You’ve probably heard the fashion rule “Don’t wear white after Labor Day.”
According to TIME, this dictum most likely originated among the 19th century wealthy, who would traditionally return from their country homes at the end of summer. Their light, warm-weather clothes were not suitable for the muddy streets of the city.1
Gradually, as city streets were paved and cars replaced horses, there was less of a practical reason to eschew linen pants, and it became simply an indicator of good taste—similar to “Don’t go out in a tuxedo before six.”
But whether or not you put away your Summer Whites after the Labor Day weekend, the traditional change of costume marks a mental change in the year that can be a useful starting point for better managing how you spend your time and money.
Megan Garber, writing for The Atlantic, makes a strong case for replacing New Year’s resolutions with autumn resolutions.
“The main reason these are better than the traditional January 1st variety,” she says, “is that they’re more natural, more organic.”2
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in The Great Gatsby, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
You can probably think of half a dozen ways you could improve your life by taking action toward some of your goals. These might include getting regular exercise, better organizing your schedule, and improving your household money management.
The key to success in all these areas is to set up easy-to-follow systems so that the behavior you want becomes a habit.
In your personal finances this is fairly simple to do. For example, consider setting up automatic transfers to your savings account for those budget categories that need future funding. Your retirement saving should also be on auto-pilot, so you don’t have to spend the mental energy each month deciding what to invest.
If you’ve already automated your retirement contributions, this fall would be a good time to explore how you can potentially maximize these payments to your future self. Your trusted advisor would love to help you with this.
So take advantage of autumn’s natural momentum towards positive change and you’ll find that when New Year’s rolls around you don’t need to make any new resolutions.
Citations:
1 – http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2091600_2091603_2091648,00.html
2 – https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/lets-do-autumn-resolutions-instead/379409/
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