Don’t Take Advice From Rich People Either

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Partial Transcript

[The following is a partial transcript of this episode of The Scott Alan Turner Show. Listen to the full episode to hear this story, listener questions, money hacks, and inspiring stories of people that are changing their financial lives. Subscribe to the free podcast on iTunes or Google Play]

For people that don’t manage their money, time, or schedule, they will ultimately end up with less money, less time, and less…its kind of fell apart after time and money.

Most people avoid financial planning, because it’s much easier to ignore it. Ever thought about that? What fun is it to find out how much money we’ve blown this year on exotic tasting Beyond Meat burgers? Or, if you’re a bit like me. How much wine did I bring back from Napa Valley? Yeah, I don’t wanna know.

So many listeners of the Scott Alan Turner show have said ‘hey Turner, we love the show and the cats. And, you’ve helped us get our life together and gain confidence about the future’. How are they doing it? Planning. Planning works. Writing stuff down works.

You see,

• Planning doesn’t work when people don’t do it.
• Planning doesn’t work when people don’t follow it.
• Planning doesn’t work when it’s not flexible and too rigid.

It’s kinda like going away for the weekend. 99% of people do not head to the airport, garage, train station, without first figuring out, at the very least – what’s the weather going to be so I can pack the right clothes. Right?

We count the vacation days. And then count the pairs of underwear to match the days. +1. In case the flight gets cancelled last minute coming home. You do it too. I know you do.

Money, same thing. How many days am I eating lunch this week? Well, according to the ancients, it’s probably seven. How much money do I need to pack in my black, leather wallet? Or my wallet app on my phone.

See how easy that is?

I didn’t know I needed a plan when I graduated college. Probably why I was spending $150 a week on groceries. For one person. That’s crazy, right? Yes, if you were making what I was making.

Judging by the 50% of the population that has no savings, most people could benefit from a written spending plan, would you agree?

But Scott, I can’t write stuff down. They didn’t teach me cursive writing in school! My friend, you know there is no good excuse for not writing stuff down. We all have to fight the lazy sometimes, ok? I do too.

• Planning works, if you stick with it for 90 days.
• Planning works, if you build in the fun, and margin.
• Planning works, if you make a plan you can live with, and write it down.

I have a great story coming up later about a hair stylist making $280,000 a year. He’s got a savings plan, that works.

For people who are married, written plans take the stress out of marriage. Because you stop arguing with each other. Everything becomes the plans fault.

You: “We can’t go out to eat!”
Them: Why not?
You: Because the plan said so. The plan said the $50 dinner out is for vacation next month instead.
Them: I hate that plan!
You: Yes, but you wrote the plan and agreed to it. Be mad at yourself. Or, we revise the plan.

Written plans will show what needs improvement. You know when you got those grades in elementary school, right?

Good. Satisfactory. Needs improvement.

Me: Spend less on cake. Needs improvement.

For me, I write everything down. Almost. Except when we’re in a car and my wife tells me something I need to do. I forget that in 30 seconds. Because it’s not written down.

Writing stuff down:

• It gets rid of analysis paralysis
• Overwhelm goes away
• Where did the day go becomes just a checklist

The confusion goes away.

When you have a written plan, where did my money go becomes, this is where my money is going.

I don’t know becomes I do know.

I’m scared of the future becomes I’m in control of the future.

The plan says we can go out to eat and order not one pizza, but two. And breadsticks and a cookie for dessert. Let’s go out to eat!

You realize, all that writing down and planning. Didn’t have too much to do with money. It’s taking control of your life. What would that look like? To go from chaos to calm.

I love quick wins; I know you do too. Write down your top three priorities for tomorrow. Use a sticky note, napkin, smart phone app. I use a notebook at my desk. I carry around a notebook on trips, weekend getaways. It lets me disconnect because if I’m on my laptop I’ll end up doing research. Maybe you can’t resist the siren song of click-click-click-click either. Ask someone what app they like to write stuff down.

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