The Antidote to Being Financially Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed, frustrated, confused, and anxious.

These are the most common words I hear when speaking with pharmacists about their financial plans…regardless of stage of career.

While everyone’s situation is different, a common thread I see is the lack of a plan.

There are lots of unanswered questions that are swirling around in their minds (such as “Am I on track for saving for retirement?”).

These unanswered questions are open loops.

Open loops that exhaust A LOT of mental energy, cause dissension between partners or spouses and lead to the feelings of being overwhelmed, frustrated, confused, and anxious.

We need to close these open loops.

One way we can do that is to put all those questions on paper, sort them out, prioritize them, put a plan in place, and automate that plan.

That’s step #1.

Here's an example of a simple spreadsheet Jess and I used at the beginning of this year to write down, and prioritize, the goals.

Then, step #2 is to create savings buckets that assign our dollars a job and that provide a visual representation of the plan in action.

We can create a bucket for an emergency fund.

A bucket for vacations/travel.

A bucket for a down payment on a first home, vacation home, or rental property.

A bucket for kids college.

A bucket for a wedding.

A bucket for a home project or renovation.

A bucket for a future car purchase.

A bucket for business start-up funds.

And buckets for those annual or semi-annual expenses that we need to be ready for like property taxes, insurance, school tuition, etc.

My wife and I use Ally Bank to create these buckets but you can do something similar either with your bank or, if they don’t have that feature, using a spreadsheet.

Here's what that looks like when I log into our Ally savings account (these buckets are all contained within one high-yield savings account).

This process took us ~15 minutes to set up.

We can quickly see what goals we are working on and what our progress is.

Better yet, it’s the implementation plan of the shared vision that we already agreed upon.

There’s no “I wonder if…”, “I hope…”, “I wish…”, or “ Are we…” open loops.

We can see the goals.

We can see the progress.

And, from there, if needed, we can make adjustments.

Don’t underestimate the power of having a plan.

Because when you have a plan and you see that plan in action, things start to happen.

You have more mental clarity.

You can focus on playing offense instead of defense.

You can start to consider new opportunities because you aren’t living in the confusion of the unknown.

The antidote to being overwhelmed, confused, frustrated, and anxious about money is having a plan and developing a system to implement that plan.

At Your Financial Pharmacist, this is what we do best.

Our team of financial planning and tax professionals helps our clients get clear on what they want and develop a plan to make it happen.

At YFP, we support pharmacists at every stage of their careers to take control of their finances, reach their financial goals, and build wealth through comprehensive, fee-only financial planning and tax planning. 

You can learn more and book a free discovery call by visiting yourfinancialpharmacist.com