We’ve had enough of all this financial scare mongering.
And you know what? I am just NOT going to do this!
I am choosing to opt out of all the financial doom-mongering – the relentless narrative in the media about prices rises and inflation and the middle being squeezed – and instead, choose to focus on the positives. And on what I can do to take control and be in the strongest financial position possible, in my own life and business.
I’m a glass-half-full type of girl. Maybe you are too (I think so many of us business owners and entrepreneurs are by nature – because let’s be honest, it’s unlikely we’d have taken the leap to start a business if we weren’t!).
In fact, if I was going to categorise anything, I would say I’m the generous optimist. My glass is always half full and I’m more than happy to share it with you, or anyone else that wants some, and make the love go further.
That might sound a bit woo-woo but ultimately, I think that by looking on the positive in life, you have a better life experience.
And if you look for the positive and surround yourself with other positive people, you will spot the opportunities that allow you to live an amazingly fulfilled life and have a lot of fun along the way. Which is surely the whole point!
In all seriousness, of course, I appreciate that the cost of things has gone up dramatically. We’ve seen fuel and food prices go up; we’ve seen shortages and inflation is the highest it’s been in years.
Inflation, of course, simply means how much things cost compared to last year. If you think back to how much a Mars Bar was when you were a kid, it was about 35p and if you go into a shop now, you won’t get much change for a pound. That’s inflation in its very simplest form – the fact that your cash doesn’t buy as much stuff as it used to.
But the price of things is always going to go up and down. That’s life. And the secret to NOT feeling stressed and worried about it all is to take control and have a plan in place, that gives you some leeway and breathing space when prices change!
This means a) not spending every single penny you earn; b) having some money in savings and c) actually making conscious choices on how you spend your money.
Now this isn’t rocket science, I know! BUT you’d be surprised how many people don’t do it (if that’s you too, there’s absolutely no judgement from me – most of my clients come to me in that exact same position too).
So today, I want to give you a couple of really simple tips that you can do, to help prevent some of these things becoming a massive headache for you. Aka ‘financial resilience’ and being able to cope with whatever life flings at you…so you don’t end up sitting on the edge of your seat, biting your nails and worrying about how everything’s going to get paid!
The first step is to make sure that you have more money coming in than going out. So grab a bit of paper, download an app or use a budget planner – whatever works for you (if you need a budget planner, just message me and I have a free template you can have!).
Put in how much money comes into your household each month and then write down what you spend on stuff. In an ideal world, you’d go back through your bank statements and credit card bills, and average this out over 3 months. But it’s 100% better that you do it NOW and estimate the numbers, than to put it off as something you’ll do when you get around to digging all your bank statements out!
Add up how much you have coming in; how much you spend each month and check that you’ve got more coming in than going out. You should be left with a surplus (however big or small) and of course, it’s then up to you what you use this surplus money for.
You might put some of it into an emergency fund – if you don’t already have some money tucked away in savings – ready for when your dog needs the vet, your boiler blows up or you can’t work for a while and need some money to cover your bills.
If you’ve already got money in an emergency fund, maybe you want to pay off your overdraft or credit cards. Or maybe you’d love to start a dream fund, saving towards something amazing that you really want to do or buy.
The point is that this surplus money is allocated to something specific and then transferred into a separate, dedicated account every month. It’s about getting super intentional with your cash – so it doesn’t just get spent in Sainsbury’s on your food shop or swallowed up randomly and you wonder where it’s gone each month!
The key here really is making sure that you’ve always got more money coming in than going out, and that you’re being smart with that little bit of surplus at the bottom. So if your bills do go up, you’ve got some money to play with. You just pay a little bit less into your savings or a little bit less into your dream fund.
By having some money in your emergency fund, it means that if you get a massive bill for something you’re not expecting – or if a bigger bill comes in than you originally planned or budgeted for – you’ve got some surplus that you can use.
BUT the other great thing about doing this exercise is that by looking through your budget planner, you realise what you actually spend your money on!
We’re all grown-ups here. We can spend our cash however we like.
But if you’re spending £80 a month (almost £1000 a year) on Sky TV – is it actually worth that to you? Maybe so! Or maybe, when you stop and think about it, most of the stuff you watch is available on Freeview and Netflix. And in truth, you’d rather put that money towards those shoes you’ve been hankering after or a beach holiday or a monthly massage, that makes you feel amazing.
The same goes for so many expenses that almost sneak up on us, if we’re not paying attention to where our money is going. Spending out on anything you’re not using is just not a good use of your money.
As a Money Coach and Qualified Financial Adviser, you’ll never hear me say that you should start to live a frugal lifestyle with no gin or lunches out (or whatever makes life fun for you!), in order to become wealthy or reach your financial goals. I just will never buy into that ideology, that you have to sacrifice your quality of life now for the future.
But you DO need to be getting good value out of the things that you spend your money on.
If you spend £200 a week on food because you love to cook and you want good quality, organic produce – amazing. But what does your food waste look like? How much of that do you throw away on a Friday, before your next shop turns up on a Saturday morning? Could you plan a little more, so you have less wastage? Freeze more, to avoid it going off? Be more organised with what you already have in your cupboards when you shop? There are tons of options.
Ultimately, using your money well is the thing that will help you have the quality of life you want AND make you feel wealthier. Because being wealthy is about having choices. It’s about living a great lifestyle. It’s having the freedom to leave a job or a relationship you hate, because you’re not trapped somewhere you don’t want to be. But the key thing is that this ONLY happens when you’ve got your money in order.
And it’s not about how much money you earn! I’ve seen people who earn 6 figures (and multi 6 figures) who still have to raid their kid’s savings to run a payroll bill because they’re waiting for an invoice to come in and their cash flow’s all over the place.
It doesn’t matter how much you’re earning. Making more doesn’t make this better – what makes the difference is getting some simple systems in place behind the scenes.
And there are SO many ways I can help you do this!
The signature system I use is called Rock Solid™. It’s a supported self-study programme to help you manage your money and multiply your wealth, so you don’t ever feel like you’re running out of money! Just click here now for all the details.
Or if you work with me inside any of my programmes – like Asset Mastery, Magnetic Wealth™, the Asset Accelerator or my high-level VIP Day – then we do it all together 1:1. To find out more about any of these options and which might be right for you, just click here to get in touch here through the website and we can chat it all through.
Above all else, now really IS the time to choose out of buying into all the financial doom-mongering and really feel like you’re in control of your own finances and your own destiny, no matter what else is going on in the world around us.
If not now…really, then when?
And I’d love to be the one to support you on your journey!
Until next time,
Claire