The only one responsible for your finances is you. Instead of pointing the blame, what you need to focus on is what you can change.
Weight gain and debt are similar. You may be thinking, that makes no sense, but hear me out.
Weight gain doesn’t happen overnight. Maybe when we were younger, you would always be on the go, active, running, cycling, walking all over college campus, hanging out with our friends.
Over time you stopped being so active, you are focused on the job and family, you’re work long hours and aren’t getting adequate sleep. Over time you gain weight.
How does debt compare?
If you attended college maybe you have student loans. Then you decide to get a credit card because what appears to be a great “cash back” promotion. Little by little you keep buying things on credit. Maybe it starts out with one credit card. Then you are at a store making a purchase and they offer you a “save 20% on your purchase by opening a credit card”.
Next comes a vehicle loan, personal loads, mortgages and so on. Before you know it, you are swimming in debt.
What happens next?
Back to the weight gain example, you may talk to your friends about it to see what works best. Or maybe you see an ad for this weight loss program or you do research on best ways to lose weight. You arm yourself with lots of information and options.
Same thing can happen when it comes to our finances, we want to make changes, so we do all the research, talk to friends, and arm ourselves with all the options. Problem is, just like with the weight loss example, with your finances you get lost in the weeds.
With the weight gain example, something else you may do is you ignore the weight gain, feel guilty, obsess about it. Same with finances, you ignore them or you fret over this option vs. those options, which will be better?
Where does it all lead?
Both options lead to the same result, you do nothing.
Here is a simple comparison on how they are similar.
| Food | Personal Finances |
| Mindless eating leads to high caloric intake | Don’t track spending |
| Eat more than you realize | Spend more than you realize |
| Spin in indecision about diet, exercise, etc. | Spin in all the data around investing, saving, budgeting |
| Value anecdotal advice over facts | Listen to friends, media, etc. instead of doing reading a financial guidebook or working with a financial coach and taking action. |
What are helpful some helpful steps to get my finances in order?
When it comes to our finances, we need to:
- Have bank accounts at a reliable bank and get accounts that don’t have fees.
- Automate savings and bill payments.
- Figure out how much you are spending, so you can make learn to tell your money where you want it to go.
What if you consciously decide how to spend your money, instead of wondering where it went or saying, I guess that is how much I spent last month.
How do I get started with investing?
In order to invest, you don’t have to be an expert and you don’t have to know all the things about the market.
Here are a few different approaches you can take:
- Work with a financial advisor, they will help you determine what kind of investor you are when it comes to risks in investments.
- You may choose to use Automatic Investing. It is a way of investing that lowers expenses, i.e. fees.
- Deciding what types of investments, you want to make, Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, Index Funds, 401K and so on.
There are pros and cons to working with an advisor vs. investing on your own. It is a personal choice, but for me, I personally like having an investor I trust. Working with an investor I can ask questions and get help so I can understand different options and types of investments, so I can make my own best informed investment decisions.
It is time to take charge!
The only one responsible for your finances is you. Instead of pointing the blame, what you need to focus on is what you can change. Just like in the food/health industry, we are given so many options. The finance world can be confusing and overwhelming, leaving us in a state of not sure what to do first or how to get started.
We can put the information overload aside, put all excuses aside and focus on what change you can make.
Schedule your free consultation call HERE and learn more about working with a 1:1 financial coach. We can discuss where you are now, and where you want to go and how to get there.