Many people fail to plan their finances because of some psychological blocks that they have regarding financial planning. It is important that we all are aware of these myths and confront them head-long so that we can chart a course for a better financial future. These myths once overcome will position you to improve your finances and make your money work for you.

The first is the Expertise Myth – You hear people say things like: “I am not an expert in financial planning, in fact, I hate Maths and Accounting, so I will not be good at managing my finances or even good at learning about it”. This is not at all true! You do not need a degree in accounting or finance to learn about financial planning or manage your personal finances. What you really need is the motivation to do something about your finances. With this motivation, you can learn anything you want. In fact, there are many people with degrees in finance and accounting who are not good in the practical aspects of financial planning themselves, so don’t worry about where you are coming from, be more concerned about where you are going!

Next is the Earnings Myth – People say that they do not earn much anyway to have enough to save and invest and that when their earnings increase they will be in a position to save and invest. Absolutely FALSE! If you do not develop the habit of saving and investing when you earn “little” you will not have the discipline to save and invest when you have “MORE”.

Finally, the Errors Myth – this block happens when people look back at the errors they have made with regards to managing their finances before like bad investments they have made, and other failures that they or others around them have suffered. The truth is that rather than decide to stop saving and investing, you should be leaning from those errors and myths and applying the lessons to moving forward.

The truth about financial planning is that if you do not make an effort to learn and apply the principles of financial planning each day, month and year, you will look back and live in regrets. Think about how much you spend on other aspects of your life – even on your necessities like food, shelter, utilities and so on. Imagine if you could have set aside some money to pay yourself first each time you bought petrol or diesel. You will surely have a lot to fall back on .