Brian Portnoy, founder, Shaping Wealth, joined TheStreet to discuss his top tips for managing financial stress.
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00:00There's a recent study that came out that found that 7 in 10 adults are stressed out about money.
00:06So what is your best piece of advice when it comes to managing personal finances?
00:12All right, so let me give you two quick answers. The first is just to validate that this is
00:18stressful. So we're experts in the psychology of financial planning. And suffice it to say,
00:25we have very old brains operating in new markets. So the fact that this is stressful
00:30is very natural. The real piece of advice I would say is, and maybe this sounds very basic,
00:37but it's powerful and it's true, which is that if you have a financial plan written down,
00:44everything becomes less stressful. The markets begin to move slower. So having a plan really
00:50matters. And when you say written down, do you mean physically on a piece of paper or on a
00:58whiteboard or just in your Google Notes or your Apple Notes on your phone? Does it matter?
01:06It does matter. Actually writing it down does matter. So by financial plan, I mean,
01:12what are you hoping to achieve? What are your goals? What do those things cost? Whether it's
01:18a new home or retirement or helping your kids out with college or whatever the case may be.
01:24But it's hard to get somewhere if you don't know what the destination is. And until you
01:30know the destination, well, then you can't make an actual path to get there. So physically writing
01:38it down, preferably on a piece of paper, and you know where it is and you can check in on it,
01:43makes all the difference in the world. So I want to take you just one step back,
01:47because sometimes we give advice, make a plan, right? But some people say, I don't even know
01:53how to make a plan. What should the plan look like? What should be included in the plan? What
01:58should be excluded? Yeah. So this is where financial advisors come in. This is what they
02:04do for a living. I mean, it would be like, hey, I'm in some kind of physical pain. Should I just
02:09go onto the Internet and solve the problem for myself? I mean, that's a choice, I guess, but
02:14it's probably not the most optimal choice. The good thing is that the financial planning industry
02:20has evolved dramatically over the last couple decades. So there's lots of different types of
02:26advisors that can help you with a one-off problem in your financial life or help you build a plan
02:33that is meant to sort of survive and thrive for decades. So I would strongly recommend that for
02:41those who want to build a good plan, that they rely on the expertise of others.