Megan Johnson: I Am Just the Cliffs Notes for Your Journey to Financial Prosperity

I read these articles all the time and by now, most of the ideas sound familiar. Why am I still starving a few days before my next paycheck is due?

As I sit here pondering about a personal finance topic to write about, I started wondering what will happen if I covered every possible personal finance subject. By then, I would have found the perfect get out of debt plan and shared it with all of you, the key to ensure financial prosperity and the three step (or at the very least, the four step) approach to comfortable retirement.

That’s when it dawned on me. Whether I have yet to write about it or not, these ideas already exists. In fact, I’m pretty sure that responsible personal finance theories have been written, debated, and followed ever since the middle class started being literate.

Most of you already know the majority of the principles that I talk about, because the core of building wealth is incredibly simple – earn more, and save more.

The reason why regular readers of personal finance sites are more likely to succeed is not only because of the constant reminder of the importance and enjoyment of financial success we try to ingrain in you. The reason why you will succeed is because you care about your financial future a heck of a lot more than the average person.

Everyone knows they shouldn’t eat out, but it is you who will take the time to cook at home.
Everyone has heard about emergency funds, but it is you who actually created one and didn’t have to withdraw your 401k when you were laid off.
Everyone knows that emotions push us to buy high and sell low, but it is you who could take control and smack that little devil in you who wanted to sell everything in March.

It takes guts, energy and will power to be in healthy personal finance shape. The good news is that like everything else, it’s hard at first but gets increasingly easier.

For those who are succeeding, congratulations because you are already doing this. For others who are struggling, promising yourself to act on the advice that you already know is perhaps the most important step.

Reading personal finance articles is just like buying cliff notes for an upcoming test. You need to read it, understand it, know how to apply the knowledge but more importantly, mix in your own ideas at the moment the test question is staring right in your face.

Knowledge is great, but action is what ultimately leads to results.

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