by Elisabeth Donati | Aug 8, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Latest News, Uncategorized, What you can do
It always strikes me as funny (in a sad sort of way:-) that parents wait until their children graduate from high school before thinking about how to teach them to manage the money they’re about to go off to college with. Someone asked me recently for some pointers about how to prepare their son who was going off to college in just a few weeks. After contemplating it for a bit, here’s what I came up with…
- First, do NOT get them a credit card…YET. They must learn how to manage their OWN money through using a debit card and checking account before they can be trusted with using other people’s money for short periods of time. Introduce them to credit cards after they have shown they are responsible for the additional pointers following this one.
- It’s critical to have a sound budget in place for your soon-to-be college student. They must know what financial responsibilities are theirs and which ones their parents are going to handle. AND they must know the consequences up front of making purchasing choices that don’t meet your approval with your money. (And YOU must stick with those consequences or they won’t learn a thing from their financial mistakes.)
- It’s important to put your son or daughter in charge of their own financial needs as soon as possible. This means taking the money you are agreeing to be responsible for providing and running it THROUGH them instead of outright buying things FOR them. Remember, it’s only through repetitive practice as something do we develop skills. Money is no different. NOTE: if you have younger ones, please consider getting a copy of The Ultimate Allowance to learn how to put a powerful allowance system into place that’s meant to teach kids about money throughout childhood.
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Money Savvy College Students
Don’t agree to pay for everything. Most adults admit that when they had to participate in paying for at least a portion of their own college experience, they were better students and better stewards of their financial resources and they appreciated the experience a whole lot more. There’s nothing wrong with your son or daughter getting a little part-time job that will enable them to participate in their own care and feeding.
- If your soon-to-be student is moving into a dorm, there is very little he or she really needs. Agree on a budget and let THEM make ends meet. Encourage them to go to thrift stores and garage sales to find the items they need. There is no need to buy new. This teaches resourcefulness and fosters creativity in the student.
- If the student is moving into an apartment and has never purchased household items and you wish to help, again, sit down and help them (emphasis on HELP) create a budget, provide the funding you are willing to provide and let them do the purchasing. This is when the “needs vs wants” rubber really meets the road. Do NOT provide everything they need. Foster resourcefulness and creativity at every turn (even if you can afford the help them more).
- Learn to say, “I’m so sorry that you made that choice with your money. What different decision can you make in the future so that won’t happen again and you’ll have the money you need for……?”
- Last but not least, learn to say, “No, I can’t help you.” No emotion, no judgment, no letting up. Just NO.
Hope that helps because as a parent, I know you don’t want your college students to have to move home because of financial reasons! The goal is for them to move out and STAY out, not move out to eventually move home because they made a lot of financial mistakes.
Follow the guidelines above and your students will have a leg up on their peers that didn’t get any guidance from mom or dad.
by Elisabeth Donati | Aug 5, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Latest News
Question: What is the right age to start teaching kids about money?
Answer: If they are breathing, they should be learning about money!
OK, that may seem a little over zealous, but here’s the thing…
Just like our need for oxygen from the moment we pop out into the planet, most of us don’t survive very well without ample amounts of financial resources to provide for the things we need. We really do NEED money in our lives to survive well and you can’t convince me otherwise.
Even if you’re a monk, somewhere there is money exchanging hands to handle your needs.
The fact is, you can work for (trade your time and energy for), beg, borrow or steel, the things that you need to live: water, food, clothing, shelter, education, transportation, etc. Even if YOU are not working for these things, it took money for SOMEONE to pay for what you are begging, borrowing or stealing!
Where is MONEY on the NEEDS vs WANTS scale anyway?
Seriously. In any classic “needs vs wants” lesson, I’ve never seen MONEY on either side. This strikes me as absurd because without MONEY, it’s hard to have anything on either list.
Legislatures Debating Over What Age to Teach Financial Wisdom To Our Kids
All over America, governing bodies of well-meaning adults are trying to decide when financial education should be taught in school. The answer is quite simply…
IN EVERY GRADE and at EVERY AGE!
We have been teaching kids and teens about money since 2002 and many of those kids and teens have taken Money Camp and Camp Millionaire several times.
What we know based on watching and listening to the participants who have attended more than once is that the ones who have guidance and coaching at home tend to remember some of the information. The ones who don’t have ongoing guidance and coaching, don’t.
Why? Because as one of our wonderful coaches said, Repetition is the mother of skill. No practice, no lessons. No lessons, no skill. No skill, well . . . we know what happens when there’s no skill. You have a society like ours that’s deep in debt with no knowledge of how it got there or how to get out.
It is only through the actual practice of USING money on a regular basis that a child truly will learn to use this resource wisely. That’s why the right type of allowance is so important.
What to teach and When to teach it
First and foremost, you must know that children learn the most by the examples that are set for them in their closest environment. That means whoever is caring for them needs to really watch their financial Ps & Qs if they want their little charges to grow into financially savvy adults.
Once you have the ‘set the best example’ thing down, you can move onto teaching them more specific things at different ages.
I don’t generally buy (no pun intended) the guidelines I’ve read by others on when children are ready for certain financial lessons. I think you just need to throw information at them all the time and it will stick when it’s meant to stick.
The Teachable Moment
I’m big on letting circumstances dictate what should be taught at the moment. And by teaching, I do NOT mean preaching. I mean sharing personal lessons, asking the child questions about their experience, listening to what they say, exploring information together as a team. No one likes to be lectured to and lecturing a child about money is the worst thing you can do in regard to preparing them to be financially savvy adults.
In my Ultimate Allowance book I talk at length about teachable moments and give you plenty of actual money conversations you can have with your children based on actual events that may occur.
Here’s some rough ideas of what to teach kids at different ages
Remembering that every child will be different in terms of what information they are ready for, here goes…
In Kindergarten…teach them about coins and paper money. Let them start learning to equate cleaning up the room with a number of coins (let a local bank sponsor this lesson). Teach them how to accumulate coins and money at home and make it FUN to watch the amount of money grow. It doesn’t matter if they can count it yet; they just need to get excited about having more of it.
In 1st – 5th Grades...continue teaching them about coins and paper money and begin equating the money with what the money will buy AND the amount of time and energy they have to trade to get that money. Start talking about what you do with money when you get it, i.e., how to manage it (we teach The Money Jars system). First and foremost, teach them, Pay Yourself First!
Start talking about how they can MAKE money themselves; literally ‘make’ the money, rather than ‘earning’ it. This is the way you begin to plant the first seeds of entrepreneurship.
Most importantly, make sure your children have at least TWO bank accounts, not just one (see the money jars system for more information). It’s critical that kids have money they are accumulating to invest (the savings account) and money they accumulate to spend. And that money should never be in the same account. This is most adults biggest problem!
In 6th – 8th Grades…continue the entrepreneurship conversation and start adding in how you start businesses, run businesses, looking at the money part of business. If you don’t know how to teach this stuff, check online for a variety of great entrepreneurship programs. Bizworld and Kidscashcoach both have simple business programs you might like.
This is also the perfect time to start introducing your children to assets and passive income. The Money Game® is a great choice for a family or group of students. It teaches the kids the power of investing in assets and they quickly develop the understanding that it takes assets that produce passive income to make them financially secure and eventually financially free.
In 9th – 12th Grades…time to introduce budgets, balance sheets, business plans and the idea that they are the CEOs of their own lives. Keep having conversations about how they can MAKE money for themselves rather than EARNING it by working for someone else. Though a huge percentage of adults never take the leap to owning their own business, if they know it’s a viable option, it’s easier to make that leap later if they want to.
Start talking about different kinds of assets: real estate, stock market, businesses. You don’t have to be an expert. Find experts in your community and invite them to talk to your kids or students. They love sharing what they know with kids. (Make sure you interview them first to see how they’d be with kids:-)
SIDE NOTE: We had a panel of parents and grandparents attend the last hour of our recent Moving Out! for Teens camp here in Santa Barbara. We asked them to share with the teens their biggest regret. Know what it was? That they had waited so long to start their own businesses and work for themselves!
In 11th – 12th Grades…now is the time to start teaching them how to move out and stay out. They are so interested in types of bank accounts, renting apartments, buying cars, credit cards, insurance, getting jobs, resumes…anything that has to do with stuff they’re about to have to do is fair game and readily consumed.
Our recent Moving Out! for Teens camp showed us how hungry 16-18 year olds are for this information. They have no idea why they’re learning what they are learning in school but when handed LIFE-STUFF in camp, they gobbled it up and wanted much more. Feed it to them!
The Right Age To Teach Kids About Money – Summary
Hopefully you see that every age is the right age to teach kids about money. Don’t wait. Don’t not teach them because you don’t want them to have to worry about it. They’ll have to WORRY about it if you don’t teach them!
Share the topic of money at every turn. It’s part of life. It’s ubiquitous for most of us and just like air to breath and water to drink and food to eat, if we want an abundance of money in our lives to experience the best that life has to offer that money can buy, we have to know how to use it wisely. And that takes repetition and exposure to the topic of money all throughout childhood and beyond.
Now go out there, set a good example and see how many money savvy adults you can create.
Just something else to think about…
by Elisabeth Donati | Jul 19, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Uncategorized
Many adults set yearly goals while others set monthly or weekly goals. Only a handful set daily goals. Statistics show that people who set daily goals reach more of their goals than those who don’t.
Regardless of how often parents set their own goals, it is common that they forget to include their children in this amazingly powerful process.
Enter the Soccer Game
So what does soccer have to do with teaching children to set goals? Well, think of it this way: you have a soccer field, the halfway line, the goal box, the actual goal, the penalty box, the end line (a.k.a. goal line) and the sideline. You also have a place for the fans, sometimes a snack shop, coaches, volunteers and other support staff and, finally, you have the ball.
A great deal goes into winning a soccer game. You have to decide you want to play soccer. You have to learn how to play and you have have to learn the rules. You have to find a team to play on and learn what it means to be a team player. You have to show up, play your best, move the ball forward to score, watch everything that’s going on and make quick decisions about which way to go to get the ball in the goal box and finally, you have to be ready to kick the ball into the goal when the opportunity presents itself–sometimes in a very brief window of time.
Sounds a bit like life, and you can use this scenario to explain goal setting to your kids. Even if they don’t play soccer, they will relate to the sports metaphor much more readily than just trying to explain goal setting to them.
Inviting Your Children to Join Your Goal Setting Process
If you have children, include them in your own goal setting process and help them set a few of their own. If you’ve never set goals before, now is the perfect time to start.
Did you know that the major thing that sets successful people apart from unsuccessful people is that successful people write their goals down on paper AND they write them down on a regular basis?
If writing your goals down is one of the major things that defines whether or not a person is successful (that and a bit of action), then teaching your kids to set and achieve goals may be one of the many life skills you should seriously consider modeling for them.
First Time Goal Setting
Okay, if you’ve never ever really sat down long enough to consider WHERE you’re going or WHAT you want in life, it’s okay because you can start now. The future is like a brand new sketchbook ready for you to create, full of colors, shapes, feelings and expression.
Oh, you thought you were just going to WRITE your goals down on paper? Well, that’s a great start but why not do a picture goal board, also called a Dream Board or Vision Board. Napoleon Hill, the author of Think and Grow Rich, once said that what the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve. We need to teach our children this concept early in life! This may the one thing that turns your children into leaders and the “CEOs of their own lives” instead of victims.
Creating Dream/Vision Boards
This is a fun and simple process which starts with the proverbial question: What do I really want in life? Before you begin creating your dream board, write this question at the top of a piece of paper and sit quietly to answer it. Have each child that is creating a board with you do this exercise as well. Kids generally love this part!
Here’s what you and your kids will need:
1. Two to three hours of uninterrupted time to relax and create along with some great music to create by.
2. Poster board. Half sheets work best but if you want to use full sheets, by all means have at it. Note: poster board generally has a shiny side and a matte side. If you’re going to use markers, use the matte side as the shiny side smears (ask me how I know!).
3. Lots of magazines filled with great photos, alphabet letters (for ransom note like cut out words), etc. Magazines of your favorite hobbies and interests are great. Thrift stores often have lots of magazines if you don’t have a ready stock on hand.
4. Tape, glue, scissors, markers, other art supplies for cutting out and attaching images to your poster board.
That’s it. Assemble the things you need, set aside the time for your whole family to create the next year of their lives (or more) just the way they want it and have a great time doing it.
After everyone in the family has created their own dream or vision board and put it on the door or wall of their choice, create a Family Dream Board for the coming year and put it on the fridge so the whole family sees it everyday!
Now, go plan your life and teach your children how to plan theirs in the process! You’ll be surprised at how much fun it is. And, when things start coming true and showing up for you and your kids, you’ll be even more excited about creating one for next year.
For more information on a program that teaches Dream Boards and Goals, check out our unique and highly effective financial education curriculum Camp Millionaire.
by Elisabeth Donati | Jul 13, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Uncategorized
Have you ever had a dream, thought about it for hours on end, thought about it from every angle, contemplated every detail, even knowing what it would feel like when the dream came true?
If you have, you understand the powerful process of manifestation. If you haven’t, you’re in for a big treat because I’m going to show you a really fun way to dream your life into being.
Now manifestation isn’t a mystical thing with magic wands and potions and fairy dust. It is simply the process that is used to call something forward; taking it from a thought to reality.
Manifestation is powerful because if you learn it early, your life seems fairy-tale like. I know. Mine has. For some reason, I understood early on that whatever I could think up and think about, to great enough detail, I could create. I started to notice this in my late 20s and now in my early 50s, it’s more powerful than ever.
When you learn to use the process of manifestation with volition, i.e., on purpose, there’s rarely anything you can not do, be, have or create in your life. ESPECIALLY if what you want to do, be, have or create involves doing good. For some reason, and I can’t explain it, adding the ‘doing good’ part amplifies the power of it and hence, speeds up the manifestation part. Don’t ask me. Try it for yourself.
It’s a New Year! Aren’t We Supposed to Set Some Goals?
Sure. Now is as good a time as ever. And I’d like to give you some tips on how to not only make your goals turn into reality for you easily but how to have some fun doing it. How does that sound? Great.
Do you know the one thing successful people do that unsuccessful people don’t do? They write their goals down and they do it in a very specific way. They do it on a regular basis. And the reason writing goals down on a regular basis makes them more successful (at whatever they want to succeed at) is simply because writing their goals down often keeps them thinking and pondering and planning and acting. You do that much thinking, pondering, planning and acting and I guarantee YOUR goals will come true, too!
Goal People vs. Process People
Before I share with you the fun activity of building Dream Boards, let’s explore the two basic ways most human beings approach life.
Some people are goal-oriented, meaning that they set goals, plan, act, evaluate, re-plan, act, evaluate, etc. Goal oriented people generally accomplish their goals, if they learned the planning, action and evaluating steps. And goal-oriented people often forget anything else exists in life.
The rest of us (me included) are process-oriented people. Process people generally despise setting goals because it takes away from the spontaneity of life. Setting goals doesn’t allow for changing one’s mind, changing the course of one’s life at a whim, just going with the flow and really enjoying the process along the way. Process people are often care-free, happy individuals who get lost in the forest or would prefer to spend hours each day doing things and not caring at all what they get done that day. Process people set goals sometimes but end up feeling guilty or ashamed because they rarely reach those goals. They may even eventually conclude that setting goals is a waste of their time.
Is one approach right and one wrong? Heavens no! You just have to know which one you tend toward and accept it with open arms. I once found a great book called, Goal Free Living by Stephen Shapiro. What a relief for me to know that my approach was not only OK but explained why I was always happy. I decided then and there that I COULD be happy setting goals, I’d just have to do it MY way!
Dreams Board for the Entire Family
My way fed my primary learning styles: visual and kinesthetic (click here for more info on learning styles). I learned that I was successful and WAS setting goals; I was just doing it visually and kinesthetically (with movement and emotion).
Regardless of which learning style you learn through, creating Dream Boards is not only a powerful process, it’s fun. And it’s a great activity for the entire family.
Often when adults/parents do their own goal setting processes for the new year, they tend to leave their kids out of the equation. I suggest you set goals as a whole family. Do individual and family goals on January first (today!) and really set an intention for the day to be the start of a great new year, as well as a time to refresh existing goals with energy and purpose.
Dream Boards are a fun and simple process but it will take some thought and you’ll want to ponder the proverbial question: What do I want in life?
Before you begin actually building your the dream board, write this question on the top of a piece of paper and just sit quietly and answer it. Have each child that is creating a board with you do this as well. Kids generally love this part!
My 2008 DreamBoard.
My 2009 one is very different. It has one word on it: Simplify!
Here’s what you and your kids will need to build their new dream boards.
- Two to three hours of uninterrupted time to relax and create. Some great music to create by is wonderful also.
- Poster board. Half sheets work best but if you want to use full sheets, by all means, have at it. Note: poster board generally has a shiny side and a matte side. If you’re going to be using markers, use the matte side as the shiny side smears (ask me how I know).
- Lots of magazines filled with great photos, sayings, headlines, letters for ransom note like cut out words, etc. Magazines of your favorite hobbies and interests are great. Thrift stores often have lots of inexpensive magazines if you don’t have a ready stock on hand.
- Tape, glue, scissors, markers, other art supplies for cutting out and attaching images to your poster board.
That’s it. Just assemble the things you need, set aside the time for your whole family to create the next year of their lives (or more) just the way everyone wants it and have a great time.
HINT: After everyone in the family has created their own board and put it on the door or wall of their choice, create a Family Dream Board for 2009 and put it on the fridge because refrigerators have magical powers. Oh, you don’t know about that? Maybe I’ll explain that one later.
Now go plan 2009! You’ll be surprised at how much fun it is. And when things start coming true and showing up for you and your kids, you’ll be even more excited about creating one for next year.
by Elisabeth Donati | Jul 1, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Financial Literacy Principles, Latest News, Uncategorized
There you are…faced one morning, noon, or evening…with the stark reality that you don’t have a clue how to manage your money, let alone how to prepare for the R word…Retirement.
How will YOUR older self be living?
Though the concept of retirement has recently moved aside and allowed the idea of financial freedom to pass it by, one basic fact hasn’t changed…one of these days you’re going to look in the mirror and see the older self that lives inside of you right now and that older self is going to be living the life you are currently preparing for him or her to live.
That visualization, for most people, isn’t a pleasant one. Tears, fears and anxiety often follow as you realize you aren’t doing what you need to be doing so that YOUR older person can live a nice, comfortably secure life without having to work for a living anymore.
Making The Decision To Change
The decision to change yourself, and in essence, your life, can be the hardest decision you ever make. It means giving up your excuses, your reasons, your comfort zone (which usually isn’t very comfortable). It means that you have to stop blaming others for your situation. It means giving up the way you currently ‘do money’ and taking on a whole new paradigm of making, saving, spending and investing money now and in the future.
It means changing your priorities, asking bigger questions, answering questions from friend and relatives who don’t understand why you’re changing or are jealous because they haven’t been able to make the same decision yet.
It means that once you make this decision to change, your whole life is going to morph into new and unfamiliar territory. This will ‘eventually’ be a wonderful thing, but it can be a little scary at first because you have to let go of what you know in order to move toward what you say you want for yourself.
What It Takes To Change
Let’s look at this change with a critical eye. What you’re saying is this…
“I want to go from a life of financial struggle and stress to a life filled with financial security and peace of mind.”
Did I get it right? Do I understand that this is truly want you want?
You’re sure? Absolutely sure?
OK, then let’s do it. Put on your sneakers and do a little stretching right now because we’re about to take off down an exciting new path and I have to say it may get a little bumpy, feel a little overwhelming, or out of control at times. But think of it as the greatest Disney ride on earth and someone (that would be you!) just gave you a once in a life-time chance to hop on and go for it.
Step #1: STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT WHERE YOU ARE!
Step #1 is in all caps for a reason. Have you ever noticed that things don’t change until you accept them the way they are? You can’t change things from the standpoint of hating them. It doesn’t work for some reason. Beside, people who complain all of the time are miserable to be around.
Complaining isn’t helpful. Complaining doesn’t move anyone forward. Complaining certainly isn’t positive in any way and the whole time you’re complaining you COULD have been learning something, fixing a situation, helping someone or in some other way being a positive contribution to life.
So, stop complaining already!
Did you notice the world just got better all of a sudden?
Step #2: Make A Commitment To Do What It Takes
Have you ever stood in line for a ride or a buffet and for whatever reason, stepped out of line? Unless you talked someone into ‘holding your place’ (which generally annoys people around you because those people STAYED in line), where do you have to go to get back into the line? Exactly…you have to go back to the end of the line and start over.
Now this isn’t to say that sometimes you find yourself in the WRONG line. Then it’s a matter of seeing it early on and changing lines. This is perfectly acceptable.
I’m talking about getting OUT of line or CHANGING lines over and over again because the line gets too hard to STAY in. All you end up doing is standing in line for the rest of your life. And the metaphor here is painful, at best. People who stand in line are generally people who are dependent on others for their well-being.
The payoff? When you’re in the RIGHT line for the RIGHT amount of time doing the RIGHT thing, what you finally get to experience is pure, unadulterated, amazing personal satisfaction that you DID IT YOURSELF. Finally, YOU are in charge. YOU have what you want. YOU get to live the life YOU designed.
And why is this finally happening? Because you did what it takes and stuck it out…no matter what. (OK, I hear you trying to complain or make up excuses. Back to Step #1 if this is you.)
Step #3: Start Noticing What Interests You
As you can tell, I don’t need to yell anymore. I have your attention and you’ve gotten through checkpoints #1 and #2 safely and surely. Good job!
Now that we’re ready to get the ball rolling, I want you to pay attention to what interests you in life. What are you doing when you forget to eat or drink or put off going to the restroom for hours. Whatever ‘this’ is, is the thing that you can do for the rest of your life (or at least a long while) and not refer to it as something you ‘have’ to do.
Most people have several activities or areas of interest that affect them this way. Some people don’t have any. The former have an easier road to travel but rest easy…if you’re in the later group, once you get past # 1 and #2, you’ll feel a shift inside and have a sense of peace about how you maneaver down the path to financial security and peace of mind.
Once you’ve discovered the interest that you want to focus on, become an EXPERT at it. Practice it, read everything you can on the subject, get a mentor, etc. Once you’re the expert, doors you had no idea that existed begin to open for you.
Ask Better Questions
Step #4: Ask A Simple Question
“Why is it so easy to turn _______________ (inset interest here) into a lucrative, enjoyable business that does good in the world?”
This is called an AFFORMATION. And no, it’s not affIRMation spelled incorrectly. AfFORMations are afFIRMations turned into questions. You see, my friend, Noah St. John, created Afformations when he realized years ago that one of the most important reasons people don’t get what they want is that they are asking the wrong questions.
Imagine asking yourself, “Why am I such a looser?” or “Why am I so clumsy?” or “Why am I always broke?” The Universe answers, “Well, because…….” And so it goes.
But with an Afformation, you learn to change those unsupportive questions into powerful supportive questions that, coupled with the right action, bring untold resources into your life.
Now go back to the question above and notice what you try to answer yourself. Take detailed notes and before long, you may be surprised to find you’re looking at the beginnings of a brand new business that will bring you rich rewards.
“Why am I so happy and my life is filled with peace and security?” Now THAT’s a great question!
Step #5: Get Excited About Everything You’re About To Learn
Let’s face it, sometimes we know what we should be doing but just aren’t doing it…yet. And sometimes you don’t know what you should be doing because either, 1) no one taught you, or 2) you didn’t realize you needed to know it yet.
Money is one of the topics most people don’t learn in school, and often don’t learn from their parents. Business is also a topic this isn’t mainstay in our school systems, yet, but it should be!
Since most of the energy in this county is focused on getting people employed, i.e., getting a J.O.B., most kids don’t leave school with a sense of what they can create outside of the job construct. But in actuality, this IS where wealth is normally created.
How do you learn what you need to learn to be successful? Oh, that’s easy and it doesn’t require going back to get yet another degree. Here are the simple, easy steps…
1) Go to the library and check out a bunch of books on money, investing and how to start and run businesses.
2) Take them home and start devouring them. Don’t just read them. Get a journal. Take copious notes. Think deeply on what you’re reading. Pause often and ask yourself how you can use this information to turn your interest into a profitable venture.
3) Take those books back to the library and repeat the process.
4) Keep your eyes pealed for workshops, seminars, meetings, networking events, adult education classes specific to your topic, etc. Attend the ones you can afford, offer to volunteer at the ones you can’t, ask for scholarships to the ones you really want to go to. You never know unless you ask!
Again, take copious notes and continue to ask questions and apply the information to your area of interest.
5) Research your topic on the internet. These days there is no reason or excuse to be ignorant on any topic. The internet contains more information than any of us every imagined would ever be available to us in our lifetime. At the click of your mouse, you can have before you, everything you need to know to finally be the CEO of your own life!
Step #6: Now Get Out There And Do Something
This is the most important step; well, this and knowing you CAN actually create the life you want. We’ve talked about mindset and belief systems a great deal so we’re not going to in this blog. If you still struggle with your financial self-esteem, please give yourself the gift of reading T. Harv Eker’s book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, and then attend his Millionaire Mind Intensive seminar. I promise doing these two things will set you on a path of unparalleled rewards.
(Warning to all you perfectionists out there. STOP thinking you have to have things perfect before you do them, sell them, launch them, teach them. You don’t…there’s no such thing as perfect, anyway. ‘Perfect’ is a distraction, an excuse, a reason for you not to have to change. Get over it.)
There really is only one thing standing between where you are and where you want to be, and that’s ACTION. You can visualize and afformationize and affirmationize and use the laws of attraction until you’re blue in the face and nothing will happen until you actually take some action toward what you want in life.
Step #7: Enjoy The Journey…No Matter What
As far as any of us really knows, we’re on this planet for one go ’round and none of us know how long that go ’round is going to be. So, you might as well enjoy the journey.
And if you decide you don’t want to enjoy it? Please do yourself, and the rest of us, a favor and at least get through Step #1.
Just something else to think about…
by Elisabeth Donati | Jun 24, 2010 | Financial Literacy, Media Attention, Uncategorized
We’ve all heard the saying, Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness, AND most of us have experienced a time when we felt much happier when we had money in our lives than when we didn’t. As much as we want money to simply be a tool that helps us reach our dreams, the fact is, most of us DO feel more at peace when we have an ample supply of the green stuff to call our own.
However, it’s not simply HAVING money that brings us peace of mind; it’s the knowledge of how to create that money, coupled with a sound deep-seated belief that we can always create it when we need it.
You see, simply HAVING money in our wallets or bank account or retirement accounts FEELS good…at the moment. But if you don’t know how to recreate that money if it were to for whatever reason, go bye-bye, we probably have a river of fear running through us about just that…the money going bye-bye.
FINANCIAL SELF-ESTEEM
Financial Self-Esteem Lasts Forever
Many people are under the false impression that you can ‘teach’ people self-esteem. But you can’t. You can only help another person ‘develop’ self-esteem in themselves (hence the ‘self’ part of that word) by empowering them with the knowledge and skills to take care of themselves. And giving them ample time to practice those skills so they get good at it.
So how can you help yourself, and your children, develop the financial self-esteem required to experience true freedom? Well, here are a few areas in which confidence can help in the freedom department. Try them on for size and see how your financial self-esteem measures up.
- Make a commitment to learn, practice and get in the habit of managing your money like a professional money manager.Organize it, respect it, track it, understand its power to create more as well as how the lack of it can make life miserable. Things like: a) having a budget and using it, b) keeping your money neat and organized in your wallet or purse, c) always writing what you spend out of your checking account in a checkbook register NOT just checking your balance online. There is no way to really track your spending if you aren’t keeping a checkbook register. And please, please, please teach your children how to use a register by setting an example of doing it yourself!
- Have a up-to-date budget and use it!If you’re one of the many who refuse to budget ‘because it’s soooo restrictive’, just get over that. Look at a budget as another powerful tool to make your dreams come true and here is a good way to do it. Every few months, take out that checkbook register. Add up what you spend on several different categories: savings, retirement (you must pay yourself first, remember), food, shelter, medical, entertainment, pets, kids, clothes, etc. Put those on a simple piece of paper along with your income from all sources. Compare the two. If there is a category you’re spending too much in, make a conscious effort to cut your spending down. If you’re NOT doing the first two…the saving and investing piece…this is your red flag to start.
- Save a little from each paycheck and invest it for the long run.You DO plan on being around for the long run, right? If you haven’t thought that far in advance yet, I invite you to do so. It’s not that bad. All of the hoopla on aging forgets the good parts: knowing better, not caring what others think, great friendships to pass the time, knowing what you really want out of life, and a whole lot more. Oh, and the wisdom ain’t that bad either! HINT: Just remember that the old person inside you is depending on you now to make every decision count. If you can’t save and invest for him or her, who CAN you save and invest for?
- Now for the biggy…Teach yourself and your children how to MAKE money instead of EARN money! There is a huge difference between making and earning. Earning is trading your time and energy for money. Making, on the other hand, is when you create it out of thin air. Yes, I’m talking about the E-word…Entrepreneurship! Empowering children with the knowledge and skills to make their own money, and teaching them how to manage it at the same time, is by far, the best gift, besides birth, that you can give them.
TRUE FREEDOM COMES FROM KNOWING YOU CAN TAKE OF YOURSELF
Put money in someone’s pocket and they feel powerful, secure, happy…for the moment. But what happens when the money goes away? They are usually miserable, stressed, overwhelmed with the need to get more.
Instill financial esteem in your children and they’ll always know they can take care of themselves. They’ll have the ability to take an idea, skill, passion or desire and turn it into a cash machine for life. At that point, you know you’ve done your job…you’ve given your children the ultimate parenting gift. The gift of self-reliance, and there’s no better gift than that!
Just something to think about from The Financial Literacy Lady.
