Plansmith Blog

Why Your Financial Institution Needs a Playbook in 2025

The financial landscape is set to undergo significant shifts in 2025, driven by fluctuating interest rates, evolving economic conditions, and a changing political environment. These factors present both opportunities and challenges for financial institutions, making it essential to have a comprehensive playbook. A playbook not only provides guidance, but ensures that institutions remain agile and focused on key objectives, especially during fluctuating rate environments. While we don’t know how much rates may fluctuate, we do know it’s important to be prepared for any scenario.

For banks and credit unions, navigating the ever-evolving financial landscape requires more than just intuition and experience. It demands a clear vision, a roadmap etched with achievable goals, and a dedicated pursuit of those objectives. Goal setting emerges as the compass guiding organizations through market volatility, technological disruptions, and changing customer expectations. Effective goal setting empowers banks and credit unions to not only survive but thrive in a dynamic financial ecosystem.

In the face of complexity and uncertainty, human instinct seeks order and guidance. A playbook, whether etched on ancient clay tablets or stored in modern cloud servers, provides this very structure. It transcends a mere collection of rules; it's a living document, a distilled wisdom of past experiences, offering a roadmap for navigating future challenges. The benefits of a well-crafted playbook are manifold, weaving their magic across both individual and collective endeavors.

Each January, we love to set resolutions. We painstakingly choose a lofty goal or two and optimistically embark, declaring, “this will be THE year for change!”.

Unfortunately, we often lose steam and quickly return to what is comfortable. For lack of a better term, we fail. We fail to change our approach and to reach our goals.

Although we develop software to mathematically convert ideas into measurable outcomes, we have always viewed Plansmith as an education company. Not education as in ‘a + b = c,’ but in the way relationships and behaviors drive a financial outcome. This year, we are introducing a new educational solution called Budget Playbook. This online tool connects vision with purpose and execution to help you reach your budget targets. At Plansmith, we use Budget Playbook to dive into the relationship between ideation and plan execution to foster communication and drive better results.