The Two Hour a Week Money Prescription

December 14, 2015

Dear Financial Finesse: I’m a working mom with three kids and a busy job. I read Financial Wellness @Work and you guys make everything look so easy, but that is just not realistic to spend so much time on financial stuff! I don’t seem to have time to figure out what to do with my 401(k) or work out a college savings plan, and frankly, I’d rather relax or hang out with my family. Is there something simple I can do to manage my money without spending a lot of time on it? – Alexandra, FL

Dear Alexandra: That’s a good question! You’re a busy person, so I’ll be direct. For most people, managing your money wisely can be accomplished in about two hours per week. I suggest you devote 15 minutes per day on workdays and 45 minutes on the weekend to your financial wellness practice. Here are some ideas about how that might work:

Your first 15 minute session. Make a list financial “to do” list of every financial task that is living in your head as quickly as possible. Think of it as a brain dump of all your financial worries and things to do.

You can do this in a notebook dedicated for this purpose, on your computer, or on your phone with a cool, free visual organizing app like Trello. I always keep my list handy, so I can add to it whenever I think of something. That way I know I won’t forget and can get to it later.

15 minutes per workday. Mark off a regular time on your calendar every work day to handle the bite-sized tasks on your list. This is a great time to do the quick things: set up an automatic payment for a bill, check your credit score, pay a school expense, send in a rebate, print out coupons, read an article about a financial planning topic, etc. Make sure you are checking off completed tasks from your Master Financial To Do List. After a few weeks of making this a daily habit, you’ll have accomplished quite a lot!

45 minutes per weekend. Weekends (or your non-work days if you work weekends) are best for tasks that require longer periods of concentration. Find 45 uninterrupted minutes to tackle one longer task on your Financial To Do list. You can accomplish a lot in that time: re-balance your retirement portfolio, set up budget categories in Mint.com or use my fellow planner Kelley Long’s No Tracking Budget system, track your net worth and financial position using an app like Personal Capital or the tracker from BudgetsAreSexy.com.

This is also a good time to do some longer term planning, like running a retirement calculator, comparing mortgage rates or estimating college savings needs. Don’t feel like tackling a big project? Use your 45 minutes to read a financial planning book, like our CEO Liz Davidson’s new book What Your Financial Advisor Isn’t Telling You.

I hope that helps! Let me know if that works for you. To ask a question to be answered in a future blog post, please email me at [email protected]. You can also follow me on Twitter @cynthiameyer_FF