When it comes to getting financial help, there’s a lot of advice and pointers out there. Everyone has a budget style they recommend, everyone has a budgeting app they support, and a lot of people can point out what they believe is not right about your vision of money. It’s mind-numbing, to be honest, and I’m a financial coach! Go figure!
What I want you to understand is that yes, the numbers and the process are important, but what is MORE important is your mind, your heart, and your vision. Those three things make up YOU and your dreams. In order to have a fruitful financial future, you must understand yourself and where you want to go with it. Get those things in order, and the numbers become just numbers. So, what are these 5 seeds I want you to plant?
Seed #1: Understand Your Money Mindset
You have the ultimate power to decide your financial future. Not your parents, not your grandparents, not your job, your town, your state, your country, but YOU. A fruitful financial future starts with answer one question: how do you view money? Think about this for a second.
Do you get EXCITED? I mean, who wouldn’t get excited about making money? You get down-right pumped at the thought of landing a good job and the vision of money is coming your way!
Are you HOPEFUL? You know for a fact you want more for your family than you had growing up. Who wouldn’t? You know what that vision looks like and you’re determined to go for it.
Do you get STRESSED? Just thinking about money gives you anxiety! Maybe you saw your parents stress out over bills or the cost of groceries and wondered how you were going to handle all that one day?
Seed #2: Cast Your Vision
I firmly believe that everyone, at some point, lives paycheck to paycheck. Life has this crazy habit of throwing curveballs at us any chance it gets, so ups and and downs in our financial lives is almost expected. Many of us have such a tight budget that we might be living paycheck to paycheck, but we are living day by day or month by month. We dare not dream of the future because we don’t know if we even have enough for tomorrow.
This is where I challenge you to DREAM and cast your VISION! Start with where you want to be in 6 months, work up to 1 year, and then make it 5 years. It’s hard to keep going when all you hope for is tomorrow. But when your hope is cast and you give yourself permission to dream, then you can start seeing the path on how to get there. Write down your dream, research it, and then build a roadmap to it.
Seed #3: Understand the Cost of Your Vision
This is part of the research you need to do. When I left my hometown to start over, what did I do? I jumped in a car and headed to Los Angeles thinking, “there’s plenty of opportunity there!” TRUE, BUT it takes a lot of hard work and grit to do it. Luckily I had somewhere to stay where I could do my research before I set out on my own. However, if I had done the research BEFORE, it would have saved me a ton of money. Understand what your vision is going to cost, both in financial terms and personal terms. It’s normal to make some sacrifices, but not to live sacrificially.
Seed #4: Budget and Save
Seed #5: Understand “Interest”
Want to know the crazy thing about interest? It has the ability to GROW your money and DIMINISH it. WHAT?! Yes. Think about COMPOUND INTEREST.
When it comes to making investments, compounding interest is the interest on your total savings that is calculated on BOTH the initial principal and on the accumulated interest from previous periods. In other words, your money GROWS! When it comes to debt, it works the same way! The interest on your total debt that is calculated on BOTH the initial loan and on the accumulated interest from previous periods. In other words, your debt GROWS! Interest can work for you or against you! It just depends on the vehicle you choose to drive it with.
Speaking to the parents here! When it comes to your kids, talk to them about investing and compound interest ASAP. Why? Because the earlier they can start, the easier it is to achieve their retirement dreams. Check out this example:
Time to Cast Your Vision!
Here’s what I love about these 5 Seeds…they are all completely doable! You don’t need a finance degree, you don’t need to be a spreadsheet nerd, and you don’t need to know everything. All you need to do is get to know YOU and cast your VISION! Confidence starts with you; it does not start with the numbers or the budgeting app you choose.
I know you can do it because I have been through some mighty scary financial rollercoasters and when I stopped to pay attention to where I wanted to go, things started to fall into place. I know they can fall in place for you. My goal is for you to reap a retirement harvest you didn’t think was possible. If you want help in achieving that, let me know. I would love to help you. Cheers!
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