Five Reasons to Think Ahead

By Mark Fritz

The usual advice is to live in the present. The past is behind you, and the future seems too far away to think about. Our current moments, as they say, are all we have. Generally, that’s good advice...but there are times when thinking ahead can be valuable. In fact, looking into the future and planning ahead can lead to opportunities to do what you love and in the way you want to do it. Here are five reasons to step outside of the moment and think ahead:

1. Create Goals. You can only get what you really want if you have your goals clearly set ahead of time. There is so much that competes for your attention on a day-to-day basis and so many paths you can take. If your goals are vague, and you don’t put enough energy into establishing what they are, then you’ll find yourself losing focus before you even have a chance to succeed. Setting goals helps to keep you focused on the direction your life should be taking and helps maintain your sense of urgency. When you think ahead and determine the goals in your life, you create the path and the inspiration to make it happen. Invest the time to create your life’s path and think ahead toward your goals today.

2. Pursue Opportunities. If you’re always looking at the ground, you may never see the world in front of you. Similarly, if you are always focused on today and what is keeping you busy, then you may be too focused on the present to see the opportunities lying before you. When you think ahead, you see those opportunities. You also have a chance to pursue them. As they say, success comes when opportunity meets preparation. Think ahead and see those opportunities now.

3. Stay Focused. Every day, you experience something new, and often that distracts you from your priorities rather than suggests new approaches to achieving your aims. When you invest time to review your goals and think ahead, you get the opportunity to evaluate those new ideas and see if they will help you achieve your goals faster. This thinking ahead time will help you confirm what’s important and to stay focused. When your focus is on the future and what you hope to achieve, you’re more likely to meet your goals. Remember, achieving your priorities drives your life and your future.

4. Achieve More. There’s an old saying: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. You know that you always achieve more when you plan effective ways to use your time instead of behaving spontaneously all of the time. When you think ahead, you use your creativity to fit into your schedule all the important tasks that need to be done today, and throughout your week. Fitting more into your life helps you get more out of life By thinking ahead, and by fitting more of your priorities into your life, your life becomes more fulfilling and rewarding.

5. Respond More Quickly. Take notice of people who think quickly on their feet in meetings. You may be impressed and think to yourself: these people are really clever. However, the majority of time, they are not any smarter than you. It is just that they always think ahead and prepare for the possible subjects that will arise in the meeting. Because they have already thought through the possibilities, they can respond faster than those who don’t. You can join them by thinking ahead, and as a result, you can respond more quickly and appear smarter and better-prepared as well.

So live in the present, and make the most of every moment in the here and now. But, when it’s time to think ahead, don’t be afraid to look into the future. What you see in the crystal ball today just might lead to happiness in all of your tomorrows.

Mark Fritz is the author of “The Truth About Getting More Done” (FT Press). Visit him at www.markfritzonline.com.

How to Get Through the Financial Crisis Without a Ph.D. in Economics

Kim Snider, CEO of Snider Advisors (which manages approximately 500 million dollars) and author of the new book How to Be the Family CFO: 4 Simple Steps to Put Your Financial House in Order, advises for Americans struggling to get out from under the yoke of the ongoing national financial crunch. Her concept is to turn heads of households into their family’s Chief Financial Officer, instilling the same principles of fiscal responsibility and management in regular folks.

Her advice delivers the heart of basic financial literacy through easy to follow steps:

Plan Prudently – Whether you do your bills online or the old fashioned way, every family can easily see what they owe in bills every month. Gather the paperwork into one stack, or create a computer file that details all your regular monthly expenditures. Combine it with your pay stubs and records of any other income. Now, you have a clear picture of your revenue and your payables. Moreover, you also have due dates for those bills, so you can match your cash flow (when you get paid) with when certain bills are due. Now, simply plan out what you’re going to pay and when you’ll pay it. Most companies mirror this procedure once a week, cutting checks on Fridays. You may not need to do it as often, but if you review your expenses once a week, you’ll always know where your money is and where it’s going.

Save Prodigiously – Saving money, to most families, is one of those things that always gets delayed for next paycheck. But saving is more than just trying to create a stockpile of cash for the proverbial rainy day – it’s about weathering the minor drizzles that come along every month. Unexpected car repairs, medical bills, home repairs, clothes for kids who can’t seem to STOP growing – these are all examples of flies in the budget ointment. If you can put away even $10 per week, it can help stem the impact of having your car’s alternator go belly up the same week you’re buying holiday gifts.

Invest Wisely – Take true advantage of your employer-sponsored retirement plans and 401K plans by allowing them to deduct the maximum amount from your paychecks. In many cases, employers match that money, so it’s tantamount to saving twice the amount for retirement. Plus, the more you save up front, the more you’ll benefit from the magic of compounded interest. The few dollars in cash flow you sacrifice now (which won’t hurt as bad as you think, because it’s PRE-TAX dollars) will be well worth it when you see your retirement balance grow later.

Manage Risk – Your biggest risk isn’t what you might think it is – it’s not about the financial markets or even your house burning down. Rather, the biggest risk for most people is the loss of your regular income. The vast majority of families who are in trouble today aren’t in crisis because of natural disaster or catastrophic illness, but rather, because someone in the household lost a job. You can hedge that risk by keeping your job skills current and competitive, and taking on a disability insurance policy.

Snider believes that if more people ran their household finances like a company, they would run smoother, more efficiently and with fewer crises both in the short term and the long term.

Tips on Beating Financial Blues

Kim Snider, CEO of Snider Advisors (which manages approximately 500 million dollars) and author of the new book How to Be the Family CFO: 4 Simple Steps to Put Your Financial House in Order (www.kimsnider.com), advises

1. Plan Prudently – Whether you do your bills online or the old fashioned way, every family can easily see what they owe in bills every month. Gather the paperwork into one stack, or create a computer file that details all your regular monthly expenditures. Combine it with your pay stubs and records of any other income. Now, you have a clear picture of your revenue and your payables. Moreover, you also have due dates for those bills, so you can match your cash flow (when you get paid) with when certain bills are due. Now, simply plan out what you’re going to pay and when you’ll pay it. Most companies mirror this procedure once a week, cutting checks on Fridays. You may not need to do it as often, but if you review your expenses once a week, you’ll always know where your money is and where it’s going.

2. Save Prodigiously – Saving money, to most families, is one of those things that always gets delayed for next paycheck. But saving is more than just trying to create a stockpile of cash for the proverbial rainy day – it’s about weathering the minor drizzles that come along every month. Unexpected car repairs, medical bills, home repairs, clothes for kids who can’t seem to STOP growing – these are all examples of flies in the budget ointment. If you can put away even $10 per week, it can help stem the impact of having your car’s alternator go belly up the same week you’re buying holiday gifts.

3. Invest Wisely – Take true advantage of your employer-sponsored retirement plans and 401K plans by allowing them to deduct the maximum amount from your paychecks. In many cases, employers match that money, so it’s tantamount to saving twice the amount for retirement. Plus, the more you save up front, the more you’ll benefit from the magic of compounded interest. The few dollars in cash flow you sacrifice now (which won’t hurt as bad as you think, because it’s PRE-TAX dollars) will be well worth it when you see your retirement balance grow later.

4. Manage Risk – Your biggest risk isn’t what you might think it is – it’s not about the financial markets or even your house burning down. Rather, the biggest risk for most people is the loss of your regular income. The vast majority of families who are in trouble today aren’t in crisis because of natural disaster or catastrophic illness, but rather, because someone in the household lost a job. You can hedge that risk by keeping your job skills current and competitive, and taking on a disability insurance policy.