Your Financial Destination: A Process
When it comes to this money thing, there is surely no one size fits all approach. For each of us, there are some basic principles that can be used as a foundation, but when it comes down to it you have to do what is best for you. When I came up with the idea for this website and movement, I wanted to have my own step-by-step process and approach to helping people improve themselves financially.
The approach that I established was birthed from my deep interest in behavioral economics. Behavioral economics is a method of economic analysis that applies psychological insights into human behavior to explain economic decision-making. I want to truly work my way towards understanding WHY we make the money decisions we make and remedying the bad ones. This will, hopefully, decrease the chances for the perpetual cycle of bad money decisions from happening. Today, I want to share my THOUGHT process and approach to overcoming the feeling of being financially lost and financial illiteracy. let's get started!
STEP ONE: DESIRE
We must take some time to decide that we have a DESIRE for financial enhancement. How can you improve a certain area if there is no DESIRE to be better? This is a small first step and is fairly easy because it is simple as saying, “Yes, I want to be better with my finances” OR “Yes, I have a desire to be debt free”. However, this will take work, hard work (we’ll get to that later). We have to defeat this, seemingly, programmed process of being financially illiterate and an unwillingness to learn. DO YOU HAVE THE DESIRE? Remember: NO DESIRE. NO DISCIPLINE. NO DEFEAT.
STEP TWO: MINDSET
Every single action begins as a thought and If you don't think it, you don't do it. If you learn to manage your mind, you will surely know how to manage your life. This MINDSET management creates the foundation for whether you'll be financially poor or wealthy. From this it’s clear to see that A mismanaged mind leads to disaster and a managed mind leads to success. You'll be surprised at how much money can be saved and invested when you have no alternative except to succeed and have a thought process to match.
STEP THREE: CURRENT LOCATION
This is where we establish awareness. Sit back and think, "Financially, where am I right now?" It will help you understand your current financial position as you stand right now. Wealth is all about net worth and you want your net worth to be positive. The best way to get anywhere is to be aware of where you are currently. When you use navigation to help you while traveling, what’s the first thing that is needed? Your CURRENT LOCATION. Knowing this will give you a good idea of what your goals should be and how long it will take you to get there. thankfully we have a great resource to help you with with this on our resources page. head over to our resources to get started by completing your personal balance sheet.
STEP FOUR: PLAN YOUR ROUTE
By now, we should know where we stand regarding our financial position. As stated before, being aware of this helps you establish your desired goals. This is the step that allows you create your goals and plan a route towards them. YOU CAN’T WIN WITHOUT GOALS BEING ESTABLISHED TO DEFINE SUCCESS. HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’VE WON OR LOST IF YOU DON’T HAVE A FINISH LINE TO RUN TO? It is okay to have more than one goal, but we want to prioritize and conquer by planning a route to the most important, current goal.
STEP FIVE: FOLLOW YOUR DIRECTIONS
STAY IN YOUR LANE:
Set YOUR OWN money goals based off of YOUR tax bracket. You have to stay focused and "act your wage". Stay in YOUR lane.
PRIORITIES:
Don't allow emotional impulse to result in the involuntary rearrangement of your financial priorities.
STOP COMPARING:
Comparing your life to the life of others is a sure trip to a meeting with jealousy. Comparison is truly the theif of joy. Comparisons also result in a false sense of self-worth. A great example of this is Mark Zuckerberg. He, reportedly, wears an exact copy of the same t-shirt to work every day. His clothes don't give an indication of his wealth and neither should yours.
MOTIVE:
Many of us actually have the money to buy certain things that our friends have. However, I hope that is not your sole reason for purchasing them. Before you buy something, evaluate the WHY for the purchase. Your motive for your financial decisions should be just that, YOUR MOTIVE.
STEP SIX: REACH YOUR FINANCIAL DESTINATION
In the words of Siri, "You have arrived to your destination".
A plan for our money is needed before we continue to build upon our lives. We must ensure we have enough to maintain the life we have in front of us. There will be many destinations that you will have over your lifetime. Let's start by prioritizing and patiently placing a majority of our energy towards one financial goal at a time.
It takes longer to complete three goals simultaneously rather than one of the goals at a time. Tackling one thing at a time will yield extraordinary results and it will take sacrifice. Don't let your debt confuse you or discourage you from kicking its butt!
“Success is sequential, not simultaneous.”
”If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one”
LUKE 14:28
"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?"