When To Rethink Your Financial Plan
Financial plans aren’t meant to be written once and then forgotten, and that’s because life changes – sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once – and your money plan should be able to shift with it. That could mean you need to adjust to a new baby, think about retirement, or even just notice that things don’t feel quite right anymore when it comes to your spending, and all of that (and more) means it could be time for a reset. So when exactly should you revisit your financial goals? And how do you know if your plan still makes sense? Keep reading for some helpful advice.
When There’s Been A Life Change
Big life events are the clearest sign it’s time to rethink your finances, and that could be things like starting a family, getting married, separating, moving house, changing jobs, and so on. The fact is that all of these can shake up your priorities, and what you were saving for a year ago might not be the same as what matters now. That happens, probably more often than you realise as time and life goes on.
And something else to remember is that even positive changes can affect your plan. For example, a new job with better pay or a move to a more affordable area could open up new options, or create some new challenges which can still be difficult even if they’re generally positive.
When Your Goals Have Shifted
Sometimes it’s not the life events that change, but your goals instead – maybe you’ve decided your dream isn’t early retirement anymore, maybe it’s travel, or helping your kids with their education, or starting a small business… Financial plans should follow your lead, not the other way around, so if your goals change, it’s wise to look at your financial plan because it could be time to make some changes to ensure your new goals can happen.
And if you find yourself ignoring parts of your plan or feeling like it no longer reflects who you are, that’s a good sign it’s time for a rethink anyway, even if your goals haven’t particularly changed all that much – sometimes your goals can shift without you knowing, and it’s only when you find your finances aren’t working anymore that you know something’s different.
When You’re Not Sure What’s Working
If you’ve been sticking to your plan but not seeing progress, it might not be you that’s the problem – it could be the plan itself. Maybe your savings aren’t growing the way you expect, or maybe you’re contributing to something out of habit, even though it’s not the right fit anymore. That’s so easy to do, and hard to actually stop until you notice it.
In some cases, you might want to move your money around to better support your current goals, so for example, if you’ve been focused on retirement but you now want to focus on your children’s education, looking into the option of switching RRSP to RESP contributions could be worth discussing with an advisor because it might be exactly the right new path to take.
