Here’s how a simple but thoughtful budgeting plan can help you be secure in retirement

Twenty years ago this month, I made a substantial career shift from journalism to the world of investing.

I had just enough money mindfulness to make the switch but far from a thoroughly developed sense of personal finance, let alone the technicalities of investment management.

I can’t fully cover 20 years of learning and insight here, but what follows are fundamental ideas that I have found to be important when making money decisions. Given proper attention, these ideas might enhance your financial security without having to master statistics and probabilities, investment strategies, taxes and the broader jumble of numbers and data.

When you determine your budget, pay yourself first by intentionally saving and investing, not last by saving only what remains after spending each month. It prioritizes building financial security over building a lifestyle.

Don’t pass on any employer match in your company retirement plan. That is a 100 percent, risk-free return on your savings that you can’t get anywhere else.

Nobody plans to fail, but many people fail to plan. Understanding your current situation and its relationship to where you want to be in the future will help you focus on your options to close the gap between the two.

There is no one-size-fits-all financial plan. You must build your plan around your needs, wants and wishes on your timeline, with your values informing your decisions. That’s why it’s called personal finance.

Invest in yourself. Improving your knowledge and experience can allow you to command a salary beyond your cost of living. This will allow you to save more, pay down debt faster and accelerate your pursuit of financial security.

Humans are not good at making complex, emotional decisions. The impact of your biases and behaviors regarding saving, spending, and investment choices is substantial. The tug-of-war between fear and greed will always influence your investment decisions.

Money buys happiness only up to a basic level of financial security. After that, people who seek happiness through money are often left unfulfilled in the pursuit of more. Understanding what is enough for you is a high level of enlightenment.

Trying to predict the direction, pace or momentum of investment returns, inflation or interest rates are all a fool’s errand.

Compounding investment returns are mathematical magic that cannot be replaced by trying to time when to be in or out of any investment.

Investing is like building a snowball. It takes effort to get started and early results may not be impressive, but growth accelerates the longer you stay at it.

Complex, highly engineered strategies are rarely better. Keep the majority of your investment approach simple enough to explain to your least financially savvy friend.

Build an investment portfolio that doesn’t need constant attention. The less you are compelled to check, the better your returns are likely to be because you won’t be tempted to tinker as often.

Headlines that attribute gains or losses to one cause are rarely correct. Investment outcomes are usually driven by a complex mix of many factors, some rational, some irrational.

Most investments have a wide range of potential outcomes, some very good, some that will destroy your desire to hold on when they underperform your expectations.

Whether you are a conservative investor or an aggressive investor, the best portfolio for you is the one you can stick with when investment markets move to extremes.

Over time, a thoughtful plan and decision-making process will be more important than luck. In the short term, you will see outcomes based on luck that tempt your commitment to your process.

If you have a truly diversified investment approach, you currently own something that is not performing well, and that’s OK.

Rather than finding specific investments that become big winners, avoiding losers is more important for most people.

Your most scarce and valuable asset is your time.

Giving even a little bit of money will make you happy. Be charitable.

Everyone has a will; it’s just that for most people, the state wrote it for them. Unless you have no money and no dependents, you need a will, health care directive and powers of attorney for financial and medical matters to communicate your wishes.

Few people need permanent life insurance. Many more people need term life insurance to cover debts and obligations if something were to happen before they achieve financial security.

Use debt to finance things you expect to grow in value (homes, education) and not much else.

Letting daily financial media influence your decisions defeats the purpose of having a financial plan and documented investment strategy.

Nobody complains about a minimalist life focused on essentials. Gather less, experience more.