You Don’t Have 9 Lives, But These 9 Disciplines Could Help You with Your Money

Discipline is an essential skill that can pay lifetime dividends. The benefits of discipline impact nearly all aspects of life, including personal, professional, relationships and careers. Exercising discipline is perhaps the biggest overarching factor in creating financial success. Watch the interview with retirement specialist Jonathan Davis.

Discipline is a universal life skill that can begin with grade-school homework, music lessons, athletics or a part-time, after-school job. Regardless of where one learns – or earns – their sense of discipline, its application to financial habits can be transformative. By applying discipline to financial and retirement planning, individuals and couples can:

  • Save money from their earnings and capture “free money” from employers who offer to match contributions.
  • Design goals and implement strategies for the long-term, to keep you from managing short-term setbacks.
  • Recognize the shortcomings and uneasiness of managing risk or asset allocations, and seek help from a qualified, third party adviser.
  • Discover their tolerance for risk, and create an investor profile that allows them to be guide their financial choices.
  • Allocate their assets more conservatively as they age, relieving them of some of the burdensome mindset to always make assets grow.
  • Trust their gut and ignore noise from media, neighbors or unqualified others who attempt to move them in an uncomfortable or unreasonable direction.
  • Get organized, study, stay informed and keep current, easily accessible financial records.
  • Have an open mind to new investment opportunities, like an annuity that offers guaranteed lifetime income, ignores risk and can be a hedge against losses.
  • Accept full responsibility for planning their retirement, as it won’t otherwise be done for them.

As a wise old nun once said, if you don’t discipline yourself, someone else will do it for you.

Syndicated financial columnist Steve Savant interviews top retirement specialists in their field of expertise. This segment features Jonathan Davis. Right in the Money is a financial talk show distributed in daily video press releases to over 280 media outlets and social media networks.