By Melissa Meagher, Finance Expert
When you hear the word budget, do you immediately cringe and feel like you have to deny yourself something and feel restricted?
Have you ever found it difficult to have a conversation about money with someone important, either your partner or a family member?
What if I could show you a way to get clarity, awareness, and efficiency around your money management and personal finances?
What if I could help you understand how your relationship with money impacts your motivations and behaviours on a daily basis?
Would that be valuable?
If your answer is a resounding YES, you have come to the right place!
– My wish for you is to make the difficult and often taboo subject of money easy to understand
– To embody and love this part of your life
– This is my promise and gift for you – to make money a beautiful thing!
Open up the space to get real about your money
The best map in the world is no good if you don’t know where you are
To be able to have freedom and choice around when, what and where you spend your money you first need to understand what makes up your Money Pot.
You need to have clarity, awareness and efficiency around Knowing your Numbers.
Money loves clarity… and clarity is power!
And what I absolutely know to be true is if you have this area sorted, you will not be as impacted on what is going on in your external world.
Many of my clients have experienced this…
When was the last time that you really pulled back the curtain and shined the light on your finances?
The women that have walked this path will tell you it is extremely liberating and empowering – if not a bit daunting at the start!
First step iS to make friends with your bank account! I know this sounds a bit funny but the number of women I know that don’t look at their accounts because they are fearful of what they are going to find (or not find!) is very common. This fear of the unknown will always be far greater than reality and it is what is holding you back from truly stepping into your financial power.
– What do you have coming in? (this could be a salary, business drawings, investment income, Government Assistance, Child Support or all of the above!)
– How much do you have going out? (what are your ongoing financial commitments, fixed cost, lifestyle spending?)
– What do you own? (have you ever listed out all your assets?)
– What do you owe? (are your debts as efficient as possible?)
It is like conducting your own Personal Financial Audit to understand exactly where you are right now – line in the sand kind of stuff!
A great resource to help you get started with your cash flow is the https://moneysmart.gov.au/budgeting/budget-planner
This give you the ability to plug in all your incomings and outgoings to see what the net result is and where you are currently sitting.
Daily Practices We Can Implement to Remain in a Positive Space
Make decisions from a place of clarity
It is important to stay educated and informed about what is going on but not experience what happened to a lot of people suffered early on – “COVID Information Overload”. There has been such a large amount of information coming out that was changing at a very fast pace and people were trying to keep abreast of everything that was going on. Choose one source to get your information from and do not try to digest everything that is floating out there in the stratosphere!
Protect your energies
One can easily get caught up in all the noise, opinions, and theories that are circulating around. Be mindful of the conversations you are having, what you are reading, and who you are listening to. This is not about what is right or wrong, but maintaining a space of positive energy.
How are you going to show up?
We have the option every morning when we wake up to choose to come from a place of expansiveness and abundance versus scarcity and lack. To focus on what we do have in our lives and practice gratitude OR constantly think about what we do not have and what we do not want. This can lead to feelings of helplessness, fear and overwhelm. It is important to take daily inspired action and put in place a routine to prevent this from happening – this could include exercising, meditating, journaling – whatever works best for you.
Julian B Rotter developed the concept Locus of Control back in 1954 which is the degree to which people believe that they, as opposed to external forces (beyond their influence), have control over the outcome of events in their lives.
The past 6 months have well and truly tested this theory for everyone on a global scale – we have sailed into completely unchartered territory and are experiencing unprecedented times!
We have also been surrounded by a lot of uncertainty and unknown, with many decisions and experiences that are completely out of our own “Locus of Control”.
Let me know if you would like to catch up for a chat about your own situation – I am here to support you!
Take care until next time
Melissa xox
Melissa has over 20 years’ experience in the financial services industry, working previously as a financial planner, stockbroker and seminar delivery specialist. Visit Talking Money to learn more and follow Melissa at @melissa_talkingmoney
