🛑 RIGHT NOW!

You're right about to take the first step of your financial journey... it's just a bit further down on this page. We'll get to that. First– what are your goals?

  • Buy or build your dream home?
  • Retire young, or with plenty to live on?
  • Buy your dream car?
  • Buy your first home?
  • Become a millionaire?
  • Pay off hundreds of thousands in debts?
  • Start your side business?

Steps no larger than the one you're about to take will help you achieve your financial goals! Let me share a personal story:

In my early 20s I had a nasty habit of starting projects that I would never finish. The ideas for the projects were generally sound, but I lacked follow-through. Sometimes I'd get distracted with a new project, and other times I'd burn myself out in the planning phase rather than just taking action.

I'd be in a different place today if I'd spent five minutes per day taking action with consistency, rather than spending hours perfecting the idea of something that never materialized. 5 minutes per day between 22 (college graduation) and 28 years old (as of writing) would have been 10,950 minutes. That's 182 hours, or one full month of a day job. 5 minutes is an insanely small daily time investment, but it adds up.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." -Lao Tzu

Your "1000 mile journey" is your financial goals. Looking at it all at once it can feel impossible. Since difficult things give us negative feelings, we tend to replace them with other things that give us that dopamine rush. As a result, your financial journey so far may consist of one or several of the following:

  • Watching videos about expensive cars or houses
  • Planning what you'll do with your future money
  • Learning how X person made Y dollars within Z time
  • Reading personal finance advice but not acting upon it

Ambitions are a good thing to have, but not when they cost you the time it takes to achieve them. Quit dreaming, quit planning, quit researching and perfecting, and start taking action! Otherwise, you may look back in 6 years like I did with a full vision board and an empty wallet.

The One Step You NEED to Take

It may surprise you to know that you've already taken it.

How do I know?

Because you're still reading– you're demonstrating committment as you sit here working through this article. Committment– consistently showing up for those five minutes every day– is what you need to realize your financial dreams.

Your 1000 mile journey is won, one step a time... five minutes at a time. Who you'll be years from now depends upon your decisions right now. It doesn't matter whether you start your journey with Finer Finances, or with some other personal finance site– just pick a program and stick with it!

What to Do Next

  1. Pick a Personal Finance Program: Finer Finances is pretty great, and you've already started.
  2. Stick With It: paralysis by analysis gets you no further than just plain paralysis.
  3. Set a Repeating Reminder or Calendar Event: consistently do your five minutes of personal finance work every day.
  4. Read the Next Article: if you're working through the Finer Finances plan, click the link below under "Next Article in the Series."

Next Article in the Series

How to Make the Most of Finer Finances
The Start Your Journey page is your step-by-step guide on the path to financial freedom. The articles are meant to be read in order, as some of them build upon previous articles– but if you’re advanced enough in your personal finance journey and in your knowledge of financial concepts, feel
Finer FinancesFiner Finances Staff

Your Financial Roadmap

This article is part of the Start Your Journey guide to financial freedom.

0. Introduction ← You're here!
1. Manage Money
2. Decrease Debt
3. Increase Income
4. Multiply Money