This article article was published in the "New Rochelle Review" in the January 2006 issue.

“Life And Money”  TM –  Financial Planning Basics - Part 3

By Frank Sisco, CPA, PFS

This month's column continues the general principles of the financial planning process for you to follow whether you do your planning on your own or with the guidance of financial advisors. You should modify them to your own particular situation. The basics covered in the last two months are:  1. Be personal and always mindful of your unique circumstances and feelings. 2. Stay in as much control as possible. 3.  Be conservative and protective. 4.  Strive for simplicity. 5.  Focus on making more money from your skills.  6.  Be frugal with money and time.  7. Prioritize. 8. Increase your value to others. 9.  Leverage relationships and time.  Details of these nine are at www.LifeAndMoney.com.  Two more general principles follow:

10.  Develop your purpose - You may be able to create a significant amount of resources, involving time and money, by reevaluating your life's purpose and realigning to it.  Sometimes our purpose is not clear and we choose wealth, property or fame, at the expense of our important relationships.  Other times, we hop from career to career in search of meaning, later to find it was already deep within ourselves.  Evaluate what is truly important to you and assess your boundaries, by taking on small new projects.  Examples are a volunteer activity, a home remodeling chore, a new artistic hobby, visiting old relatives and friends, creating deeper relationships with business associates, reading a best-selling self-help book, writing a song, and so on. Even put yourself into uncomfortable situations and observe how you handle them.  Be patient with yourself and others around you as you develop ideas of what makes you feel fuller and happier.  Take these experiences and place them into the context of your life's journey thus far, and then evaluate what you believe is your main life purpose.   Keep evaluating and revising your purpose, with its several layers, so that you can be in better sync with your purpose.  For example, as a nurse your main life purpose may be to help people become more comfortable and happier, your narrower sub-purpose may be to administer to patients in a hospital in a loving empowering manner, yet professional and efficient.  If you change your career to being an elder lawyer, you may not need to forsake your overall purpose but rather merely to adapt a new sub-purpose to different circumstances, thus providing some consistency and stability in your life.

11.  Express yourself effortlessly -  A lot of stress can be caused by harboring feelings. Doctors and psychologists often say "better out than in."  Keeping so much inside can have a very detrimental effect on your financial well being as well as your physical health.  It prevents other people who are in a position to help you, including advisors, from seeing the underlying problems.  Strive to share yourself more with others, starting at home, and then branch out to the office or factory, the community and your advisors. 

About the author

Frank Sisco is a CPA and Personal Financial Specialist, and author of several articles about personal finance and issues of life and money.   His firm, Financial Management Corporation, is located in Harrison, NY.  Frank makes his home with his wife and daughter in New Rochelle, NY.  He can be reached at 914.381.3737 or by email at ideasmoney@aol.com, or visit his website at www.LifeAndMoney.com which contains this and prior articles.

Submitted 12/29/05, 1:15pm..

by Frank Sisco, CPA, PFS