When I take a moment to reflect on The Coffeehouse Investor journey, the highlight of this experience has been the connection I have made with so many wonderful investors who put the Coffeehouse message in action. These are people who, in their own way, continue to build wealth, both spiritually, emotionally, and financially, as they get on with their lives.
Sure, the world has a lot of problems, a lot of challenges. Always has and always will. And if you tune in too closely to the news media, there can be a sense of doom and gloom with what is unfolding on the political and economic scene.
But that doesn’t mean we should all throw our hands up in despair and say, “What’s the use?” Those who inspire me the most are the ones who look at challenges as opportunities, as a chance to use their creative energy to solve these problems by making small and large contributions to this world. In doing so, they experience a richness of life that far exceeds the balance of any bank account.
It is one thing to write a book and call it The Coffeehouse Investor. It is another thing to see its three principles work in real life with real people who are determined to do the right thing with their investing and financial decisions. Every day that I go to work is another day that I get to see its philosophy in action. My desk is a little window on the world peering in to the many challenges facing investors every day of their lives.
One thing is clear when it comes to making decisions that affect our short and long term financial goals; way too many investors focus way too much energy on activities that don’t matter, like picking the best stocks or top performing funds, trying to forecast interest rates, or predicting the likelihood of a double-dip recession.
If you are really intent on creating order in your financial life, turn away from all those things that are out of your control. If you are really concerned about reaching your financial goals, I am going to challenge you to take the first and most important step in financial planning, and that is to start keeping track of your daily expenses – today.
I find it fascinating that so many successful people ignore the one aspect of financial planning that matters most of all – keeping track of your daily expenses.
I suspect that if you are working at a successful company today, the record-keeper of that company has a detailed list of all the expenses that the company has paid out in the past year, if not its lifetime. It wouldn’t work any other way. It would be next to impossible for a successful company to carry on its business without a detailed summary of its daily expenses.
It is a given that a well-run company keeps track of its expenses.
Why doesn’t that same detail carry over to our personal lives?
We are going to explore this phenomenon in future blogs. Keeping track of expenses can seem overwhelming; just one more thing to clutter up our lives in an already busy world. It doesn’t have to be that way. It can be as simple or as complicated as you make it. We will offer suggestions on how to take that first step, and invite you to comment on how you have struggled and addressed the one financial planning decision that matters most of all.