The ART? of Money Management

  If I mention the term money management to many adults with ADD their eyes will glaze over when thinking about the tedious nature of paying bills.  Many adults with ADD will also get lost with the facts & figures used to calculate everything from your insurance rates to the amount of money that you need for retirement. It is easy to think of money management as purely analytical science. If you think of money management as a science, you might feel that there is only one way to manage your money properly, and that without extensive boring research you have limited control over your financial destiny.  Here are a couple of reasons why money management is more of an art than a science.

People differ in their artistic taste. A piece of art that might not appeal to me might be the favorite piece of someone else.  There are several factors where people opinions will differ in how they manage money.

·         Risk Tolerance – An adult with ADD will be more likely to take risks with their money than the average person. Everyone has a different risk tolerance and as long as you understand and are comfortable with the risk then it is a proper way to manage your money. 

·         Lifestyle Choice – Everyone has a different definition of how much money they need in order to be satisfied with their life.  This helps define how much money you need to earn now and how much money you need for retirement. A savings goal for one person can seem ridiculously low to another, yet both can be proper choice depending on lifestyle.

·         Time spent – Everyone gives money management a different priority in their life. Someone who spends more time on money management will be able to more efficiently handle their finances.  This does not mean that everyone needs to spend a lot of time managing their finances, but you have to accept that if you do not like spending time with your finances there are going to be opportunities to save or make money that you will miss.

Without the proper technique you are likely to create a bad piece of art.       While there is not one right way to manage your money there are many ways to mismanage your money.

·         Not paying your bills on time – Will ruin your credit score and your ability to get money when you need it.

·         Not understanding contracts or agreements you are signing - For example if you are not carrying the insurance that you need and a disaster strikes, you will be in financial ruin. If you are carrying insurance that you don’t need you are losing money that could be used to invest or pay down debt

·         Not understanding where your money is actually going - It is easier for an adult with ADD to lose track of what they are actually spending their money on. It is important to review your bank statement and to keep a journal of what you are paying cash for, in order to make sure that your spending is actually matching how you want to manage your money.

The way that you manage money is a reflection of how you are actually living your life. Life is the ultimate form of art. By viewing money management as a personal reflection of your self, this should enable you to take more control of the day to day money decisions that are going to have the greatest effect on your finances.