When summer rolls around, people like to travel, spend more time outside, and enjoy the nice weather. It is also the time of year when a common occurrence becomes even more prevalent: many people tend to ignore their finances. It is so common it even has an actual term, “financial avoidance.” Like someone who hates flying avoiding airplanes, or someone afraid of heights skipping the Empire State Building tour, people anxious about money tend to avoid thinking about it altogether. It is a coping mechanism that comes naturally to humans. While we may think this is more common among younger people, financial avoidance is something all generations struggle with. It is the financial equivalent of sticking your head in the sand, and we all do it. Why?

First, spending can provide a short-term feeling of comfort during times of stress or uncertainty. It is not a coincidence that spending exploded while people were stuck at home during the lockdowns of 2020. Everyone was looking for ways to feel a little better. Dr. Vaile Wright, who studies stress and anxiety at the American Psychological Association, explained how spending tends to feel more satisfying in the short term than budgeting, even if we know intuitively it is not the best choice. Anyone who has spent time online shopping while stressed does not need a doctor to explain this.

Another issue driving avoidance is the financial industry itself. The people whose job it is to help others with their finances are not always very good at making people feel better. Too often, the focus is on selling products, which can make people trying to improve their situation feel worse. Investor Bob Seawright wrote: “Many alleged experts in retirement planning are far too willing to offer advice without seeming to recognize the competing interests faced by those hoping to plan well.”

It cannot always just be about saving, because we are not retirement-focused robots. We all have different goals, needs, and priorities, and the “right answer” looks different for everyone. Telling someone who wants to pay for their children’s education, start a business, or buy a home that they simply need to save more for retirement is not always helpful. Sometimes it just creates more anxiety.

Steve Sandusky puts it well: “As I think about the nature of retirement planning, it is highly left hemisphere focused.” He goes on to describe the endless spreadsheets, assumptions, and calculations involved in planning before concluding with a simple observation: “But let’s face reality. Your life cannot be spreadsheeted.” That last sentence sums it up perfectly.

In an episode of our podcast, guest Tom Morgan discussed this same idea through the lens of left-brain versus right-brain thinking. He described how a bird uses one side of its brain to focus narrowly on whether something it finds on the ground is food, while the other side stays alert for predators. We need the same balance with our finances: enough structure and focus to make good decisions, while also maintaining a broader perspective about what actually matters in life. Without that balance, anxiety can take over and lead people to avoid their finances altogether.

We need a process that fits the fluid nature of life. The reason financial planning is more important than the specific answers it gives is because the answers are always changing. Life happens: job changes, children, marriage, divorce, retirement. These are all moments when priorities shift, and a good process allows the plan to evolve with them. There is no magic formula because every situation is unique. Financial planning is as much an art as it is a science, and the industry needs to get better at acknowledging that.

Whether you are 22 or 82, simply getting started with a process can go a long way. Rubin Miller explains it well: “Like fitness or dieting, just starting is hard. But unlike fitness or dieting, you only need to address this once. You don’t need to keep showing up — you’re creating a system, not a schedule.”

Designing a system matters because it automates your priorities for your current stage of life. Think of it like budgeting in reverse: if each priority is funded appropriately without constant thought, it becomes much easier to spend freely and avoid the anxiety that comes from avoidance and a lack of clarity. As life changes, those priorities will change too.

At its core, financial planning is about designing a process that fits your life, not forcing your life to fit a spreadsheet. As Don Norman once said: “Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible.”

It is important to remember that investments in securities involve risk, including the potential loss of principal invested. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Diversification does not guarantee a profit or protect against loss in a declining financial market. This publication should not be interpreted as legal, tax, or investment advice. For more information, please visit alliancewealthadvisors.com/legal-disclosures