Much like we take days as a Spa Day or a Health Day or a Mental Health Day. I think we all need to take one day every month as a Financial Health day. Where we look over our finances and see if we are still on course or falling behind.
It can really benefit us in other areas of ours lives as well. Usually the less we are stressed about money the easier life seems to be and the easiest way to not be stressed is to actually see what's going on. Also, it is much better to make plans and think about money before things get into a difficult position.
The following are examples of things you can do on your Financial Health Day. This is not an all inclusive list but somethings that I have done on days I look through my finances:
Review your fixed expenses things like your rent, your utilities, insurance, etc. This is where we can get the most bang for our bucks.
Sometimes taking the time to call your service provider like your phone or internet or insurance company you can cut those costs a pretty good amount.
For those who have debt maybe take the day to see if you can find ways to reduce the cost of servicing your debt maybe get a 0% credit card so you can pay your debt down faster.
Maybe change your car loan from the dealership you bought it from to a credit union so you lower your interest rate.
Just basically take the time to review all the things you have to pay for on a monthly basis and just see if there are ways that you may be able to cut your costs.
For example: Over the pandemic I called my car insurance company twice to reduce my insurance because like most of us I was not driving that often.
Also I decided rather than renting an apartment where I lived by myself. I moved in with a friend to cut my living costs. Now this may not be for everyone but for me it was the best move possible for my goals.
Take the time to sign up for the stuff that is boring and easily forgotten
Have you signed up for your 401(k) at work?
Have you opened that Roth IRA?
Have you opened an Emergency Fund Account?
Do you need to look over your insurance to add things like Life Insurance or other kinds of insurance?
A lot of these things can fall by the way side because it is not flashy. However, they are the skeleton for your financial future. Out of sight and completely out of mind until you break something and then you remember you love your bones.
For all my non single folks out there, this one is for you.
It is time to have the money talk with your significant other.
I found this interesting, people would rather talk about death than talk about money. People will literally talk about anything else than to talk about money. This is just SAD
When no one knows what is going on there is much more room for damage in a relationship.
-50% of marriages end in divorce and more than 75% of those divorces are due to money problems.This is a very easy fix. It is just a simple conversation that you have on a regular basis.
If you are not yet married, start having these conversations with anyone that you think is gonna be your future partner.
This should be part of the foundational aspects. Know what you are getting yourself into. Rather than being blindsided and holding contempt against that person.
Create a GOAL but not just a lofty pie in the sky random goal. A SPECIFIC SINGULAR GOAL
When we choose one thing and focus on it; We are able to easily accomplish it.
However; when we get distracted and try to do too many things at the same time. We end up never making progress and just feeling overwhelmed.
So just start with one goal at a time. Whether that is I want to save $1000 to an Emergency Fund or I want to pay off all my credit card debt.
Whatever that goal is, make it the most focused thing for yourself. Do not allow anything to distract you from the MAIN goal you have.
Set up Automation for loan payments and savings.
Automation is literally the answer to our prayers when it comes to paying our debts and saving money.
When we do not have to actively think about saving money or paying down our debts, we tend to do a GREAT job of doing both.
For all my credit card users out there, the easiest way to use a Credit Card is to put one bill on it and set it to pay off every single month
For all my savers out there, the easiest way to save is to set up reoccurring automatic transfer from your main account to other accounts that you do not see regularly.
If you are in debt, pay extra money towards the debt or to your savings every week.
Meaning every time you think about buying something you do not need. Just send that money towards debt or towards a savings goals.
Do this regularly and those numbers add up very quickly over time.
Unsubscribe from all product emails.
I know it feels good to get these emails telling us about the short term discount they have going on but did you actually need those shoes or did you actually need to know that the laptop was on sale.
Sometimes ignorance really is BLISS.
Because we go from being perfectly okay not knowing something exists to immediately wanting stuff we don't need just because we saw it pop up on an email or something.
Figure out the things you love and Spend money on it
Whether that be experiences or specific things that brings you joy.
Notice I said joy not happiness because happiness is way too fleeting and runs out very quickly.
Joy is something that is consistent.
For some people that is travel, for some it is specific things because of a hobby you have.
I have a friend (actually my roommate); he loves cooking and so he will spend money on kitchen appliances because they bring him joy and relaxation
It should be the same with you. For me, it is tech stuff and more recently buying stocks.
The easiest way to determine what brings you the most joy is to pay attention to the things that you find the most relaxation doing.
For me; I love researching, watching, and reading about different companies which leads to me buying a stock.
I also love watching and learning about new tech products. But the thing I have to be careful of within this is that I do not want to go overboard with tech stuff.
For me the way I have broken up my tech love is deciding on the big things that will really be a part of my life rather than a bunch of small things that I will use once and forget.
For example, right now I want a new laptop and a new surface and both of those things will cost me about $5000. I am willing to spend that money because of the amount of time I spend on my computer and how much it will benefit me. (Also I can do a tax write off 😏😜)
And finally schedule your next Financial Health Day
Make it a consistent habit and it will change everything for you.
“Remember the chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”
In other words, the little things you begin to do today will seem insignificant but over time they will make all the difference.
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Remember GENEROSITY > greed
God bless Each and Everyone of y’all
✌🏾
-Kelechi