The Goldilocks Financial Plan

Five habits for building a money plan that’s “just right”

When it comes to money, I think we should take a lesson from the Goldilocks story. Remember her? She wandered into the bears’ house, tested the porridge, the chairs, the beds, and always found one that was “just right.”

Our financial lives work the same way. Too often, we either pay too little attention to our money and let it slip away, or we overcomplicate things and get lost in the weeds. The trick is to find the balance—to understand enough to make good decisions, but not so much that you paralyze yourself with details.

The problem, of course, is figuring out what “just right” really looks like. I don’t think there’s a universal answer, but I do believe there are five habits that can help almost anyone get their financial life to that sweet spot.

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Habit 1: Create Your Plan Before Crisis Hits

The first step to a “just right” financial life is simple: plan ahead. Think about the big picture of what you want your financial future to look like before you’re in a moment of stress or panic.

This is sometimes called an investment policy statement. It’s basically a roadmap that answers a few big questions:

• How much do you want in equities?

• How much in bonds?

• How much in real estate or other investments?

You don’t need to get hyper-specific. You just need a plan that reflects your long-term goals and risk tolerance. The key is to do this planning when things are calm, not in the middle of a market crash.

Write it down. Stick it somewhere you’ll see it. And when the stock market inevitably slumps or the headlines scream panic, go back to your plan instead of reacting emotionally. A calm plan made in a calm moment will always serve you better than a rushed decision in the middle of chaos.

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Habit 2: Get It Right 80% of the Time

Here’s a secret: you don’t have to be perfect with money.

So many of us obsess over the “optimal” choice—Should I contribute to a Roth 401(k) or a traditional one? Should I convert my IRA this year or next year? Should I pay off this loan now or invest instead?

Those questions feel huge in the moment, but over the long run, they usually don’t make or break your financial future. What matters is building the right habits: saving regularly, investing consistently, and sticking to your plan.

If you get it right 80% of the time, you’re in great shape. The other 20%—the little missteps, the suboptimal tax moves, the imperfect timing—won’t sink you. In fact, chasing perfection often leads to worse results because you waste energy tweaking the details instead of doing the basics.

Give yourself permission to be “good enough.”

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Habit 3: Look at the Market Strategically

This one might sound odd, but it works: look at the stock market every day… when it’s going up.

When things are good, it’s fun to check your balances. It reinforces positive habits. But when the market is down? Do yourself a favor and look away. Don’t log into your accounts. Don’t obsess over every dip.

In a bull market, you’ll enjoy seeing the progress. In a bear market, you’ll only stress yourself out. Remember, downturns are normal. They pass. Your job is to keep investing and stick to the plan you made in Habit 1, not to ride the emotional roller coaster of daily numbers.

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Habit 4: Don’t Invest in What You Don’t Understand

Early in my investing journey, someone told me, “Invest in what you know.” I thought I was following that advice when I put money into an assisted living company, because my grandmother was in a facility and I liked how she was treated there.

The problem? I knew nothing about the company’s business model, finances, or prospects. Over the next 20 years, that stock went nowhere.

It taught me a valuable lesson: if you don’t understand it, don’t invest in it.

Personally, I understand index funds. I understand the principles of broad diversification. But I don’t understand the inner workings of most individual companies. And while I know what crypto is, I don’t believe in it enough to put my money there.

Your portfolio doesn’t need to be flashy or filled with exotic investments. It needs to make sense to you.

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Habit 5: Hire Help—But Don’t Outsource Understanding

The final habit is about striking the right balance with expertise. Yes, it makes sense to hire professionals—financial advisors, accountants, tax preparers—when you need them. But that doesn’t mean you get to wash your hands of the details.

Take taxes, for example. My mom is an accountant, and she’s done my taxes forever. For years, I never bothered to understand what was actually happening. That was a mistake. Even though I had help, I was disconnected from my own financial reality.

Now I’m making the effort to dig in and really learn how my taxes work. I still use an accountant, but I want to know enough to evaluate the advice I’m getting.

The same goes for financial advisors. Even if you work with one, you still need to understand the basics of investing. You don’t have to do everything yourself, but you should always know enough to judge whether the professionals you hire are serving you well.

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The “Just Right” Approach

So where does all of this leave us?

When it comes to money, you don’t want to spend all your time worrying about it, but you don’t want to ignore it either. You want to be like Goldilocks—finding the balance that’s “just right.”

• Plan ahead when times are calm.

• Aim for 80%, not perfection.

• Don’t obsess over market downturns.

• Stick to what you understand.

• Use experts, but don’t blindly outsource your financial life.

If you can do those five things, you’ll avoid the extremes of too much and too little. You’ll land in the middle ground where financial peace lives.

And that, in the end, is what “just right” really means.

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