For many of the early twenty-somethings in my class, stress and anxiety were highlighted as blockers to their ability to achieve their desired future state. They frequently find themselves spinning and, as some characterized it, paralyzed, by their anxiety. My heart breaks when I hear their stories, but I also know that we can do something about the current state.

A key point here is that life and financial security is all about choices and decisions. Make better decisions and you will be better off.

Financial literacy is a woefully underdeveloped skill in both our homes and businesses. I frequently hear business leaders lament about the lack of financial literacy within their teams. In my first book, Balancing Act, I outline the four most important future-facing skills and financial literacy (and it’s more sophisticated cousin, financial acumen) is one of these four critical skills. So what is to be done to close the financial literacy skills gap? Use your annual budget process as an experiential learning opportunity for managers and key individual contributors in your organization.

Put plainly, there’s no better time than the present to invest time developing and/or refining your personal plan. You’re already sifting through financial records and creating a semblance of order from the chaos of a year’s worth of economic activity—why not take the opportunity to build your plan when your financial position is top of mind?

There are three certainties in life: change, community support (a.k.a., taxes), and death. We should all spend the right amount of time educating ourselves and contemplating our relationship with each of these certainties. It’s important not to dwell on, or allow these conversations to overwhelm us. However, it’s equally important to engage and not stick our heads in the sand - blissfully wandering through life under the assumption that we are somehow immortal.