The Best Laid Plans…

December 27, 2013

As someone who did some online shopping this year, I read this article about gifts that didn’t arrive in time for gift giving and felt a great sigh of relief.  I can’t imagine getting to my mother’s house completely empty handed on Christmas Day.  The people who ordered their gifts online, with a “guaranteed” delivery prior to Christmas, and didn’t receive their items probably didn’t have the joyous holiday they expected. There was probably a bit of anxiety and disappointment mixed in with their holiday. Not that the season should be all about gifts…but the reality of where we are as a society places an undue emphasis on a commercialized Christmas.  (My opinion!)  This article made me think about not just my view of the holiday season, but of life in general.

Stuff happens!  And sometimes it’s bad stuff.  If everything were rainbows and unicorns, the world would be a lovely place.  We could eat ice cream for breakfast and big juicy burgers all day long and we wouldn’t need to worry about our cholesterol, we wouldn’t need to exercise to maintain a healthy weight and our bodies would never break down.

But, life doesn’t work that way. We need to make good decisions about our life and be able to deal with contingencies.  My kids and friends always laugh because if I have a plan or idea for something, it’s not uncommon for me to have a plan B or plan C in mind to deal with unexpected things that may come up.  It’s easier to have alternate plans for a night out or when thinking about a restaurant than it is to have backup plans for Christmas gifts.  But, the concept of having multiple options can help you in your financial life.

Human behavior is an interesting thing to observe. I have talked with people who have a very clear game plan for how to eliminate their debt or save for retirement, and then something in life intervenes and blows their plan up.  Then, because they didn’t have a plan B considered, they get so far off track that they tend to give up on their goals and sometimes it can take years to develop a new plan A.

It’s because of observations like this that I always talk about having contingency plans in place for a person’s financial life.  If your goal is to eliminate credit card debt and fight back from the brink of bankruptcy and your car needs a major repair and $1,200 gets added to a credit card…don’t give up and think “there goes that plan up in smoke.”  Stick to the plan, alter it slightly if needed, but continue to fight the debt issue and talk with a professional if needed.  Losing motivation is a big consequence when “life happens” and derails a well conceived plan.

That’s where having the ability to deal with change (and there are so many books devoted to change management, check out amazon.com and use the search feature for a huge list on the topic) becomes a critical component to your long term financial success.  No matter what your plan is, there is a >90% chance (I’m making that number up, but it’s accurate in my own life) that the plan will change somewhere along the way.  Those who handle change can not only survive, but make enormous strides forward through the change.  Those who can’t deal with change take steps backward, lose momentum and end up feeling that the deck is stacked against them.  That can become a self-fulfilling prophecy if not managed well.

If I have a Christmas wish for people dealing with financial issues, it’s that they learn to deal with the uncertainties that life brings to us all.  Always move forward.  Just like the people who didn’t get their packages on time when shopping online, life doesn’t always deliver what we need when we need it.  So, we need to be ready for that with our backup plans and an attitude of continual progress.