It’s the start of the month. You’ve just been paid. You feel rich. You feel abundant. So you start spending your income like there’s no tomorrow! Next thing you know it’s half way through the month and the ol’ bank account is starting to look pretty sad… fear and anxiety start to set in. You wonder how you’re going to make it through the rest of the month. And you haven’t put any money into your savings or investment accounts yet… You start shuffling money from your savings account to your everyday living account to compensate for overspending at the start of the month. Even though you promised yourself this month would be different. You get down on your knees and pray to God for an unexpected money windfall to land in your bank account to get you out of trouble. But your prayers aren’t answered. So you grow a shell. And you live like a hermit for the rest of the month. Thank god for Netflix! It’s the last weekend of the month and your mates invite you out for dinner and drinks. You’d love to go, but you know there’s next to nothing sitting in your bank accounts. So you come up with an excuse as to why you can’t come out to save yourself the embarrassment when it comes to splitting the bill at the end of the night or buying a round of drinks. Thankfully the next pay day is just around the corner. And you tell yourself “next month things will be different”. Have you ever experienced this before? This is what happens when you don’t have a plan for your money. You make impulse purchases based on how you feel in the moment. And when the money is flowing after you’ve been paid, you feel on top of the world! But without the financial discipline to put some of your hard-earned money aside for future you, it slips through your fingers and into the pockets of those who do have a plan for their money. Do you have a money plan? A money plan doesn’t need to be complex. In fact it should be simple. You should be able to draw out your money plan on a piece of paper. This is an exercise I do with my 1:1 clients to help them understand the flow of their money. This gives them a great visual plus it can also help us highlight what isn’t working for them in their current money management system. Here is an example of one I unpacked with a client last week. | 
