In my blog, I don’t talk a lot about the nuts and bolts of personal finance, but recently, I was working with an individual client who was struggling with getting out of debt. I realized that I was forgetting how hard it can be, to make a shift from thinking of yourself as a person who “always” has debt to someone who is debt free.

The “Getting Out Of Debt” Mindset Components

Your mindset is what you believe about the world and everything in it…it’s the paradigm and belief system you use to make all of your decisions, and 90% of the time, people aren’t totally conscious about the mindset they are applying to the different areas of their lives—especially when it comes to getting out of debt.

The components that are important to look at then, are the ones that create conditions in your life that don’t make you happy (like having debt). Many people want to believe that since they have never thought about it, they don’t have a money mindset/paradigm. You DO have a money paradigm, even if you’ve never thought about it.

I’ve found the three most important components of mindset when it comes to money are:

Short-term over long term thinking. Long term can be 25 years or it can be next week, but there has to be something compelling built into your mindset that makes you want to act for tomorrow as well as today.

Pain versus pleasure. Your mindset might be entirely about avoiding pain or finding pleasure, so your mindset has to include ways to deal with instinctive responses you might have as you go about your day.

Who you are. Most importantly, a money mindset has everything to do with identity and self worth, which answer the questions of: “Who do you want to be in the world?” and “Who will you ALLOW yourself to be?” Even if you haven’t thought through the answers, your subconscious is already making decisions for you!

The Challenges With Getting Out Of Debt

The biggest obstacle to getting out of debt is not knowing how you think about the mindset components. Each one of us has a choice to make: can we take responsibility and change our effect on the world around us, or are we just victims, a leaf whirling on the winds of change and circumstance? I choose to believe the former—and when it comes to getting out of debt, it’s essential to believe that you are the solution to the problem.

To strengthen your mindset you must:

• Take responsibility for your choices and seeing yourself as “willing and able” to effect change in your life
• Become conscious of how your behaviors and past decisions paint a picture of the mindset you’ve been operating from, and
• Connect the dots for yourself between short term gratification and long term vision so that BOTH are equally compelling for you, so that your behavior moves you closer to the vision that you have for yourself.

Getting Out Of Debt Requires A Conscious Mindset

To get started on changing your mindset, consider taking these 4 steps:

1. Examine your current beliefs/mindset. Ask yourself: “What would someone conclude about my attitude toward debt or money based on this evidence?” Evidence is current financial situation, choices you make throughout your day, etc. (This isn’t about shame/blame, it’s about empirical evidence).
2. Identify what has to change. What do you WANT someone to conclude about your beliefs and mindset by looking at your behavior, choices and situation? WRITE THESE THINGS DOWN.
3. Commit to change. Decide: what are the behaviors and steps I would take to embody this new mindset?
4. Baby steps. One small step at a time, start taking manageable actions to change the way you’re showing up.

And in the comments, tell me…

What would you like to change about your current money mindset?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

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Maintaining control and clarity over your financial management system can be a pain in the . . . neck.  It’s easy to get obsessed on the one or two things that you think are going to make or break your current, short-term financial life (underwater mortgage, staggering student loan debt, being 8 ½ months pregnant . . . ).  Reality is that slow, incremental consistent steps with your financial management system win out over dramatic action every time.

10 Steps for Simple Financial Management 

I recently saw a list of over 30 things that a person should do to clean up their financial life—perhaps one for every day of the month?  Yikes . . . even for me–a financial planner–that is just plain nuts.  Here’s a list of my top ten things you can do to clean up your finances this month and still stay sane:

Start Mint.  I say this ALL THE TIME.  The single greatest indicator of a person’s future wealth is their ability to save money.  But first, you have to know where it goes!  And Mint is the easiest way to start paying attention to that.  At a recent consult, I saw within 5 minutes how much more clarity Mint brought than another less-effective, not-to-be-mentioned software program the client had been trying to use.  Nothing is more user-friendly than Mint.

Save Monthly Into Cash.  To be “financially fragile,” is to be unable to come up with $2,000 in 30 days, in the case of an emergency. And, according to a new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, nearly half of Americans fall into that category.  Even if you can only save $25 per month, you MUST start a cash reserve.  Try to keep this separate from normal monthly expenses and day-to-day checking.

Get A Good Rate On Your Cash.  If your cash savings is in a simple savings account, it’s probably only earning a tenth of a percent right now.  Google “high-interest online savings accounts” and find an account where you can earn at least a couple of tenths-of-a-percent more!  Even the difference between a tenth of a percent and eight tenths on cash savings of $5,000 is $35 annually.  I could USE that $35.

Review Your Monthly Bills.  Is there a monthly bill you’re wasting money on?  When I review spending for clients, I’m always asking, “What’s that?” and they say, “Oh, that’s something I used to do (gym, subscription, online membership, etc.).”  If you’re not getting value out of it, stop the automatic pull.

Download Online Statements.  I have a whole post on document retention standards and the best ways to organize your data, but at minimum, download pdfs of your banking, mortgage and investments.  I try not to go longer than three months without catching up.

Rebalance Your Investments.  If you haven’t rebalanced your investments in 6 months to a year, it’s probably a good idea to do it before second quarter earnings report—meaning mid-July.  You should always have a model portfolio to balance back to (if you don’t, you should talk to me!).

Automate Debt Payments.  If you’re trying to pay down debt, you should have the same monthly amount automatically going toward each balance.  This takes SO MUCH emotion out of the debt payment process every month!  You can set it up, and then forget about it.  And, do I need to say it?  Stop using your credit cards if you’re not paying them off every month.

Increase Debt Payment by $5 (or more).  Once you automate your debt payments, go back every 6 months and increase the amount by $5-$25.  Most people don’t even miss that amount in their monthly spending, but it can shave months off your debt payment schedule.

Automate Your Charitable Giving.  It’s so much easier to have my charities take out $25 per month than it is to write them a check for $300 once a year.  Virtually ALL charities have this option now, starting as low as $5 per month.  You feel so proud of yourself after this step!

Ask Yourself The Question.  Question:  Do you need a financial planner?  You might be wondering how long it’s going to take to pay off your debt, or how to best allocate your 401k, or even if the 401k is the best place for you to be saving.  Many people feel a lack of clarity over the connection between what they do now, and how that translates into their imagined (desired) future.  A financial planner can answer any and all of these questions for you (and more)!  But better yet, you won’t have that nagging uncertainty that you’re not making the most of your money. 

If there is ambiguity in your mind, then you probably haven’t fully committed to financial action.  These steps are small and easily implemented without having to do a lot of research or make a commitment to huge financial change.  Like so many other things in life, small, gradual steps are the key to staying on top of your finances.  Who knows, perhaps by completing the top ten, you’ll be inspired to do more in the coming months!

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This week’s post is a companion piece to my own post on ways to save money on food, from Sonnet Lauberth.  Sonnet is a holistic health coach, food educator, blogger, and writer on a mission to help people create fresh food that nourishes their body and tastes good! She is the voice behind For The Love of Food, a seasonal cooking blog that’s filled with recipes to help you live a healthy, sustainable life.  We’re joining together to bring you Conscious Money, Conscious Eating.

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What are your biggest challenges to eating healthfully?  There are a few I hear from readers and my health coaching clients all the time…

Eating healthy is boring; healthy food isn’t delicious. I like to eat things that taste good — and that usually means they are bad for me.

Eating healthy is EXPENSIVE! I can’t afford to shop at Whole Foods every day.

Eating healthy takes a lot of time and I’m a busy person. It’s just not possible to eat healthfully and cook all the time with my schedule.

I definitely know the challenges. And believe me when I say that I’m not made of time or money either, but it is possible to eat healthy, delicious, amazing, good-for-you food without spending a ton of money or a ton of time in the kitchen.

Today I’m going to share a few simple ways to get started.

1. Plan Your Meals

Ooh, the daunting task of planning meals. It sounds so overwhelming and time-consuming, right? I mean, don’t you need a calendar, twenty cookbooks, a shopping list, a calculator, a pot of coffee, a snuggie, and a Masters Degree to get started? Wrong.

Just hearing the term “meal planning” makes some folks run away in fear. But, let me tell you, there is no reason to be scared. Meal planning can be as simple (or as complicated) as you want it to be. Meal planning works differently for each person and every family, but in my house, I set up a loose structure for the week to give me some guidance, but allow for flexibility as needed. I start by thinking about:

• Produce that is in season
• Flavors or certain types of food that I’m craving (or that have been requested by my partner)
• How much time I have for meal prep and cooking this week
• How many meals we will need for the week

Then I map out a simple plan from there including recipe ideas and assigning prep work to different days. I usually like to do a large batch of cooking on Sundays and prepare our meals for Monday through Wednesday. Then I typically try to reserve my Wednesday evenings for cooking Thursday through Saturday. Having a meal plan helps me to keep cooking time to a minimum because I can cook in batches since I know exactly what we’ll be eating.

2. Inventory Your Cupboards

One of the best ways I’ve found to save money on food is to not waste any! I regularly inventory our cupboards and refrigerator and incorporate any items that need to get used up into my weekly meal plan. Quinoa been sitting around for too long? Quinoa for breakfast it is! Bought way too much asparagus at the Farmers Market last weekend? Great, it’s going to be an asparagus stir-fry week! Greens on the brink of going bad? It’s smoothie time! Once you get in the habit of doing inventory regularly, you’ll usually find that you go through items quicker and this process begins to feel easier (thus, saving you time).

3. Stick To The List

I absolutely refuse to go to the grocery store without my list. When I shop without a list, I become a scattered mess and end up buying random things that don’t make sense for meals, too much or too little of items, and become especially prone to impulse buys if I am hungry. I used to use a handwritten grocery list, but I found myself constantly forgetting it so I switched to an electronic list and haven’t looked back since. (Nowadays I use the free Remember The Milk app on my iPhone.) Each week when I am menu planning, I add the ingredients I need to my shopping list. As I am cooking or in my kitchen throughout the week, if I realize that I am low on certain items, I update the list as needed.

4. Shop Less Frequently

Even though I rotate my shopping between a few different stores and a farmers market, I usually only go to the store 1 – 2 times a week. The beauty of having a menu plan and a coherent shopping list is that you can save time by getting everything you need in one shopping trip. I usually do my big shopping trip on a Saturday or Sunday morning and then visit the farmers market for seasonal produce. Shopping less not only saves time, but I’ve found that it saves a lot of money because I’m not tempted to pick up extra items all the time.

5. Be Realistic About Your Eating Habits

This tip is uber important. In fact, it might be the most important tip I give you here. In order for meal planning to be effective (instead of stressful), you have to know your own eating habits.

I know that it isn’t realistic for me to cook from scratch every evening so I do batch cooking 2 – 3x a week so there are always fresh meals ready to go in the fridge. I know that by Friday, I am exhausted and sometimes the thought of doing anything on a Friday night (even reheating leftovers) sounds like a lot of work. For this reason, I usually mark Friday as an “eat out” night on my meal plan because I know that I’m going to pick up something from the cold case at Whole Foods on my way home.

I also know that sometimes, as much as I may try to resist it, I’m going to want a snack or a treat. One of the things that I have found really helpful is to specifically include a weekly snack or treat as part of my meal plan. This means that I always have a delicious something on hand that is far healthier (and usually tastier) than if I let my craving go too far and venture to the store in need of something yummy.  The key is that I know myself well enough that I can plan for this ahead of time.

If you are interested in saving money, saving time, and eating healthier, here is how you can get started:

1. Take a look at your current situation around food and money.

What is working well for you and what isn’t working well? What do you wish were different? What are some of the barriers you have found to eating the way you want to AND saving money in the process?

2. Start small.

Start by just making one simple change this week. What is one thing you could do today or this week that would make a difference?

3. Check back with yourself and assess progress.

After you make that one change this week, check back with yourself in a few weeks and see how it’s going. Is it working well? Great, what’s a second step you could take? Is it not going so well? No problem, let’s re-evaluate and see what could be done differently next week. The key is to have compassion with yourself and know that changing habits is a learning process and takes a little time.

4. Join the Program!

Conscious Money, Conscious Eating is Mindy’s and my brainchild, specifically created to help people make the transition to more conscious, affordable, and sustainable eating.

In Conscious Money, Conscious Eating, Mindy will show you how to be more conscious around the way you spend money on food and I will help you to get started on the conscious eating track with simple, easy-to-implement strategies that will make meal planning, preparing, and cooking a breeze. If you’ve been struggling with making some changes around eating healthier and saving money, this program was created for you. Find out more here.

Sonnet Lauberth is a holistic health coach, food educator, blogger, and writer on a mission to help people create fresh food that nourishes their body and tastes good! She is the voice behind For The Love of Food, a seasonal cooking blog that’s filled with recipes to help you live a healthy, sustainable life. Sonnet has been featured in Vegetarian Times, Simply Gluten Free Magazine, Huffington Post.com, Anderson Cooper.com, Saveur.com, Women’s Health Magazine.com, The Kitchn, Dr. Junger’s Clean Program, Organic Authority.com, Allure.com, and Glamour.com. You can also find her health and wellness articles on Mind Body Green and One Green Planet.

Connect with Sonnet…
Website: For The Love of Food
Facebook: For The Love of Food
Twitter: @SonnetLauberth
Pinterest: SonnetLauberth

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

The post 5 Easy Ways to Save Money on Food appeared first on Creative Money.

If you’re looking to cut back on your spending, you are probably wondering how you can save money on food as a budget item; which makes sense, because it’s much easier to cut back on a variable expense like food, versus a fixed expense like rent or mortgage.  There are a lot of good websites that discuss frugality with food—Wisebread, for one—but if you’re just starting out in your quest to find ways to save money, sometimes it can be overwhelming. 

How You Can Save Money On Food

I admit that I wasn’t very good about figuring out how you can save money on food; for many years, this was another blind spot for me.  But when I broke my ankle, my mom came to help for about 3 weeks, and I was awed and impressed at the ways she pulled together meals for us—and she spent MUCH less than I would have in the same time period.  She made the process seem very accessible, even for me, who doesn’t like to cook.  I recommend beginning with the following five steps:

Plan Your Meals.  As I sat there, broken ankle, hopped up on Vicodin  my mom would take a piece of paper and map out a two-week schedule.  She’d ask me what I was hungry for and make notes on that.  She makes a mean pot roast, so I am sure we had that, but instead of just having pot roast one night and then having leftovers, she planned to repurpose pot roast into a Mexican dish as well as an Asian dish. 

If it had been me, the leftovers would have languished in the fridge, and I eventually would have thrown them out, but mom revitalized the meat by adding different flavors in subsequent meals.  Since I don’t cook, the lesson I took away from the experience is to never cook your meat for only one meal—so I typically cook all of my protein on Sundays so I can just heat them up and throw them into different things as I go about my week.  Since half the prep is already done, it’s easier to throw together what you planned to eat, instead of eating takeout.

Inventory Your Cupboards.  Another way my mom demonstrated how you can save money is by using up my excess inventory.  She would poke around my freezer and cupboards to see what I had, and if she saw I had a lot of rice, she’d factor that in to some of the meals.  Or if I had one frozen entrée, she’d simply add another to her grocery list so we could have frozen dinners together one night.  I used to have cans and cans of soup, but over the three weeks she integrated them into our lunches and some dinners, so that she was sure to use up anything I already had.  After she left, I noticed that the more I planned my meals and shopping, the less random stuff I had just hanging out in my cupboards!

Stick To The List.  By meal planning, my mom showed me how you can save money on grocery shopping just by accurately predicting what ingredients she needed for the upcoming meals.  What was even MORE significant when I adopted her process was the fact that having the meal plan almost completely eliminated impulse buys at the grocery store.  When I had already mapped out what food I would need for the next 10 days or so, I was able to pass up impulse purchases easily. 

Shop Less Frequently.  The meal plan always went out 10 days to two weeks, depending on how my mom repurposed different ingredients.  Sure, she might have ran out to the store for something minor, like milk or fresh vegetables, but for the most part, the major shopping was completed 2-3 times in a month.  When she left, I was still on crutches and unable to push a grocery cart—so I had AmazonFresh deliver my groceries.  I was amazed at how much money I saved by having them come only twice per month! 

Be Realistic About Your Eating Habits.  As I planned my meals and shopped for groceries less frequently, I started to be very honest with myself about what I was willing to eat for a two-week period of time.  I realized my tendency was to grocery shop for “perfect” Mindy, who ate lots of vegetables, no junk food, and was very clean and healthy.  But when I got bored with it, I got takeout—and drove up the cost on my monthly food bill.  I finally realized that planning “fun” food into my schedule made it easier for me to stick to it . . . for example, if I am tired at the end of the day and don’t feel like eating my low-fat healthy meal, I always have the makings for grilled cheese or a BLT sandwich—two of my favorite meals!  And they cost a lot less than takeout.

Since I have gotten more realistic about my eating, I have actually gotten healthier AND spend less on food.  I have just integrated simple organizational tools–which anyone can adopt–that made all of the difference in my grocery budget.  So if you’re looking for ways to save money on food, these five steps are a great way to start.

How You Can Save Money AND Eat Healthier

Recently, I realized I now have the desire to step up my healthy eating, but I felt intimidated to just jump in and start experimenting.  It seemed like whenever I tried to implement these organizational steps while trying new healthy ingredients, I ended up spending more.  I needed some inspiration to get started, plus a resource to guide me through some menu planning.

Enter Sonnet Lauberth, holistic health coach and voice of For The Love of Food, a seasonal cooking blog.  Sonnet shows you how to prepare healthy, delicious food without spending extra money or wasting time in the kitchen. She makes new ingredients less intimidating by taking the mystery out of preparing them! I wanted to eliminate the excuse once and for all that preparing healthy meals and saving money couldn’t co-exist, and I believe that we have!

Actions This Week

1. Take Stock of Yourself.  What do you like or NOT like about the role food currently plays in your life?  What would you change if you weren’t afraid of costing yourself MORE money?
2. Make One Change.  It might be hard to implement all 5 steps together, so take your favorite and start experimenting.  
3. Assess Progress.  After implementing one step, decide how you feel about it.  Is this something sustainable 75% of the time?  I usually give myself August and December off from budgeting, since I tend to travel and eat out a lot those months.
4. Join The Program!  Click here to check out Sonnet’s and my upcoming program to help people make the transition to more conscious and sustainable eating! 

And in the comments, tell me . . . 

What’s your favorite way to save money on food?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

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I didn’t feel right about writing about money this week.  Somehow, it seemed trivial to write about personal finance when almost 200 people are injured or dead from the explosions.  I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop as we figure out how this could happen.

I’m not political.  Most of my political views are shaped by Aaron Sorkin (the writer of West Wing and The Newsroom).  However, from a political standpoint, I believe that the constant onslaught of fundraising and position emails should have stopped for more than a day, as a moment of respect and reflection for our dead and wounded.

And considering the cost of health care WITHOUT being blown up and losing a limb, maybe Homeland Security could say, “Sorry folks, we missed all of the signposts for a domestic terrorist attack completely, we take full responsibility and the cost of your medical care is on us.  For life.” 

Chances are, many of the amputees will experience real financial hardship as they reshape their lives, their work and their plans for the future.  Yes, it sucks.  But one thing these people have (or will have) is perspective.  Between financial devastation and life, always choose life.  Devastation is temporary.

In moments like this, I think about our human spirit.  After 9/11, one of the most memorable clips I saw was several days after, a fire fighter, dusty from work, telling the reporter, “They picked the wrong city to mess with, we’re New Yorkers.” Hell yeah.  We’re Americans.  And Boston is one of our locations of historical bad-assery. 

I realized, marathoners are some of the toughest people alive.  The mental and physical conditions that you must work through to finish 26.2 miles of running is astounding.  Americans are bad-ass, but these people, marathoners…these are our gladiators.  If anyone in the world can get through losing a limb, it’s this group of people.  If any kind of family or group of loved ones can reinvent themselves after an attack like this, it’s them.  Please, let it be them.

I don’t like the word tragedy.  I come from a theater background and the definition of a tragedy in that context is a performance meant to bring about a catharsis for the audience.  We can’t have catharsis, not yet.  The word tragedy distances us from what is still happening, and wraps it in a descriptor that avoids blame and messiness.  This was an attack, a bombing.  If someone gets raped, it’s offensive to call it a tragedy (I think).  Call it rape.  We get bombed and senselessly attacked on a day where more than 20,000 people came together, each specifically to meet his or her personal best—call it what it is.  Murder.  Terrorism.  Let’s not soothe ourselves by using semantics.  We still don’t know how this happened. It should still piss us off that we now live in a world without Martin Richard or Krystle Campbell—the names of those we know perished.  There will be more names.  This isn’t over.

We can’t shift to catharsis before understanding what happened.  But our spirit helps us make sense of what we can.  As someone who gets most of her political information from television drama, it should come as no surprise that my world view is inspired by science fiction icon George Takei.  He posted this on Facebook only hours after hearing of the bombing:

“When tragedies strike, heroes rise to meet the challenge: the first responders seen sprinting toward the blast site, the runners who changed course to run to local hospitals to donate blood, and the fine citizens of Boston who at once opened their homes to marathoners in need of a place to stay. When we come together, we cannot be brought down.”

We cannot be brought down.  We aren’t victims, we’re survivors.  Warp speed ahead, Mr. Sulu.

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Back when I was having hard times and money problems, I wished daily for less struggle.  More ease.  A relationship with money that sustained me, instead of needing to work constantly to sustain it.  What I realized—and what changed my relationship –is that the idea of less struggle and more ease starts on the inside, not the outside.

Less Struggle

I recently had an incident that reminded me of this.  I experienced a setback (business related, but not money related, which is how I console myself that I initially didn’t see the connection) and I found myself thinking, “Why do I have to remain CONSTANTLY vigilant to make sure my business is on track?” I was frustrated, irritated and really feeling my inner Tyrannosaurus Rex (RAWR!  I will lay waste to all that I see!  RAWR!)

First, I stopped myself and got grounded.  We typically have enough basic awareness to TRY and assess what is REALLY happening, but often we forget to get our brains off of the Tilt O’ Whirl of activity and just STOP.  For me, I have to walk away from all electronic devices and get some fresh air.

Next, I asked myself, “What attachment did you have to this setback?” For me, success = intelligent, effective business person…but I didn’t have a positive characterization for myself if my experiment wasn’t successful, so I immediately jumped to TOTAL FAILURE, even though that’s probably a bit extreme.  When I calmed down, I realized that I am allowed and REQUIRED to make mistakes to continually improve.

Then I asked myself, “What is the personal growth opportunity?”  An ongoing “growth opportunity” for me is preventing isolation.  I was raised in a family where you worked alone and did everything yourself.  My default is “alone,” so my personal growth opportunity is ALWAYS collaboration and expansion.  I realized that this setback probably wouldn’t have happened if I had not tried to do it all alone and had asked for more support.

Finally, I asked myself, “What did you learn from this setback?”  I learned that I was in “overfunctioning, control freaky mode” trying to accomplish a set of business tasks, and that is NOT the kind of energy I want to bring to my business!  And creating any tactics when I was in that head space would not be effective.

Once I was able to reframe the experience, I felt a lot better about it, and I was able to start planning my next experiment to incorporate all of the elements that made this last attempt fail—collaboration, expansion, support and the spirit of possibility—instead of attachment. 

Money Problems

So how can this be applied to less struggle with money problems?   I see the same dynamics happen when someone is having money problems:

Overwhelm – people are always trying to make money decisions when they ALREADY have 10 different things happening at once!  Stop the merry-go-round (or whatever your favorite throwing-up-ride-at-the-amusement-park happens to be).

Attachment – people starting thinking, “If I can’t pay this bill now, the world falls apart.”  It actually doesn’t, that is just your projection if things don’t happen perfectly (and they never do).  Ask yourself, “Is that REALLY true?  How can I know that it’s true?” Ala Byron Katie. 

Personal Growth – You are where you are because of WHO you are.  Whenever you feel struggle, there is always an opportunity to show up in a different—and ultimately better—way.

Learning – The real world learning is what you can apply from your personal growth lesson.  For some, it might be “never carry credit cards in my wallet,” or “ figure out ways to show up in a better way for my family and our money.” You get to decide.

Actions This Week

If you’re in the midst of a struggle over worry over something, consider these steps:

1. STOP everything.  You can’t get clarity or feel better until you “reset” yourself back to the present moment.  Go outside.  Walk your dog.  Dance to Earth, Wind and Fire (no judgment).
2. Reinforce:  NOTHING IS WRONG.  This current struggle is powerful information, about yourself and how you deal with issues.  Lean into it.  Be willing to take the lesson.
3. Connect with a loved one.  I recently read Jenny Lawson’s book Let’s Pretend This Never Happened…first of all, I laughed so hard I cried, but secondly, it reinforced for me the powerful of having someone in your life who loves you NO MATTER WHAT.  This is VERY beneficial when you’re in the dregs of money struggles.

And in the comments tell me …

What causes most of your freak outs, struggles and attachment issues?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community, I appreciate it!

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I’ve spent a lot of time this year thinking about the universal truth about money…which to me, is different than spiritual truth, because acknowledging your role in the universal truth is a STEP toward losing the fear, ambiguity and lack of awareness around your external relationship with money.  The universal truth is the key to uncovering your habits, thinking and behavior that might be a detriment to your money in the most fundamental, practical sense–and yet, it starts with inner knowledge.  It’s recognizing where you have not been fully living as yourself.

The Universal Truth

Here are the universal truths about your money:

1. Financial ruin does not kill you.  Just ask anyone who has been through it.
2. Debt a result of past thinking.  Forgive yourself and move forward.
3. When you can’t pay a bill, it just means you can’t pay the bill.  Yet.
4. There are no financial victims.  The moment you take responsibility is the moment you change your financial destiny.
5. Quit focusing on your money fear—instead, focus on Money Possibility
6. Don’t let your money worry become an addiction, however…
7. The less you think about your money, the more it gets wasted.
8. Money waste is a symptom of unconsciousness.
9. You can’t spend money to avoid a negative consequence.  It’s still there.
10. Receiving money is passive.  If you tend to “overgive,” you’ll have money issues.
11. Spending money never improves a relationship.
12. Having money does not balance (or unbalance) the scales in a relationship.  Try not having scales.
13. There are no good or bad uses for your money, just whether it’s right for you.
14. Money is not a substitute for your personal power.
15. You deserve to charge as much as you want.  There are no worthiness hurdles to jump.
16. You can’t “buy” an identity by belonging to a group, you can only buy affiliation.
17. Never use money to keep up with the Jones.
18. Never make a money decision when you’re comparing yourself to someone else.
19. The more you know what you want in life, the easier it is to make money.
20. Never let money (or anything) be the reason you compromise your truth.
21. Don’t trust your gut about money if it is telling you to be afraid.  Intuition is not the language of fear.
22. Never make a money decision because of the way something “should” be.  Stick to WHAT IS.
23. Money solutions are never products or investments. 
24. The more you become aware of your behaviors and thinking, the more money you’ll have.

Improve Your Money Relationship

Here are some actions you can take to help you work through the universal truths:

Share this – with a loved one, or review it on your own to agree, discuss, journal and flesh out.  What universal truth is missing from the list?

Chose an area to focus on – when I first started my journey, consciousness was a big theme.  What theme resonates with you and your money history?

Commit to one small step.  Given the theme that spoke to you, what is one small step you can take this week to move toward a better relationship with money?

And in the comments, tell me…

What the universal truth about your money that resonates with you?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

The post The Universal Truth About Your Money appeared first on Creative Money.

Spiritual Truth

Spiritual truths are THE WAY THINGS ARE — people may not agree with your spiritual truth, but for me, once I remember my own spiritual truth, they help me let go of unproductive behavior around my money.

One of my spiritual truths about money is that the more I take care of myself, the more abundance I experience.  This isn’t just some affirmation I decided drill into my head; my life has proven this truth to me time and again.  This is true for me to the extent that, if I am getting worried about a lack of prospects calling, I KNOW I need to immediately leave my office and go have fun for at least 4 hours and quit thinking about work.  When I come back, I ALWAYS have new prospect emails from people requesting to chat.

Another spiritual truth for me is ME first.  This sounds selfish, but what I have found is that if I give to others first—my time, money and efforts—I end up becoming so worn out that I don’t have anything left for me (and then I end up resenting them!).  For me, I have to take care of myself first.  Then, I usually have plenty of energy, money and time left over to devote to others.

Another spiritual truth for me is that when I stay true to myself, I have all of the money I want.  I learned this one when I sold my practice.  The financial allure of working as a consultant to financial advisors was strong, but it was draining me and preventing me from paying attention my own newborn coaching business.  It wasn’t until I forced myself to only work with the people who inspired me (and quit worrying about the money) that I had enough time and energy to get my own venture up and running effectively—to the point where I didn’t need ANY consulting work anymore.

Once I faced up to my spiritual truths, I saw that my level of success and prosperity is directly tied to my spiritual growth.  If I am willing to take the time to understand, I always reach a new level with my relationship with money.

Finding Spiritual Growth

Your spiritual truths may be different from mine.  We’re all here for a unique experience and all on different paths, so it’s up to you to find your own truth.  Here are some signposts to help you along the way:

If you’re in emotional pain, you’re not living your truth.  Spiritual growth and truth have nothing to do with misery, frustration and sadness.  You may feel these things currently, but you don’t NEED to feel bad in order to grow spiritually. 

Spiritual truth is an experiment, but NOT a test.  You don’t need to prove anything in order to experience spiritual growth.  Your truth isn’t about putting everything on the line to demonstrate your faith that something will work out.  The Universe wants you to do things that make you feel good.  It does not want you to do things that make you feel like you’re looking for evidence that confirms you were “right.”  There is no “right.”

(Click Picture To Tweet!)

There are no victims.  True, somewhere in the world, people are being victimized.  Terrible stuff happens.  However, your loved one making a rude remark, getting into a fender bender or getting laid off from your job doesn’t make you a victim.  Once you decide to take responsibility and refuse to see yourself (and others) as victims, you move forward more quickly and find the spiritual lesson.

Giving away your money is not spiritual.  Some people believe that they can’t be spiritual unless they give away all of their money (or unless they don’t make any in the first place).  But if abundance is a spiritual principle, then denying it is denying a spiritual truth.  It’s okay to give and share.  Give to charity. Give to family and children.  Just know what you can give without costing yourself.

Spiritual growth = clean money.  In my “old” life, when I worked with people who I was only working with for the money, each time I got paid I felt like, “Darn RIGHT, you’re paying me!”  Or any time I gave money to someone to “help” them, the relationship energy got icky (because of my codependent expectations, of course).  The more spiritual I got about my money choices, the better energy I felt ALL of the time around money.

Actions This Week

• Review.  Mentally review your life to this point and think about the financial highs and lows.  What else was happening in terms of how you treated yourself and others?  What truths were you living when things were going well?
• Live A Step.  Decide which signpost resonates with you, and go through your week and notice how often it comes up and how you respond—or how you change the way you respond, now that you’re more aware.
• Be Proactive.  What is the spiritual truth about money that you most want to experience?  Even if your outer life isn’t perfectly, aligned, the moment you define the world you want to live in is the moment you start changing it.  You can alter your truth statement as you experiment.

And in the comments, tell me…

What is one of your spiritual truths around money?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

photo credit: /\ \/\/ /\ via photopin cc

photo credit: ashley.adcox via photopin cc

The post Five Ways To Get More Spiritual Growth With Money appeared first on Creative Money.

Although the segment was mostly questions and answers, I thought I would share some key points from the conversation.

Retirement Savings Trends

Here four trends that I see consistently as I work with individuals on retirement planning:

• No confidence in social security.  Did you know that the benefit most 30-40 year olds see on their social security statements are about 18% less than what the baby boomers are getting?  Most of my clients don’t want to factor in social security at all into their retirement savings, but a reduction in benefits is more likely.
• Conservative growth.   People are FINALLY gaining confidence in the stock market again, but when I do retirement savings analyses, I typically plan for a rate of return around 7%–and most people are comfortable with that (if they get more over the next 25-30 years, so much the better).
• Onus on the individual to fund retirement.  With social security benefits reduced, pensions going away and even employer 401k matching becoming less common, individuals should more and more of the complete responsibility for their retirement savings.
• Accept their role.  What is really refreshing about my work is that NO ONE IS WHINING.  I find this amazing.  The people I work with are stepping up, acknowledging their role and no wasting time over pointing fingers or regrets.  I find this inspiring.

The New Retirement

The key to feeling confident about your retirement savings is to quit comparing yourself to everyone else.  Here are three steps that are especially important:

Realize you don’t need a baby boomer retirement.  Baby Boomers worked hard and deferred all relaxation and enjoyment until they stopped working completely.  We don’t think this way anymore.  Most of my clients are okay working 5 years longer if they get to have fun along the way, with travel and a more balanced life.
Don’t focus on what you don’t have, focus on what’s possible.  25-30 years in the future really is a long timeframe, so there is no point in freaking out if you haven’t started retirement savings yet.  Get the clarity you need to know what to do to get started, and don’t beat yourself up too much. 
Future planning makes today more relevant.  When people gain clarity on what they need to do in order to be on track for their personal retirement savings, it tends to motivate them to cut back in the present, and start to take a harder look at how they spend their money.

Current Economic Trends

The economy has been changing how my clients are looking at the financial picture.  They are:

• Making employers part of the retirement savings equation.  It used to be, people just looked at their salary and the quality of work they were offered as a way to compare one job offer with another.  Now, choosing to work for the employer who offers 401k matches and other benefits have become a way to make a job offer more attractive to sought-after employees, so they can get an edge in their retirement savings.
• Backing away from more expensive homes.  Seattle real estate growth rates are above the national average, yet I notice clients preparing to buy are not planning on home equity increasing through growth.  They are conservative in deciding purchase prices and how much mortgage debt they want to take on, in order to keep cash flow available for savings.
• Engaging in less flashy lifestyles.  When I first moved to Seattle prior to the economic downturn, everyone seemed to be involved in the foodie culture and expensive hobbies.  Now, I notice more and more of my clients are buying cheaper cars and fewer expensive dinners.  It appears that people are prioritizing experiences like travel over “stuff” when they engage in spending. 

How To Save For Retirement

When you’re under 40 years old, there are a lot of priorities more immediate than retirement savings.  Here are some tips on how to save for retirement even with having children, moving into your first (or larger) home and paying off student loans:

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Build the saving habit.  I always say that wealth is dictated by paying attention to savings, not the stock market.  Focus on what you CAN do instead of what you can’t.  Saving something—even as little as $50 monthly—is better than nothing.  Make it automatic and increase the amount as you are able.

Always get the free money.  If your employer does provide matching funds, save into your 401k so you get 100% of the allowable match.  If your employer offers company stock at a reduced price (usually through the employer stock purchase plan or ESPP), take advantage of it.

Know that funding one IRA annually probably won’t get you there.  If you don’t have an employer plan available for retirement savings, you can use an IRA or Roth IRA, but the maximum contribution for 2013 is $5,500 for people under 50 years old.  You’ll probably need to save more like in the $15,000 to $20,000 range annually.

Consider a side hustle to boost your savings.   I have many clients who supplement their income through a side hustle: selling photos or crafts on Etsy, working as a virtual assistant, walking dogs and designing websites.  You never know when your passion or hobby could become financially lucrative!

Retirement savings doesn’t need to be scary or intimidating to people who are under 40 years old.  The key is to do what you can and be creative in finding ways to save a few more dollars as you go.  The most important step is to simply begin.

Actions This Week

1. Resolve To Do Something.  You might increase your current savings by $50, or simply open a new account.  Find one small step that you can take to help you focus on retirement savings.
2. Stay Positive.  I come across a lot of anxiety when people start thinking—and worrying—about the future.  YOU control the future by taking action.  It’s possible you will need to adapt as you go, but isn’t that true of everything you decide is worth doing?
3. Get Clarity.  Some people start simply by saving.  Other people need a road map to get motivated.  Decide what information you need to take action, and then get it. 

And in the comments, tell me…

 What issue do you wrestle with when you think of retirement savings?

Thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

The post The Top 4 Retirement Savings Trends (and what they mean for you) appeared first on Creative Money.

How To Invest To Make Yourself Crazy

Deciding how to invest your money is an area that can become VERY complicated—if you let it.  But most of the time, you’re better off making the choice to stay uncomplicated.  Here are the 9 most common ways that I see people messing up their investments:

Sticking to the sidelines.  Did you know that if you had left all of your money invested after the market crashed in 2007, your portfolio would have recovered its original value by 2009?  And yet, I see lots of people still sitting in cash, missing out on great returns.  My clients who took a long-term view, took no action and simply let their investments ride the volatility are extremely happy they did.

Getting emotional.  I have been alive for three market crashes (not working, alive, sheesh, how old do you think I am?!?).   So I am extremely familiar with the Chicken Little, sky-is-falling rhetoric.  Market correction is just basic economics.  It will happen again.  Just be sure that the money you need now or 5 years from now isn’t invested in the stock market, and you should be fine.

Expecting double-digit returns.   When I perform analyses for clients, I NEVER assume the stock market will return double-digit growth.  This is where people get emotional again—just because it WAS returning high growth doesn’t mean it will all of the time.  Market return is only part of what will help you reach any given goal; saving consistently is a more important—and controllable–factor.  Keep your focus where it counts.

Overcomplicating investments.  I have said this before:  if you can’t explain to another person what investments you have in your account, maybe you shouldn’t be using it.  Most people do just fine with mutual funds.  If you can’t explain mutual funds, that is a great first step to take in becoming a more knowledgeable investor! (and…email me.  Maybe this should be a blog post!).

Duplication of investment.  It’s normal to see someone invested in multiple mutual funds within an account, like a 401k.  But sometimes the stocks INSIDE each fund are identical.  Every fund will tell you what their Top Ten Holdings are, so you need to compare and make sure your funds aren’t in 3 different funds with identical holdings!  You may think you’re diversified, but you really aren’t.

Not knowing What You’re Paying. This is along the same lines as overcomplicating your investment, but one of my pet peeves is seeing people pay loads or commissions and have absolutely no idea they paid them.  Keep in mind that everyone gets compensated when you choose an investment—and everyone SHOULD be compensated if they are helping you–so you need to know how it plays out to ensure you’re getting good value for your money.

Not Evaluating Performance.  I am a big fan of buying an investment and then ignoring it, but every once in awhile, you need to make sure that each of your investments still serves your purposes.  I did a whole separate post on evaluating mutual fund performance, so it doesn’t need to be super complicated.

Not Accepting Who You Are.  A long time ago, I had to accept that I would never be like other planners.  I don’t enjoy financial news or talk on TV.  I can’t spend hours poring over fundamental and technical analysis.  But what I found is, my way performs just as well as the people knocking themselves out.  So call it lazy, or simple, but I am okay with it.  You should be okay with yourself, because you can be “lazy” and your investments don’t need to suffer.

How To Invest Simply

Make The Location Simple.  For people getting started with investing, my top four places to invest are Vanguard, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and Charles Schwab.  Super easy online interfaces and plenty of no-load and transaction-free options.

Make The Investment Simple.  For diversification, you need a little of every asset class (which could be a whole separate post).  To keep things simple, use a Target Fund, which is a mutual fund with a date in its name.  You simply pick the date closest to when you want to use the money, and the fund company is in charge of managing the fund, diversifying across asset classes and rebalancing the money.

OR…Choose 5 Funds (depending on how much you have to invest).  At a very high level, all funds fit into 5 categories:

1. Stocks of large companies or “Large Cap”
2. Stocks of mid-size companies or “Mid Cap”
3. Stocks of small companies or “Small Cap”
4. Stocks of international companies, or (you guessed it) “International”
5. Bonds of varying durations and entities

Consider Your Timeframe.  The amount you invest in each asset class category depends on how soon you need the money.  Soon?  You shouldn’t be in the stock market.  Ten plus years?  Throw a little of your money into each category and you’ll be fine.  You can go to anywhere you’re currently investing and filter by these 5 categories and find some good funds.  I could make it more complicated, obviously, but this is a perfect starting point.  Think of this like experimenting with a recipe…there is no “perfect,” just a work in progress.

Ignore For 6 Months.  If you chose to use a Target fund, you don’t even need to check up on it—the company rebalances the fund for you.  If you chose individual funds from different asset classes, balances will go up and down over time, and to lock in gains, you have to sell when the fund value is high and buy when other fund values are low.  This is called rebalancing.  Some fund companies allow you to do this automatically.  Otherwise, just make an appointment to move the balances back to their original positions every 6 months (I do mine every June and December).

It helps to look at investing as you would look at ANY new thing you try: get in, experiment, and be okay with feeling out of your element for awhile, until you start to see progress.  I promise, you can do this!

Actions This Week

1. Review Current Accounts.  What is working and not working for you?  Do you have plans from old employers? You might need to move, consolidate or organize accounts even before thinking how to invest them!
2. Choose Your Investment Company (or keep the one you have).  Think about whether the current location of your investments enables you to invest as easily as possible.  Confusing?  Then research the 4 companies I mentioned above, decide which feels the most comfortable for you and make a change.
3. Decide on Target or multiple funds.  Each company I mentioned above will offer you the choice to have one easy Target fund or the ability to choose no-load, transaction-free mutual funds across the different asset classes.  Choose the least stressful option (that doesn’t mean you won’t be inspired to change in the future!).
4. Make a 6-Month Appointment.  Regardless of how you chose to invest, make a date with yourself in 6 months to review your decision and assess progress.  Some people prefer 3 months, so schedule yourself for what feels right to you.

And in the comments, tell me…

What do you think is your biggest challenge with investing for yourself?

And thanks for being part of the Creative Money Community!

photo credit: StockMonkeys.com via photopin cc

No spam. No games. Just timely, insanely useful content to help you grow your money.

The post The Top 9 Investing Mistakes (& How To Invest Instead) appeared first on Creative Money.