You’re A Financial Monkey With An Ulcer

Take a look at the following thought experiment.

One hundred monkeys are divided into four groups:

The first group of monkeys receives electric shocks at regular intervals and develops ulcers in 24 days.
The second group of monkeys receives shocks at random intervals.  They develop ulcers in 10 days.
The third group of monkeys has shocks at regular intervals and they have a shock avoidance button.  If they time it right, they can avoid the shock.  This group develops ulcers in 8 days.
The fourth group of monkeys gets shocks at random intervals and has a shock avoidance button.  These monkeys develop ulcers in only 3 days.

Financial advisors with Unmet Needs Disease are like the fourth group of monkeys.  You think you can avoid a financial shock but you really have no idea when it’s coming.  Playing this game only fuels your addiction to adrenaline and keeps you busy so you can avoid reality.

However, you can do better than a simple shock avoidance button.  You can have an up-to-date Budget Cash Flow Spreadsheet that will project your monthly bank balance for the next twelve months.

This spreadsheet will start with your opening bank balances, and then:

Subtract any checks that have not cleared
Subtract any loans payments
Subtract any tax contributions
Subtract any expected expenses
Add your actual income from consulting and products
Add projected income from consulting and products

You’re left with a projected bank balance for the month.

Not having an up-to-date Budget Cash Flow Spreadsheet fuels your negative ego mind’s focus on the Unmet Need for safety.  This leads to the incapacitating negative emotions of anxiety and fear and contributes to the negative beliefs and the perpetuated false reality that, “money is tight.”

Once I have taught them how to use this planning tool, I’ve seen financial advisors go from uncertainty about the future and having negative beliefs, to having increased clarity and excitement about the future.

It’s so ironic.  The negative ego mind fools you into thinking that you have no time to plan, that you have to keep doing and doing and doing because you don’t have enough money and time.  When, in fact, not knowing these bank balances creates more anxiety about the future.

Most of my clients are pleasantly surprised to see how their numbers look.  When they finally take charge and face the fear of their negative ego mind, the bottom line is often times better than they expected.

How would you approach your day if your bottom line was better than you expected?  Put away the antacids get your head out of the sand and stop those shocks before they happen.

This article was originally published in Curing The Unmet Needs Disease © Simon Reilly 2008