6 easy steps towards your financial game plan!
To begin, I want to ask you to take out a piece of paper and journal this info or sit quietly somewhere and ask yourself these questions.
Do you know where your money is going?
What % of your income are you living off?
Do you have 6-18 months of expenses saved as reserves?
Are your spending & saving rules defined?
Are you working with a coach/expert to hold you accountable creating the discipline of savings?
When exploring the frontier of money most people are confused or simply oblivious that studying money is as important to study as health and mental wellbeing. So why don’t they? We all have childhood programming creating resistance within us around how we manage our money so not taking action seems to be the default for most people.
Here are 6 simple actions that can get you into action around money.
Step 1.
Let’s begin by reading about it.
The smallest most simple read I suggest to everyone I coach, for almost 20 years, is The Richest Man in Babylon. You will learn about the universal principles of money. Then graduate to CashFlow Quadrant by Robert Kiosaki & Sharon Lechter. Then after reading those, I recommend the Millionaire Next Door and Stop Acting Rich by Thomas Stanley. I listened to these in an audio book. I suggest reading these books how you like to learn.
You will want to practice what you learn.
Step 2.
Track your current spending. If you want to lose weight, writing down everything you “ingest” & reviewing it daily makes sense right? So what about everything you invest in? We are all trading our lives for what we invest into, so what are you trading your life for? I can tell you what’s important to you by reviewing your credit card statements. But you can also simply take out a piece of paper or get everything on an excel spreadsheet, this can assist you in creating a habit of tracking. If you practice it regularly it will be eye opening, if you review it with your spouse or money manager you are more likely to make changes and improvements.
Step 3.
Get lean (increase earnings with a side hustle and decrease spending). Can you live off of 70% of your income and then drop it to 50% by the end of the year?
This takes accountability, so hire someone or find friends or a spouse to hold you accountable and have regular check-ins to review your progress.
Step 4.
Set up an auto savings plan. The Richest Man in Babylon talks about this and how when you save money and put it in a place you won’t see it and dont see it as “yours” but as your future self you will begin to build momentum and magnetically bring in money just watch. It really works!
Step 5.
What about all that icky credit card debt? The Snowball Debt elimination plan is the best! Dave Ramsey teaches it best but here it is in a nutshell! STOP spending on your credit cards and begin paying them off. When you choose the highest interest rate card to pay off, cut it up so you stop using it!! Pay it down, pay the minimum plus an extra 100$ or as close as you can. Track it on an excel spreadsheet and celebrate your progress with an accountability buddy, spouse, coach etc! It is such a high and when you pay off that first high interest credit card THEN you take the total you were paying and apply it to the next one until you have paid them all off! It can become a wild & fun ride!
Step 6.
Hire a coach and pay someone who will hold you accountable to your financial goals! I have always had a coach and find that it is necessary for me to have, in an effort to move towards my goals and not get lazy or comfortable!
In closing if you don’t know your bottom-line it may make spending on frivolous items easy. Remember every dollar you spend is a trade for where you invested your life.
Take this brief assessment to review how much an hour of your time(life) is actually worth? Do you have a 9-5 or something similar? Take your monthly income, divide it by 4 weeks = _____then divide by the number of hours worked per week = $ that is your hourly income! Most people know how much they earn at their day job but do you count your commute and extra time invested at the office or on the phone?
Know your value! Know what you are spending and change your life!!!
Whitney Kell Certified Coach, has been honored over the last 19 years with numerous awards and incentive trips from the publicly traded company she assisted in developing as an independent certified coach. She has presented and trained thousands of people on stages all across the country from top health professionals, to burnt out executives and homemakers who needed a life makeover.
Her top values are personal growth, healing, adventure, and fun! She was Featured in Success Magazine with her former business and life partner as a lifestyle transformational leader.
Learn more www.whitneykell.com or give her a call at 858-583-2770
Celebrating your health!
