Hannah McQueen has just returned to New Zealand after running the New York Marathon. While preparing for this event, she identified a few parallels between what it takes to run a marathon and achieving one’s financial goals. 

 

The notes: 

- Have a goal. 

- Understand your own limitations - not everyone’s a runner and not everyone is naturally inclined to make the best financial decisions (even if they know what they are). 

 

So: 

- Get someone who’s got experience/expertise to help you build a plan to achieve that goal. 

- This means the plan is tailored to you. 

- This means there’s an expert on hand in the event you experience a setback and the plan needs to flex or adapt to a new situation. 

- There’s someone to be accountable to (some of us aren’t very good at being accountable to ourselves). 

 

And if you are working with a professional: 

- Trust the process - others may have a different plan to you, so don’t compare yourself to others. 

- If you feel like you’re not ‘doing enough’ or progress has stalled, trust that your plan has been designed with you and your goals in mind and probably has a few contingencies if things don’t go to plan. You may not see the progress you’re making —or see how it’s helping you get to your end goal— but that doesn’t mean that you’re not 100% on track. 

- It will be uncomfortable, especially at first. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. 

 

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