Someone very special to me shared a great acronym to help make decisions: WITY.

WITY stands for: What’s Important To You?

For example. You could be shopping for a new foundation: What’s important to you? Is it great coverage? Is it the dewy glow? Is it the SPF? Is it the price? Is it how long it will last? Is it the brand? Is it the fact that an influencer promoted it? There are lots of possible decisions and if you are overwhelmed with choice, the best thing to do is focus on what is important to you.

When you’re struggling with something bigger, such as what financial wellness means for you and how to plan your financial strategy, and so you are trying to figure out what you should be focusing on, ask yourself “What’s Important To You?”

For us, our”WITY” for financial wellness is:

• having autonomy and control over our finances;
• being debt-free so that financial institutions don’t have a power over us;
• having low outgoings so that as a household we don’t have unecessary pressure;
• having an emergency fund to withstand various crises;
• having various income streams, such as rental property dividend income as well as salaries;
• having sufficient budget space allocated to travel with family to places that take our breath away and create longterm memories;
• knowing we will leave a lasting legacy for our family and community, both in teaching about how to manage money and being able to gift money.

This means that these things translate into what we focus on.

Our budget for example, reflects our “WITY”. You will see a large % of income going to pension or emergency savings right now, meaning there is less to spend on other things. You will see a travel sinking fund allowance even though there is no certainty about where or when we can go. You will also see assets such as rental property and pensions on our personal balance sheet where we calculate or networth, prioritised over leased cars or fancy clothes.

When you are working through what you want, whether it be for a job, a house, a car or even what’s the first restaurant you want to visit after the lockdown ends, why not try to use WITY to help you make your decision?