How to Focus on Your Finances – Wealthy Insights to Get Ahead and Stay There!

When things aren’t going well financially, it can become very easy to put blinders on and ignore what’s happening with your money, but the problem with that is it just increases the stress you feel. That stress affects more than just your bank account, money impacts every area of your life. I want to help you play big, and that starts with a focus on your finances so you can get ahead and stay there.

Why is it important to focus on your finances?

You can’t change something if you don’t look at it or pay attention to it. The reality is most of the people who struggle to make ends meet every month, can’t break the cycle because no one has shown them the steps they can take to steadily reduce their debt and increase their income – but for you, that stops here!

Focusing on your money is important if you want to break that cycle and have more of it left over at the end of each month. Successful money management starts with getting comfortable with looking at your numbers, including your debt.

I know this can sometimes feel disheartening in the beginning, which is why I want to encourage you to remember that where you are right now is a starting place. Leave the judgement behind because it won’t help you get to where you want to go. All you have to do right now is focus on your finances and start at start.

How Do I Focus on My Finances?

Your first step is understanding your money and where it goes. Here are some questions to answer, to see the bigger financial picture (be sure to write down all your numbers):

• How much money do you have coming in each month?
• What bills do you pay monthly? (Include mortgage or rent, car payments, utilities, insurance, groceries, etc.)
• What do you owe on each of your credit cards?
• What is the interest rate on each card?
• Looking at your auto-payments and recurring monthly payments, are there things on there that you don’t actually use? (If so, these are things you can cancel.)

This exercise will help you see the big picture and how your money is being used.

At this point, it’s good to know that not all debt is bad debt. If you have debt with low interest rates, like a mortgage or a line of credit – KEEP THAT DEBT! With those low rates, it’s more advantageous to leverage your money in a better way. For example, it makes more financial sense to make minimum payments on your lower sources of debt and use any extra money to pay down credit cards or loans with higher interest rates first. After those are paid off, you could then move on to other sources of debt.

No matter what you decide to do first, the great thing is, you will be moving yourself into a position to have more money at the end of each month.

MILLIONAIRE MINDSET TIP: Celebrate every payment you make because you are taking action and making a positive difference in your financial life! That is worth getting excited about!

What are the Three Principles in Personal Finance?

The Three Principles in Personal Finance are very simple:

1. Spend less than you earn. You are truly wealthy when your income exceeds your expenses. When you have money left over at the end of each month, it makes it a lot easier to move to Principle #2.
2. Make your money work for you. When your money makes money without you, that is passive income. You can do that in many different ways. Investing in stocks, bonds or real estate are just a few. You can also make money by sharing your skills and experience through books or online courses or by creating other assets that you can sell over and over again. When you have different streams of passive income, you get to expand your means without having to trade time to do it. That is FINANCIAL FREEDOM!
3. Prepare for the unexpected. With my mentoring clients, one of the first places we start is with building an emergency fund. Life is life, and things always happen. It’s good to put away at least one month of your income into a savings account that you can use when the unexpected happens. Creating that fund means you won’t have to go into debt to get through it. You may wish to build your emergency fund first before you start to pay down debt. Creating peace of mind financially can make it a lot easier to move ahead faster.

The steps to create wealth really are simple, the hardest part is sticking with them, even when the unexpected happens. Once you have mastered your money mindset, and you put your focus on your finances, it is much easier to put your wealthy insights to work for you, so you can get ahead and stay there.

BONUS TIP: No matter what your current financial situation is right now, getting a financial advisor or investing in a money mentor is always a good idea. They will have information, tools and guidance that will make working with your money so much easier than trying to do it all on your own.

If you’d like some guidance from a trusted professional who knows how to make money work for you in many different ways, consider applying for my Master Mentor Program. Investing in yourself will pay you throughout your entire life, as you build the life you so richly deserve.