For some people, the mere thought of financial planning ties them in knots. Money matters can be a source of anxiety for many, causing stress. Indeed, even some marriages can be affected by money problems. This is why it is important to grab your finances and take control. You can be in charge of your financial future, and you can do so with a little advice on money management.

Start simply

You don't have to dive into active investments immediately. You can start simply. First, sign up for your company's retirement plan. If you are self-employed, you can still open an IRA. This is one of the easiest finanical planning steps. This will help you accomplish something fairly simple, and allow you to feel a sense of financial accomplishment. Simple is best, to start. Open a savings account, read a little bit about investments each day (but don't get started immediately) and spend a few minutes each week looking at financial advice online. Also, sit down and go through what you spend each month and compare it with what goes out. This is a fairly simple exercise that can give you an overall idea of where you're at. Meeting with a financial planning expert can also be helpful, and this simple step can get you on the right track.

Personal finance software

Another simple thing you can do is buy personal finance software and schedule time to use it. This helped me overcome my initial financial phobia. Get this set up on your computer, and then keep track of your income and expenses. I take 10 minutes at the end of the day to sit down and enter into my personal finance software what I spent and what came in (if I didn't do anything, then it only takes about 30 seconds). Once a week I take 20 minutes to pay any bills that arrived during the week, and see what might be coming up. Every six months or so, I review the allocations in my retirement account and other basic investments.

Personal finance software is great because it comes with a variety of features that can help make money management easier. You can schedule automatic payments to automatically deduct, so you don't have to always to remember those recurring payments. And, you can use the Internet to synchronize your personal finance software with your bank accounts and investments. This further simplifies your money management. Also, with handy budget reports, it's easy to keep track.

I find that scheduling time just for personal finance, a little bit at a time, helps me simplify my finances and keep financial phobia at bay.