217 | Matter-of-fact-ness

Our finances beg us to pen an epic fiction about them.

"More income is the only way forward."

"If we aren't saving, we're falling behind."

"We can't afford to be generous."

"We have to keep cutting back until there's nothing left to cut."

"Our investments might go to $0."

Inevitably, these fictions move us from matter-of-fact understandings of our money to emotionally-charged misunderstandings.

Sadly, the financial services industry tends to ghost write more fiction - projecting unknown futures or marketing silver bullets.

Or confuse us with non-fiction - jargony post-mortems on market moves or urgent updates on tax laws and account types.

One adds chapters to our fiction and the other leaves us with nothing but the fiction in our head.

Somehow we have to add a dash of matter-of-fact-ness to disarm fiction's ability to exaggerate, invent, and pretend.

Some matter-of-fact-ness looks like...

Aggregating our accounts in one place.

Identifying when income exceeds spending, and when it doesn't.

Tracking where our dollars go.

Noticing patterns over the course of a year or two.

With a little bit of fact, our negotiations change, our spending habits change, our investment decisions change, and our saving priorities change.

And the fiction captures our imagination less and less.