Budgets don’t work

Too often I talk to people who feel out of control financially.

They’re not certain if they’re doing enough, if they have enough, if they are enough. They’re frustrated by their lack of knowledge, time and self-control and their unwillingness or inability to do something about it. They’re desperate for a seven-step standardised financial plan and often just want someone to tell them what to do.

The truth is, for many of us, a homogeneous, one-size-fits-all financial approach just isn’t right. Instead, when it comes to our finances, most of us are missing the vital first step that all the financial knowledge in the world can’t replace: understanding who we are and why we behave the way we do.

I know that by understanding your unique Financial Phenotype— the combination of your Money Type (how you intrinsically behave with money, or your money personality) and your Money Story (the influence of your environmental factors and life experience)— and, by curating a bespoke suite of financial habits that are right for you, you’ll have taken a giant leap towards fulfilling your financial potential.

I want to offer you hope in knowing that you’re not broken, the system is. And once you figure out who you are, you can create a financial environment that will mean you won’t simply be financially adulting—you’ll be financially well.

How many books have you bought on money, business and finance? One, four, ten, twenty? Or maybe you’ve lost count?

Now, be honest. How many of those books did you read cover to cover? More importantly, how many of those books caused you to make radical, lasting money changes? That’s what I thought.

The truth is many of us are enamoured by the idea of sorting ourselves out financially.

In the same way we might get excited about becoming fit, running a marathon, finding a partner, losing 5 kilos or giving up sugar.

Starting the process can seem easy and even a little exciting.

Maybe you signed up to gym classes, hired a personal trainer, made an appointment with a financial planner or accountant, signed up to RSVP or set up online bank accounts to start seriously saving. But it’s the second week of 6 a.m. sessions with your personal trainer when you’re not on holidays where it starts becoming difficult. Or dealing with sugar cravings at 4 p.m. every day, trying desperately to resist the call of a Tim Tam. Or finding yourself on three dud dates in a row, wondering what the point of that RSVP subscription was. Or saying no to a day of shopping with girlfriends because you know your willpower won’t hold out and now you’re sitting at home, miserable, wishing you were there.

That’s when sorting yourself out starts to kind of suck. So, you stop. Not permanently, mind you. Just for a little while. After all, it’s been a hard week and you want to give yourself a break. Or it’s the silly season/summer/birthday month and starting any kind of diet or budget is just madness right now. A week turns into a month, which turns into a year, and next thing you know you’re making another New Year’s resolution to do something about it. And you’re beating yourself up a little more because you can’t seem to make any of it stick. Besides, let’s be honest, this whole adulting thing, particularly financially adulting, isn’t much fun. So, you stop. Because life’s too short.

But what if it didn’t have to be that hard?

What if it didn’t have to be so prescriptive? What if you didn’t have to feel like you were walking uphill through inches of thick mud in really bad shoes?

Imagine if you could find a system that was tailor-made for you? My bet is when you think about sorting yourself out financially, you think of budgets. And spreadsheets. And restrictions. Most of us don’t love a budget and we really don’t love the idea of denying ourselves. Just look at the mantra we’re fed constantly by both the media and social media: we’re encouraged to seize the day, to enjoy the moment. Is it any wonder we’re doing just that?

But what if I told you that financially adulting isn’t about constant deprivation? That the reason you’re financially stumbling or even financially sabotaging has nothing to do with your inability to cope with spreadsheets? What if I told you that budgeting doesn’t work for the majority of us in the same way that diets don’t work, and that budgeting can be harmful to your finances if it doesn’t fit with your Money Type? And that the reason there’s so much tension about money in your romantic relationship has nothing to do with one of you being a spender and one being a saver and everything to do with your Money Stories?

Now do I have your attention?

I thought so. I believe that until you understand something I call your ‘Financial Phenotype’, you’ll never find flow with your finances. Money will always be something you battle with and you’ll struggle to achieve your financial potential.

This is an edited excerpt from Melissa Browne’s new book Budgets Don’t Work (but this does), published by Allen & Unwin. Melissa is an author, financial educator, accountant, speaker and entrepreneur. Her book is dedicated to anyone who has ever felt frustrated at their inability to sort out their finances, to financially succeed or even to financially adult, if you will.

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