Okay, maybe Sir Isaac Newton never developed laws of financial planning, but we can make his first law apply.
Newton's First Law of Motion – An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force.
If your finances are at rest, then let me be the external force that set's you in motion. I have long said that procrastination is the primary cause of financial failure.
Imagine in your minds eye a pebble, a golf ball, a baseball, and a beach ball.
When you are young, compounding returns and time are your allies. You do not need to set aside a lot of money on a regular basis to reach your long term financial goals. It is like putting a pebble in your pocket. You will hardly notice it and it becomes comfortable very quickly.
Wait even a little while to start and now the pebble is too small for you to reach your financial goals. Now you need a golf ball. It still fits in your pocket and you will forget it is there most of the time, but occasionally you will bend or turn and you will feel the golf ball in your pocket.
Continue to delay your financial goals and it does not take long for the golf ball to grow to a baseball. Yes, it still fits in your pocket. But now there is no room for anything else and you can feel it's presence with every step. You can get used to it, but you will never forget it's there.
If you wait too long, eventually your goals could become a beach ball. I don't care how hard you try you can not fit a beach ball into your pocket without deflating it.
Which do you want to carry; the pebble, the golf ball, or the baseball? Or will you eventually have to deflate your beach ball?
If you always do what you have always done, you will continue to get what you already have.
Photo on Flickr by pierrotsomepeople
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