fbpx
Financial Wellness and Your Money Journey

Financial Wellness and Your Money Journey

by | Jan 30, 2023 | financial wellness

Financial Wellness is the starting point for building Wealth

 

Hello Beautiful!

 

What is financial wellness:

How does financial wellness impact our money journey?  Financial wellness is our overall financial health and well-being. It is our thoughts around money, our relationship with money, our money behavior, our ability to make sound financial decisions, and our knowledge about money. Financial wellness is being “comfortable” with our financial position, and where we are in our money journey.

Factors that influence financial wellness:

• Our mindset about money – this is what drives our internal money story. Our money mindset is shaped in the early years of our lives. It’s what we learned about money growing up, our values, the messages we received – directly and indirectly; what we learned in our families, our religious beliefs, what we saw in our communities and the world around us, including, with no surprise, the media. All of these influence our thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs around money. What we believe about money will either drive us, or get in our way; it governs our actions. And it is from this place that our relationship with money is formed.

• Our relationship with money – this is our comfort level with money; it’s how we are navigating our money journey. Are we tiptoeing around it, are we avoiding the relationship all together, are we reckless, or do we have a good command over our money?

• Our money habits & behavior – this is what we do with our money every day. It is the choices and decisions we make. It is how we manage our money; our money practices. This is how our mindset about money presents in our lives. It is how we move.

• Our knowledge about money – how much do you know about money? No judgement. It’s just a question for you.

Why financial wellness is important to our money journey:

When we understand our money story, and can identify our beliefs, thoughts, and values around money, we can move differently and with a different intention; we will behave differently.

The results:
1. We can have a better relationship with our money.
2. We will be able to take better control of our money.
3. We can work towards being in a position to create and build wealth by achieving the 5 Money Goals.

Sharing my journey to financial wellness in hopes that you will be encouraged:

As I shared a little bit in my About Page, my money journey has not been easy. I had to undo a lot of negative behaviors, and beliefs; my money mindset was in shambles. I actually got a lot of mixed messages about money. What I heard, or thought I heard in church completely confused me, and I thought it was a sin to be rich/wealthy; then I learned the truth for myself.

When I was really young, I pretty much lived with my grandparents, and I remember my grandmother always saying, “Lawd, I don’t know how I’m gone’ make it.” This was a regular refrain from her. And to counter that, I had my grandfather who taught me the importance of savings. I remember when I was a kid, he took me to the bank to open up a Christmas club savings account – they don’t have those any more. I was so excited! I really loved putting my little money in that account.

Fast-forward, as a teenager, my mother taught me how to survive, and I continued that survival mentality into adulthood. It served me as a young single mom, but left some scars. I will never forget as long as I live, being on welfare with two kids and getting $682/month. I was just existing – financially. I knew I didn’t want that for me and my children.

I had to work hard to unravel my thinking around money, and how I felt about myself. I had to move beyond my scarcity mentality. My financial wellness was not.

How I changed the trajectory of my financial wellness:

Since I have always had a passion for personal finance and investing, that’s where I started. Because of my passion, it was actually easy to fix the tangible.
• I focused on better money management – I would budget down to the penny.
• I learned everything I could about investing, and personal finance.
• I got a good job making relatively good money, and made smart decisions about what I did with it – that was key.
• If I am honest, though so much better, and decades later, I am still faced at times with money mindset challenges.

I’ll share a very recent story:
Every year I save all bills that have a “K” in the serial number, and I save all change. I use this money towards something I may want, or lately, it’s been the plan to do something nice for myself on my birthday. However, when my birthday comes, I struggle to spend the money. This past birthday I had saved over $850 in change and “K” bills, and I had a hard time doing something nice for me. To be fair, there isn’t much I want; I enjoy experiences more than things. In the end, I put the money in my savings account. That may sound great, but it allows me to see that I still have to work on my money mindset, and that this is a journey.

Whatever your financial wellness picture looks like, and wherever you are in your journey, it’s never too late, and always worth the effort to get to the financial position you are comfortable with.

Embrace your journey!

Warmly,

your sister

Kim
How to create financial goals that you will achieve

How to create financial goals that you will achieve

by | Jan 23, 2023 | financial wellness

Tips for creating  financial goals that you can crush

 

Hello Beautiful!

Let’s crush our 2023 financial goals

 

I don’t want you to just achieve your financial goals this year, I want you to crush them!

Creating financial goals that you will achieve goes a little deeper than making a list of things you want to accomplish.

While we are still in the month of January, it’s not too late to think about creating financial goals, if you have not already done so.
So, how do you create financial goals that you will actually achieve?

I got you!

But wait, can you believe that January is almost over! It went by so fast. Well, let’s get started.

Every year around this time people make New Year resolutions, and set goals that they don’t keep. I know, I’ve been that person. There have been times when I have completely forgotten about them by March, and other times where I have accomplished a few, but not all, and there were times when I nailed it!

How does that happen? You, achieving your financial goals.

I love the scripture, Habakkuk 2:2, “Write the vision an make it plain on tablets,…”

I can’t stress how important the act of writing out your financial goals will be to your success. Many people want to skip this step, but right there, that should send an alarm – are you really ready to achieve your goals? Or are you just dreaming? Let me say this, without putting it in writing, without a plan that you intend to work, it’s just a wish and a dream. That won’t get you what you want. I will share with you the process I will be using on my journey.
First, let’s talk about a goal setting strategy that’s quite popular – S.M.A.R.T. goals. I’m sure many of you have heard of this acronym, but I’ll review.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals:
• S – Your goals must be Specific. You need to be able to identify it.
• M – Your goals must be Measurable. You must be able to track your progress.
• A – Your goals must be Attainable. Okay, you gotta be realistic, is it something you can really do? Yes, you may have to work hard.
• R – Your goals must be Relevant. Does it mean enough to you to work for it? Is it important to you?
• T – Your goals must be Time-Bound. You have to set a date for when you will achieve your goals. However, this should stress you out.

Establishing SMART goals will make your process more quantifiable. Next, let’s talk about the process.

10 Steps for writing out your financial goals:
1. Identify your goals. What will they be?
2. Write everything down. I can’t stress this step enough.
3. Prioritize each goal: Which one to do first? Which is more important?
4. List what your objectives will be. How will you accomplish your goals?
5. Determine the methods you will use. This is your action plan; the steps you will take.
6. Establish a date to achieve our goals, including a timeline with checkpoints/benchmarks (these identify tasks you should complete at designated points, on the way to the finish).
7. Develop a “Backwards Plan,” including your benchmarks. (Something I learned in the military).
8. Calculate the cost – time, money, resources, family, sacrifices, etc. What is it really costing you?
9. Work your plan!!! Note – many people won’t do this, and wonder what’s wrong with the plan. Hm…
10. Last, and incredibly important – Have Faith & Believe!!!

Now after all that, you still may not achieve your financial goals.  You say, “what?!”
So, what will it take for you to actually achieve your financial goals for 2023?

5 valuable elements that will get you to the finish line, and make it possible for you to actually achieve your financial goals:
1. Values – Your goals have to line up with your values – what’s important to you, and for your family. It cannot be counterproductive to your big picture financial plan.
2. Your “Why” – This is your reason you are doing what you are doing; it is your motivation. Your “why” has to be STRONG enough to compel you to action.
3. Focus – You will need to have visual reminders of your goals. This is why vision boards are so popular. But you know, a post-it will do, a 3X5 card, stick it on your bathroom mirror, or the inside of your front door, somewhere you will see it daily, and are reminded.
4. Accountability – Have someone that you can share your goals with; someone that will hold you accountable, and that you can check in with, someone who can encourage you, be your cheerleader, and get you back on track when you’re not doing anything.
5. Commitment – Here is where the heart check and gut check comes in, is your goal something you just want, or are you willing to do what it takes to accomplish the goal? There is a big difference between being committed to doing something and just wanting it. When you are committed you are willing to do what is necessary to achieve your goal; you are willing to put in the work, and make the sacrifice. Without the commitment, it’s just a want that is no more than a wish.

I hope you are ready to crush your 2023 financial goals, because I am.
Embrace the journey!

Warmly,
Your sister

Kim

My Welcome Back

My Welcome Back

by | Jan 18, 2023 | Kim's Korner

My Welcome Back

New Beginnings

Hello Beautiful!

 A time to Heal

It’s been nearly two years since I’ve written.  Where have I been…

First, I needed to be there for my family, and while I was busy working for the Board of Directors I realized that I needed to take some time to heal from old trauma that I didn’t even know I had.  I am a “push it down and keep it moving kinda girl.”  Trauma doesn’t always show up how we think it does.  When we often think about trauma, we think “tragic,” but that’s not always the case.  For me, it affected my decision-making, how I moved, and a lack of healthy boundaries.  So over the last year I created space for me to heal.  I am so grateful to God that I am in a position to be able to be there for my family, and take the time I need for myself.  I’ve done the work in the first part of my healing journey, and now I’m walking it out.  Still on my healing journey, but I am much better now.

 

 

Rebranding

While I was in my healing space I made a decision to rebrand my site.  It’s subtle, but definitely a shift; not a design or style shift, but a shift in content.  It will still be about money, but the context in which it will be written will be different.  As much as we may want to talk about making and having money, I believe we often overlook a step in the journey – our relationship with money.  The journey is about Financial Wellness, and redefining Wealth.  

Happy New Year 2023

We are halfway through January already.  I think 2022 went by so fast.  I hope your 2022 was good to you.  If I had to assign a word to my 2022, it would be healing.  My word for 2023 – Intentional.  What is, or would be your word for 2023?  I am excited to be back, and writing again.  I look forward to bringing you content for your money journey.

 

Your sister,

Kim