Having financial discipline goes far beyond saving your money, being a path that starts with knowing how to cut unnecessary expenses and goes all the way to how you save your money, how you build plans for a time of financial emergency, and, above all, how you make your money work.
Until recently, financial education was not something discussed as much as it is today, but, especially with the Internet within the reach of a large part of the population, access to information is much more democratized and, therefore, knowing how to take care of your money should no longer be a seven-headed monster.
If, on the one hand, having information is easy, on the other hand, applying all these financial goals and strategies in your personal life can be quite a challenge.
To find out if you know how to take care of your money or if you need to try a little harder, answer the following questions and find out if you have financial discipline.
1 – Do you have goals and objectives for your money?
When you think about your money, thinking about short, medium, and long-term goals is fundamental.
In the first moment, it is essential to have your accounts organized, after that, the second step is to think of ways of investing and, finally, you can idealize the so dreamed financial independence.
2 – Do you know what your financial priorities are?
When thinking about how you want to be financially in the short, medium, and long term, you can dream about several things.
Maybe buying a car, taking a trip, or investing in a specialization course, but organizing these wishes and prioritizing your expenses is fundamental.
3 – Can you think of money in the long term?
Many times, giving up a momentary desire thinking about a future gain is the best way to have financial discipline.
Both gains and expenses can be thought of in the long term, so it is important to be able to have this vision.
4 – Do you inform yourself and seek help to organize your finances?
When you still do not dominate a certain subject in relation to your finances, looking for help is essential.
Not letting the lack of knowledge be an obstacle for you to manage your money is also a way to have financial discipline.
5 – Do you control your budget?
Believe it or not, many people do not know the real value of how much they earn monthly and much less how much they spend.
Learning to control the inflow and outflow of money in your personal flow, as if it were a company’s, is essential to organize your spending.
6 – Do you plan your expenses?
It is not enough to know how much you earn, having the planning of how you will spend this money is what makes you, in fact, have financial discipline.
According to your reality, allocating a percentage of your earnings for each purpose is the best way to plan your spending.
7 – Do you consider the financial risks that may occur?
It is extremely important to know what are the risks that can hit you financially: a layoff, a health problem, an unexpected expense with your house or your car.
Recognizing the risks that can lead you into financial problems is fundamental to avoid falling into them.
8 – Do you have an emergency reserve?
Having in mind the financial risks, it is fundamental that among your savings you have an amount available for possible emergencies.
The ideal is that this value is enough to sustain you for at least 6 months, that is, you need to have an amount saved, that can be easily accessed, with a value of at least 6 times your current monthly expenses.
9 – Do you invest your money?
The last step of financial discipline is to overcome the barrier of saving and make your money start working for you through investments.
Whether it is a small or a big risk investment, from the moment you are receiving profits from your savings you can already consider yourself an investor.
Result
If you answered YES to most of the questions, congratulations, you have the financial discipline and know-how to take good care of your money.
If you answered NO to most of the questions, it is time to study a little more and make an effort to take better care of your finances.