Topic: Dealing With Financial Management Obstacles (FMOs)

by: Ma. Angelica M. Viray Before I formally start, let me give you first a short background about Financial Management. Financial Management is the planning, directing, monitoring, organizing, and controlling of the monetary resources. But I tell you, it may be a simple idea but it is a complex thing to succeed on. But why is proper financial management difficult to achieve? Because of the FMOsthe FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OBSTACLES. 1) Spending Habits. This is the most apparent reason why we are hard up in achieving proper financial behaviour. This is more of an attitudinal problem. So, the greater the capacity of an individual to resist temptations the greater the possibility of achieving a more secured financial status. Spending habits is actually the mother of two other obstacles: Impulse Buying and Trend Spending. What is 2) Impulse Buying? This is the spur of the moment purchase. And, why do we impulse buy? Because of sales, discounts, and those buy 1 take 1 deals! Many researches proved that promotional messages seen in televisions, supermarkets or in department stores affect the attitudes of buyers. It triggers the ego of a buyer to buy something that he/she doesnt really need. Moving on, 3) Trend spending is the easiest financial problem to overcome. It is the so-called as sunod sa uso in Filipino vocabulary. You buy whats hip and whats fab to satisfy your self-esteem although it is actually useless. Just a tip, better consider buying the classics since they never go out of fashion. That way you stay fashionable without having to sacrifice your budget. If trend spending is the easiest financial obstacle to overcome, the 4) Lack of Financial Literacy is one of the hardest. This is because you will need to have extensive information from an expert or from someone who knows the subject matter well. But since you are all future accountants, this wouldnt be a problem because you will be fully equipped with all the

needed financial information. The thing is, this problem might be encountered by those who didnt take courses related to finance or business. 5) Procrastination. This is the putting off or delaying something that requires immediate attention. You might delay saving investing or even opening a bank account! This habit indeed is continuously disrupting our everyday lives. But the question is, WHY DO WE PROCRASTINATE? It is because we are lazy! 6) Laziness therefore is another obstacle. You dont act. You dont exert any effort. And thus, there is no financial management improvement. This is actually a worth changing attitude in relation to financial management because it does not only change our perspectives and attitudes about financial planning but also changes us holistically. 7) Unreasonable Demand of Friends. Sometimes your friends demand for treats, movie passes, or something that is out of your financial plan for the day. But as for me, since I am a married woman, my kids and my husband tend to demand for stuffs to. What I do is that I evaluate if what they are asking are essential. I provide the needs first and just deal with the wants later. The last obstacle is the 8) Fear of Failure. But failure of WHAT? of effectively managing finances! Fear does not lead to anything so better cast it out. All of us fail. Even I failed lots of times before I garnered these achievements. Besides, there is nothing to be worried about for I will be giving you two general ways on how to overcome the obstacles aforementioned. First is Knowing the Wise Decision. This is basically about conceptually knowing your priorities. It is basically the needs over the wants. But this isnt enough! Conceptually knowing isnt enough. We need Discipline.

This involves the action and its consistency. You dont just need to know... You must act and do it consistently so it becomes a habit. -------------So there you have it, the financial management obstacles and the general ways on how to overcome them. That would be all, THANK YOU!