Living life intentionally is a worthy goal.

You have one life to live. You have unique gifts that the world is waiting to experience.

You will grow in your career, business and impact the world in a positive way.

In the process, you will make a lot of money.

But money mindset is a skill that very few people develop.

They make money, squander it, then make it again and despite having an illustrious career, do not have a solid asset base when they grow old.

I am not here to tell you about retirement plans and its importance.

Rather it is the opposite. If you think very long term, money is not a worthy goal.

It will make you worried, it is not a very motivating thought to just accumulate X million dollars.

You have to treat money as a resource, a tool that you can use very effectively.

Sometimes using it right away, sometimes stashing it away for a rainy day, sometimes giving it away.

That’s the beauty of money – you earn, you use, you save and you give.

Money is never static – it is always flowing like a river.

You let the river flow, but you are intentional in what you want to do in the river.

Are you swimming, riding a kayak, or simply enjoying the scenery with water flowing under your feet? A farmer will even divert part of it to irrigate the fields.

Money is the same. It will keep flowing in your life.

But like a mighty river, it also has its current. If you are not careful, you will be washed away.

Thus intentionality of money is very important just like you will stand against the current in the river.

When you put your intentions and goals behind money, you are not becoming money obsessed. But you are saying I have got this tool, this flow that I need to control and make use of it.

There are four ways to be intentional about money.

• Financial Awareness
• Financial Goal
• Financial Flow
• Financial Growth

Sticking to the river analogy, let us examine each of the four steps.

Financial Awareness

Imagine you don’t know where in the river you are, how much current is present, and where are the dangerous places to not go. You may also want to know where the river originated from, where does it go and what does the river bank offer.

With money, you have to know where you stand. What are your strengths, what is the money flow in your system, what traps (debt) do you get into and what is there in your reservoir.

The Financial Awareness can be done through several tools like Ratio based analysis and SWOT analysis.

Financial Plan

Here you decide what you came to the river for. Are you planning to take a raft and go down the stream, sit there and enjoy, build a canal to irrigate your fields?

With money, you also need to decide where you want it to go. While you cannot control a full river, you certainly build the canal intentionally.

Similarly, you may not be able to control the entire flow of money in your life. There will be planned and unplanned expenses, emergencies to deal with, job losses and successes. Sometime the flow will increase, sometimes it will ebb.

But if you plan what you want to achieve in your life, then you can channelize part of the money flow to irrigate those dreams before it is wasted and flows downwards.

Financial Flow

Now that you have planned what you came to the river for, it is time to put that into action.

If you are here for kayaking, get on the kayak and roll into the stream of the river.

You have to keep rowing depending on the direction of the current. You have to navigate the rocks and the rapids.

You have to start digging that canal if that is what is your plan.

This managing the flow of money according to the plan you have set is called Financial Flow.

Budgeting is a part of it, but intentionally keeping track of your money flow, how much your goals are funded and tweaking the flow as you discover new situations is all part of the Financial Flow.

Financial Growth (adventure)

May be you are happy just seeing the river flow by. You have used it for what you needed, a short boat ride, a picnic on the banks or just dipped your toes into the flowing water.

But lot of people will want to do much beyond that. They would like to row their kayaks down the rapids, ride a speedboat with the thrill of speed and enjoy the flow of the river.

The farmer would like to find out what else he can do, how can the canals be made more efficient so that they produce as much water as needed. More water can sometimes damage the crops.

Financial Growth is exploring the financial world while being aware of the rapids of the financial world. It can take you down if you are not careful.

Things like debt, esoteric investments that you do not understand, lure of immediate gratification, clever hiding of true costs are all dangerous zones in the Financial River.

While simple things like index funds, cash reserves and tax efficient investing are like the boat ride where you safely go from Point A to Point B. The river will take you there.

Conclusion

Money is abundant and flowing like the water in a river.

You can catch it anytime if you go near it, and use it for the right intentions.

But beware of the current too, and know the pitfalls.