing is?
No matter what your background is, you are already the MOST QUALIFIED person to fill the position of Director of Finance in your own life.
Not only are you the most qualified person for the job, you are the MOST CAPABLE person for the job as well.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do the job. Because you can do the job!
Many people and companies will try to take the job off your hands for a small fee, and sometimes for an arm and a leg. But don’t let them.
Sure you can hire accountants, and lawyers, and investment advisers. In fact you should hire the best advisers you can find.
BUT never hire someone to be your Director of Finance. You call the shots. And you tell the accountants, and lawyers, and investment advisers what to do. Not the other way around. They must listen to you and follow your orders or they need to be fired. It is as simple as that.
Only you can make the long term strategic decisions that will affect your financial future. And only you can decide what your financial priorities are. This is why it is never wise to give up the role of Director of Finance in your own life.
This is our 9th challenge in The Personal Finance Challenge Series…
Hey Jeremy,
I like the points you are making with this post. People need to take more responsibility for their personal finances. More specifically I am referring to investments. For years I was just a typical dollar cost averaging mutual fund guy. One day I woke up and realized that although that method works well over a lifetime, there are better ways to go about it. I opened an account at Ameritrade which became TD Ameritrade. I started another IRA that I could actively manage through my brokerage account. I started swing trading an S&P index fund. My performance went through the roof compared to my other dollar cost averaging investments.
Every time my mother in law starts talking about some stock that her broker is recommending, I get a chuckle thinking that the guy is just selling his book instead of what is really in the best interest of my mother in law. But, I don’t dare say that to her any more. I just grin and let her keep buying whatever this schmoe is selling. Too bad he didn’t have her move to the sidelines during the 2008 bust. She could have got back in at a much lower price.
Nice series of posts.
Hi Ted,
Thanks for the comment! And don’t give up on your mother in law just yet. I watch people go for years doing one thing, then some random occurrence happens and they start singing a different tune. It’s crazy but thats how humans works.
I hope you keep following and keep commenting. Hopefully you will find the series only gets better. Lots more great stuff on the way.
Cheers,
Jeremy
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