Only Orchids and Chardonnay?

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Have you noticed how much more efficient your trip to the grocery store is with a list? Without one, it’s easy to end up spending half the time you allotted for your trip browsing in the floral or wine department. Prioritized lists help us get the right things done in less time, whatever the task at hand, plain and simple.

Have you created a list outlining your financial priorities? Because money issues can be so all encompassing, it’s easy to get side tracked and spend time on the less important tasks if you haven’t.  This can lead to creating a spending plan for your home remodel when you haven’t completed the more important task of staying on top of your knowing your financial net worth.

While some tasks listed below overlap or are simultaneous, the list below can be used as a prioritizing guideline for financial tasks.

1. Meet needs for food and shelter (We take this one for granted sometimes.)
2. Pay bills on time to assure priority number one and to maintain good credit
3. File and pay income taxes to avoid fees and possibly even prison
4. Setting lifestyle goals beyond food and shelter
5. Establishing current net worth
6. Creating a cash flow plan for maintaining and enhancing your lifestyle, and also reaching financial goals
7. Increasing income generation
8. Making an investment plan to reach those financial goals
9. Handling financial related legal matters (This may be intertwined with the above steps.)
10. Establishing a detailed spending plan for specific areas, such as travel, entertainment, wardrobe and home

You may know that Step One in the Financial Woman plan to grow  money is to establish your money reasons, or those important lifestyle goals that define a rich life for you. This step as a priority assumes that steps one through three are already routinely done.

The main point is that it is easy to spend twenty hours researching and planning a trip on budget while your net worth statement hasn’t been updated in three years. Update the net worth statement, and then treat yourself to planning that trip. Prioritize; handling your money is like everything else in your life. While it may initially seem like a tempting idea, you probably don’t really want to come home from the grocery store with only flowers and wine!