Self-management and finances

Two related topics have been winding their way through my brain lately: Self-management and managing one’s finances.

Self-management because I grew up letting life happen and rarely directed my life. It took me decades to realise I had to reprogram myself and I’m still learning. I stumbled over Peter Drucker’s HBR article on “Managing Oneself”, published in 1999, but still relevant. This led me down a rabbit hole on why I hadn’t thought about this in more detail earlier. I had always envied people who had a clear life strategy and knew exactly where they were heading. How do you ‘manage’ yourself? What systems do you follow? How often do you revisit your grand plan? Do you use a coach? Multiple coaches?

Managing one’s finances because I’ve been confronted with friends and family asking for financial advice. This is a rather uncomfortable position to be in, since you never want to give financial advice, but primarily because I had nowhere to send these people. Who do you go to with ‘money’ questions? Do you trust your banker? Do you even have a banker? How do you educate yourself? How uncomfortable does the topic make you? How openly do you discuss finances with your partner?

The last person to ask me about her asset allocation is my 81-year-old mother. I’ve yet to see what her bank is proposing, but what I heard from her sounds far too complicated for someone her age. Elderly people need a bit of guidance. What are your experiences? What equity allocation makes sense at that age if any at all? Where else do you turn?

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