This month, I'm keeping the focus on all things MONEY!
In my last letter, I shared with you some of my money worries and some of the phenomenal books that really impacted me.
Did you decide to buy and of the books? Have you read some already? Did you take some action to start your money journey?
Perhaps you simply acknowledged the debt hole that you are in and got real with yourself.
Maybe you didn't do anything, read my letter and left it there. If that is you, I challenge you to do something, any one thing that is going to help your money game! I am sure there is an action you can take today that your future self will thank you for.
That's what this weeks letter is all about, action! So, today I want to share with you some of the major lessons I learnt during my money discovery and a few of the actions that I have implemented in my life.
In doing so, I hope again to inspire you to take some action and to know that you're not alone.
Money can be stressful and hard.
Money is life.
Money can be flowing in our lives not causing us stress.
Let's take some action this week.
“ To be successful, you must be willing to do the things today others won’t do, in order to have the things tomorrow others won’t have. — Les Brown
Let us do today, what our future self will thank us for. Here are some of the top lessons I've learnt and taken action on:
- Spend Less than you Earn: simple right? Not always, it seems in this day and age. It is the most important of all the financial lessons and the one that has taken me the longest to master. Be honest with yourself, don’t try and keep up with others. Be okay with No being a full sentence!
- Build a £1k Emergency Fund: many people in the UK have little or no savings at all for life's emergencies. (2 in 5 Brits (39%) have £1,000 or less in savings and 1 in 6 UK adults (16%) have no savings at all, equating to around 8.4 million people) Source: https://www.finder.com/uk/savings-accounts/saving-statistics
Start here and build your emergency fund, the feeling you will get when you have this money saved is immense and it is a huge initial step in your financial life. No matter how small you start, get into the habit of saving money.
- Be honest with where you are: it’s easy to burry our heads in the sand, to never check our accounts, our debts or to know our actual financial position. Don’t play yourself like that. Own it, acknowledge it and face it head on. Sometimes seeing where you actually are is so empowering, because from a place of knowing you can begin to take back control. I use an app called Emma, in it I link all of my accounts, list all of my debt, my savings, everything money related, allowing me to track my net worth. This works for me, but spreadsheets work too - find what works for you and get clear and honest!
- Start paying off debt: there are different schools of thought around how to do this. The snowball method, starting with the smallest first and building up, or starting with paying the highest interest debt first and working through it like that. You have the find what works for you. Personally I like to get the small wins upfront as it builds momentum and a sense of progress, so the snowball method has worked for me, find your way and go at it hard!
- Automate your costs: set up your expenses so that your savings, debt repayments and bills are paid each month without you having to do anything at all. I have an account that's sole purpose is for paying all my bills and direct debits. Each month I transfer the exact amount I need into this account and then leave it to do it's thing.
- Automate your weekly spending budget: This was a Game Changer for me when I learnt this lesson. We easily over spend and if you budget for a month, you can quickly run out of money and a month is a long time to wait until more money hits your account. 7 days is always manageable, you can always scrape by for 7 days. I automate my weekly budget, I transfer the full months weekly spent into another account, then each Friday it automatically transfers my weekly balance to my current account. Every Friday it’s like I get paid. The money has to last me for the week, if it doesn’t then I wait it out until the next Friday's balance hits my account. I don't touch the weekly budget account - out of sight out of mind! Thanks to Kim Beckbessinger and Manage your Money like a F*cking Grown Up for this game changing tip.
- Be Patient: still so difficult for me as I want to jump the stages and get straight to debt free and investing. I look forward to my money making money while I sleep. But I realise, the steps are important and the stages matter. Make and follow your plan and trust (if you can even better, enjoy) the process. It can take several years but the improvements will come and the day we all get out of consumer debt will be glorious - I long for that day. I still have a way to go, but it is getting closer for me all the time!
- Talk about money more often: I believe that we struggle, stress and strain so much about money because like sex we keep it a taboo topic and are afraid to talk about it. Bring the conversation to light, ask questions, speak to your friends. I believe is it there that the beauty, learning and growth is to be found. I love talking money and am always up for those conversations - find me, let's chat! Don’t be afraid to have the conversations; if you are, do it anyway, it will stretch you and you'll likely learn something.
- Play the Game: money is a game and it’s important to know the rules. We are not taught the money game, it’s up to us to do the work and to learn. So do it! Educate yourself, find the information, learn the rules, implement the strategies for your shot at playing and winning.
- Speaking of games: In my discovery I came across a game, created by Robert Kiyosaki 'The Rat Race Board Game'. It's a fun and interactive way to learn about money. You get to try things with money in a game with zero risk. I love it!
At the end of the day, changing any aspect of our lives, or levelling up in anyway is a process and takes time.
As I said in my last letter, know that you are not alone! I believe in you and your dreams. Don’t let them die because of where you are financially right now. It can change.
I believe it is even more important, for us as women, to invest the time and energy required to transform and level up our finances.
Let's make it happen.
💛 Emma
