One of the best ways to ensure that you keep to an exercise program is to get a “workout buddy” who will drag you out of bed for pre-dawn runs and hold you accountable for your regimen.

Quite often people know the decisions are impulse-driven, but it is almost as though they cannot stop themselves, having a spouse or close friend help break the emotional cycle is often the best way to turn their financial situation around.

The same is true for getting a “financial buddy” to help you change your money habits and reach your goals. The process helps you be on track in a supportive way - the biggest benefit of having a financial buddy is that you can’t get away with any excuses.

Picking a partner

No matter whom you choose for your financial buddy or accountability partner, it should be:

• Someone you like and trust. This is important because you may be sharing intimate details of your finances with that person.
• Someone who sets a good example. Don’t start by looking for someone who is a multimillionaire, it should be someone who just knows how to handle his finances well, which basically means - they follow a budget, they save, they can pay their bills on time - they are financially responsible !
• Someone who will be supportive of your efforts. In case you have a financial buddy who’s going to be judgmental beyond whether you did it or not, maybe you want to think about that because you don’t want this to cause arguments

How to make it work

After you’ve chosen your financial buddy, make a plan by:

• Setting a realistic goal.

Make it specific and measurable. Instead of saying you want to spend less and save more, pledge to cut your budget by a specific percentage or to increase your savings by a set amount each week

• Creating a budget

Agree to follow the budget and to not spend any amount of unbudgeted money in excess of a given figure without first contacting and getting approval from the spouse or friend. This often eliminates impulse buys.”

• Reflect on your financial goals

Make sure you revisit any goal you have such as saving for a house down payment or paying off all high-interest-rate credit cards – on a regular basis

• Being accountable

Accountability can take place in any kind of setting.

Most importantly always remember personal finance is such a highly emotional topic, and the emotions are very strong – it is often associated with guilt, shame and embarrassment. Hence when you have someone to discuss the topics with it becomes easy to fight of any undue temptations and get over any insecurity you have regarding finance.