We now live in a customized world. Have you noticed? It has been sneaking up on us for a couple of decades. Gone are the days when companies mass-produced and pushed products out to customers as if we were identical buying units.

Not anymore. Instead, the world out there is ready and eager to bend, mold, and shape itself to your needs. You can now buy a car with seats that accommodate your height, spinal curve, and body temperature. You can order a doll to match the same features as the child who will play with it. You can monogram just about anything in your house from sports bags to mailboxes. Think about it. You can even create your own personal makeup.

And, the same applies to your own money management systems. The first order of business in creating one for yourself is to think about customization. What fits you best?

What’s You?

Let’s go through that again. It used to be that “;one size should fit all” because one method was the best. We’ve all seen the typical stereotype of the most “recommended” money management system. It was picture this-a person bent over an oversized leather-bound ledger.

That book probably had pages that were lined and we can bet they were colored light green. Receipts don’t clutter the picture. They were carefully bound up in bundles with rubber bands and stored away in file drawers.

Of course, there was also the other financial management system, but it was “the bad one.” It was a shoebox. That shoebox was the place people tossed receipts,warranties, insurance policies, unopened mail, gum wrappers, and who knows what else. On April 14, they were all dumped on some poor tax accountant’s desk.

These stereotypes haunt us because they make us feel worlds of guilt. Managing money is serious leather-bound business; we are supposed to be perfectly organized; we must be scrupulous about records and details; we must be conscientious, knowledgeable, detailed, thorough, and complete. Well… lose the stereotypes and myths.

Holding on to a myth about what a money management system is “supposed” to be does not work. It actually prevents a person from being personally effective. Fighting off the guilt takes energy away from creating a system that does work. So, turn down the volume and let’s get on with the real task, which is designing a system that is customized for you.

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