will organising your finances make you happy?

22 Feb 2012 | news

Financial values are at the centre of any kitchen table budget discussion, but their importance is about more than just paying bills on time.

Understanding the close relationship between personal goals, aspirations and your own values is often challenging.

But by taking the time to nut out exactly what you and your family want in life, it is easy to work out a plan that will help to make personal goals that much easier to realise.

For example, if family is an important aspect of your life, then taking the time to look at the many ways your own personal finances can support this relationship could be of enormous benefit to your long-term happiness.

Alternatively for people who have a keen interest in travel, examining different saving techniques might reduce the amount of time between trips and make it easier for them to make long journeys without having to worry about cash flow problems.

Putting in place a list of values that will guide your spending habits may take time and force individuals to take a second look at areas where they could cut back in order to plan for their future.

This may mean spending time on your own or together with close relatives and family members to write down the values that are most important to you.

It may also be wise to seek up to date financial advice on the best way to streamline the proceeds of your pay packet, so that they help you achieve these goals.

In a recent blog post (February 22) economic commentator Ross Gittins told readers that there was more to life than happiness - meaning that people should expect life to come with its fair share of ups and downs.

Mr Gittins feels that emotions come and go, changing the way we look at things like 'pleasure' and 'personal gain' - which are popular definitions of what it means to be happy -  and suggests that it might be more productive to look at the strength of our relationships to indicate our true wellbeing.

"But I've always used happiness to mean something much broader and more substantial. The seeking of pleasure and avoidance of pain is mere hedonism, and that's life meaning, he explained.

"For relationships to be 'positive' they have to be two-way; you have to give as well as get.
Whatever you call it - happiness, wellbeing, flourishing - it won't work if it doesn't have relationships at its core."