This is a tough topic, entire books have been written in regards to this topic, so to stay focussed I am going to talk about one main theme: planning. The need to plan, or to pay attention to planning is essential. Planning is thinking about how something can be done. It can be done both formally - writing it all down, or informally, mainly residing in your head. Usually, most folks do a combination of both to some extent or other when they plan. Is there some advantage doing it one way or another? Well, there appears to be some correlation between achieving goals and targets through writing the plan down. Most advisors will tell you to outline your goals in writing. Personally, I have found that it makes little difference to achieving my plans, for you it may.

Most people when asked, say they do plan, or, well - sort of plan. We may plan going to school, rarely we plan on marrying, falling in love, and other of life's accidents. We may plan to have children, or may research where we want to live, but usually affordability or job location will determine that. Financial planning is really one of the few things that are truly transportable - no matter where you live, or what you may be doing, you can still attend to and implement your financial plans.

Planning also includes contingency planning, the proverbial "plan B". People who are described as "planners" are usually just people that have a "plan B". When "A" fails, they are the one's that say, well how about their "plan B" - suddenly they are geniuses and great planners, go figure.

So, want to have the best part of being a planner? Have a plan. Then have a plan B.