How to Make Money Management a Blast (or At Least a Breeze)

Money management can be exhausting, intense, and stressful. But is it possible to make the experience fun?

Despite the high stakes of the wealth generation world, you don’t have to sweat bullets every time you move money around. It is, indeed, possible to amp up your energy and enjoy the process a bit — at least, it’s possible if you have the right perspective, tools, and strategies in place.

If you’re a wealth worrier, here are a few tips and suggestions to help you have a blast with your money management responsibilities — or at the least, make the process of managing your money a breeze.

1. Start By Learning About (and Accepting) Risk

Whether they realize it or not, most people are familiar with the concept of financial exposure. This refers to the uncomfortable understanding of how much money you stand to lose from your investing or money management activities at any given moment.

Financial exposure is a term that finds expression in phrases like, “If this investment goes south, I’m toast.” or “I’ll go bankrupt if this doesn’t pan out.”

While it’s important to understand the risks involved in your financial circumstances, fear of over-exposure shouldn’t be the only factor you’re considering. You also want to learn to be comfortable with and even accept risk at times.

In fact, the phrase “accepting risk” is a legitimate financial term replete with its own unique money-related definition. It means consciously exposing yourself to financial loss or unwanted outcomes in the deliberate attempt to gain a particular payoff or other reward.

To put it another way, accepting risk refers to the attempt to be okay with taking calculated and understood chances with your money. If you want to feel comfortable and even enjoy your money management journey, take the time to learn about and accept that risk is a realistic part of the experience. Your job isn’t to avoid risk like the plague. You just have to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.

2. Use Goals, Benchmarks, and Personal Challenges

There’s nothing like an end goal to motivate a person. When you establish a clear picture of what you’re trying to reach, it can breathe purpose and focus into what you’re doing now, in the present.

The thing with goals is that they’re nuanced. You can’t simply set a 10-year goal of “making a lot of money” or “getting out of debt” and stay focused every time you do your bills or choose a new investment strategy.

Instead, you want to take the time to study how to set healthy financial goals. These should be both SMART goals and short and long-term in nature. The SMART goal acronym stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

These parameters can ensure that each of your goals is crystal clear and capable of motivating you with precision.

When it comes to setting short and long-term goals, you want to consider both of these critical pieces of financial success. Short-term goals are relatively urgent. They might be setting up an emergency fund, paying off a wedding, or saving for an upcoming trip or home improvement project. In most cases, short-term goals don’t go further than a few years into the future.

Long-term goals are the big-ticket items. Retirement, saving for your kid’s college, buying your dream home — these are the things you’re willing to work toward for months and years at a time without giving up.

Consider what your short and long-term aspirations are. Then set those objectives using the SMART goal methodology. The result should be a financial blueprint that streamlines your financial activity and keeps you motivated and even excited as you go along.

3. Gamify the Money-Making Experience

Setting goals can give you motivation and make money management more rewarding. However, if you truly want to amp up the excitement level, you can go a step further by gamifying the entire experience.

You can start this transformation by changing your verbiage. Rather than referring to something as a goal, call it a “quest.” Don’t just pay a bill. Consider your paycheck your personal army and see if you can win each billing battle of attrition. Set up a personalized reward system for yourself if you reach a certain benchmark. Challenge your significant other to see who can save more money over the course of the next month.

If you’re struggling to come up with ideas on your own, you can use apps to get those creative juices flowing. (More on fintech apps and tools, in general, in the next section.) The Envie app, for instance, is a simple and fun way to gamify your savings right on your phone.

The free app allows you to set up fun goals, like a vacation, and see your daily progress toward that benchmark. It also lets you track your progress and earn cash rewards, like the Goldie.

You can even take pre-set challenges. Envie is the digital version of the 100-envelope challenge, so each of its five challenges are designed to help you reach your goal in 100 days. Whether you’re using an app or…