How to maximise your financial resources?

Today, more than ever, we are constantly battling with decisions-making. We have limited resources, but many demands. And, things in this decade are changing faster than the previous decade. Even though we are now more affluent, more educated, and more updated, we can still feel financially insecure. While we may be coping with the changes and uncertainties today, what else can we do to maximise our current resources?

(Some examples of common resources we might already have:- time, energy, knowledge and money.)

As someone who joined the self-employed community from a salaried job, I also learned to cope with change, uncertainty and irregular income.

Here’s a guide and some questions you can ask yourself, when you review and evaluate your own personal finances. Using the acronym, T-R-E-E for reference, you would:

T for

TAKE-STOCK of your finances and current circumstances

1. Identify the current assets & liabilities you have.
2. Describe your current circumstances (eg. employed, unemployed, risk of being retrenched, retired etc)
3. What are your baseline / essential expenses?
4. How will your cashflow be affected? Do you need more liquidity? Or can you set aside more for your future plans?

R for

REVIEW your objectives

1. For the assets & liabilities you own, how have your objectives change? Is there any assets that you own but no longer needed? Are there opportunities to re-financing / pay off your liabilities?
2. What is your highest priority right now? (Eg. instead of wealth accumulation, you may want to ensure wealth preservation, or that maybe critical illness is now a major concern for you.)
3. With the resources you have on hand, how can you enhance your cashflow? What knowledge / skills do you have? Given the limited resources we have, I suggest you look beyond the material things. Are there anyone in your network who can do certain aspects better than you? Can you leverage on them, and save yourself some time for more important things?

E for

EXPLORE available options

Industry trends change every few years. Product offerings by companies can change too. As with all businesses, they react to market trends, conditions and economic factors. You should review again to make sure they are still relevant and that they can still address the objectives you have.

E for

EVALUATE which is the best fit for you

Now that you have a better understanding of your objectives and options, you can evaluate them based on criteria that are important to you. Which ones offer the best fit? If not, which criteria can you let go of?

This is a simple overview of the T-R-E-E process that gives you the framework towards better clarity on your finances. With better clarity, you can mobilise your available resources on hand. If you wish to dig deeper, there may be some Wealth Management strategies, when adopted, can enhance your financial position. You can discuss with a trusted Financial Consultant who can work this out together with you.

I’d like to end off with this inspiring quote from tinybuddha.com:

Be like a tree.

Stay grounded, keep growing, and know when to let go.

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