Financial Adulting. Ashley Feinstein Gerstley

Use Your Goals to Focus

      There is so much personal finance information and advice out there. This information overload can be overwhelming and lead to analysis paralysis, and becomes a big part of why many of us (myself included) don't get started financial adulting. Part of being a financial adult is knowing what you need to know and what you do not need to know. Saying “see ya” to all the info we don't need to know makes this manageable.

I sat down with Elyse Steinhaus, who leads finance content at theSkimm, because theSkimm is all about “skimming down” big topics to what we need to know to live our smartest lives. Money is an important part of that. Elyse recommends paying attention to personal finance information that affects your specific goals and not stressing about the rest.

      “If you're buying a home, you'll want to be watching average mortgage rates and what the housing market is doing” she says (more on this in Chapter 9). This information will help you make a decision that will pay off in the long-run and directly impact your goals, “like deciding how much you want to save and what you need to do to get your credit score up, so you can qualify for the best rate possible.” You don't need to read about it all over. You can stick with some sources and experts you trust. This book and the Financial Adulting toolkit are a great place to start.

Your Financial Adulting Action Items

       List your financial goals and rank them by priority, starting with #1. Remember – try not to compare yourself with others!

       Turn each of your goals into a SMART goal so you know exactly how much you need and by when you want to achieve each goal (it's okay to guesstimate until you have more info!).

       Decide how many goals to work toward at once.

       Make a preliminary plan to achieve your goals (we'll make sure these plans are workable in the next few chapters).

      Big congrats on mapping out your goals! This is a big step and a great starting point. But we can't know if these plans for our goals are workable without looking at our income and expenses. We'll come back to these goals later. Budgeting, here we come …

Notes

      1 1. “About Financial Abuse,” The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), https://nnedv.org/content/about-financial-abuse/.

      2 2. Rachel Gurevich, “How Much Does IVF Really Cost?” Very Well Family (March 5, 2020), https://www.verywellfamily.com/how-much-does-ivf-cost-1960212.

      3 3. Holly Hutchison, “Cost,” Fertility IQ, https://www.fertilityiq.com/topics/cost.