How does COVID-19 affect your finances?
This was a HOT TOPIC on my post today......I read that 53% of American's have no money saved for emergencies....
I’m not a “financial guru” but I do know this: if you don't have a VISION for your finances, they will perish (Proverbs 29:18).
The biggest push to change is being faced with reality.
What is your financial reality? This surely made us all take a good look at that ole "save for a rainy day" theory!
I felt in my heart to post something relating to this so tabu topic because for so many.....saving money is often something we struggle with : I worked for in a CPA office for many years and I know - there are some tools that people just don't know about.
I've mentioned before that I'm a huge Dave Ramsey fan. If you don't have his BOOK(S) - I encourage you to start there. Now is a great time to educate yourself on easy ways to pay of debt quickly and start saving (even if it's $10 a week) into an emergency fund. WE ARE LIVING IN THAT EMERGENCY NOW!!!! We don't know if and when it's going to hit us again so - now is the perfect time to start looking at your PLAN for the future and how you will manage your money.
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Today, I want to share with you 6 money tips to help you get your finances in order.
How do you go from being in debt to saving over $20k?? My short answer is having a VISION!
That's the first step.
You've got to get such clarity on WHY you want this in your bank account or emergency fund ($20k is just a random amount I threw out there - this could be $1k, $5k, or $100k, etc)......
Set your goal - HAVE A CLEAR VISION FOR IT - (I can help you with that here)
Once you know the goal and have a clear time frame to reach it - you get really creative and put your thinking caps on and make extra money to help you reach that goal.
How can you make a little extra money? Can you sell some things on Poshmark or Ebay? Can you take some things to a local consignment store?
Can you have a garage sale? Think outside the box! Google some other ideas.
"Remember Proverbs 21:20? If not, you can read it here....Firstly, the 'wise man' is a steward of resources and stores up good things for the future, while the foolish man consumes before he can save. The wise man always has enough, even in times of crisis - whereas the fool 'never has enough', even in times of plenty. Prov 13:4"
This Covid-19 is our biggest wake up call to reality! If this is YOU and you fall into the 53% with NO back up plan or NO emergency fund - you are so not alone - but let's let it be the wake up call to know something has GOT TO CHANGE!!!!
Nobody wants to live in fear - thinking - HOW LONG IS THIS GOING TO LAST - I cannot continue this for another __________________ (fill in the blank) .........
I surely don't want to live like that and I don't want you to either!
So here are my 6 tips: I'm no PRO HERE but these are things that have helped me in my life so I wanted to share them with you incase they are helpful and you just aren't sure what to do or how to manage money.
I had to learn these things TOO:
1. Educate yourself with money. Ya know 70% of the people who win the lottery file bankruptcy - you know why? Because they didn't have the knowledge to manage money.
I surely didn't know this either.
EDUCATE YOURSELF. Dave Ramsey says, "if you want to be skinny, study skinny people - if you want to be rich, study rich people" - it's just a saying but you get what it means....EDUCATE YOURSELF by studying the right way to manage your money. READ THAT BOOK BY DAVE RAMSEY - I'll even link it for you here below: I'd order it today and START READING IT TODAY!!!! Turn that TV off and work on that financial future! Finish one of them during this quarantine.
here is the book you'll want to start with: click here
here is the workbook to go along with it - i loved this to help us personally: click here
complete guide to money - we read this one after the first one- it's great to: click here
A couple of other FINANCIAL BOOKS I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ARE:
and
2. See where your money is going. Do you actually know what your overhead expenses are?
What is your rent/mortgage?
What is your insurance?
What is your light bill?
etc...
If you've never added all that up before - now is the time to do it. You have to know exactly where every single dollar is going OUT before you can begin to stash for your emergency fund and manage your money the RIGHT WAY.
Here is a website you can go to in order to give you a clear picture of what you are dealing with - you just plug in your numbers here. I used to use this for my book-keeping clients: www.EveryDollar.com
click that - you've got to do that part too: yes we have to work to save money
3. Where are you spending your money - daily - are you eating it up? Coffee stops? Fast-food? Habits 3x a week stopping to get that yummy snack?
Nails? Where can you cut money? that's $30-$60 for nails to get done. If you are passionate enough - you can save $600 if you don't pay to get your nails done for 1 year.
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Now I work at a gym, but if you are not going - what if you put that money in your emergency fund?
4. Set some new financial goals for 2020 - make a decision that you will never be in this situation again. What do you want to save by December 31st?
How much debt do you have?
You have to see it clearly written down.
How much of that do you want to pay off?
Set new financial goals for this year
Save $1000
Put them in sight and in writing
Pay off $2000 credit card
5. GIVE SAVINGS ACCOUNT A NEW NAME - stop calling it a savings account. What if you called it your personal wealth account or my net worth account? Wouldn't you WANT TO know you are worth more than $50 in there. Sure you would. It would inspire you and challenge you to put more money in your NET WORTH account.
Get aggressive about saving money. Make it an auto deposit into your "NEW NET WORTH ACCOUNT" so that money is automatically put in that account. Even if it's a tiny number - it's something!!!!
6. Look for other opportunities to make money. Get creative. Legal and ethical but find something you can teach, help with, serve with......sell online? Think outside the box!!
.......and the greatest KEY TO WEALTH AND BLESSINGS is honestly ----> GIVING.
Be generous. It's possible to GIVE AND BE RICHER. Sew the seeds. Seed. Time. Harvest. GOD tells us this. Look for opportunities to be a blessing.
DON'T PANIC - be a blessing. Give to those in need. GOD always honors a generous heart.
Luv ya,
xoxo, Heather
