“Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.” – Benjamin Franklin
Week Thirty One
This week you will gain awareness as to how your behaviors around money management might be supporting or sabotaging you. This insight will support shifts in your financial management that will improve your prosperity. Carefully consider these questions on the flow of money in your life – your income and outgoings. Notice your gut response to each question. Making money is related to the level of desire (or conversely anxiety) it generates in you.
Consider your current level of financial potential as you answer the following:
1) What level of earning are you comfortable with or excited by? Do you actively seek remuneration?
2) How do you respond to the idea of investing money? Are you in control of your money? Do you know your financial status?
3) How do you feel about the idea of spending money? What level of expenditure are you comfortable with? How much time do you take to consider making a purchase? Do you generally talk yourself out of it or into it?
4) What are your boundaries around taking on debt?
5) What are your boundaries around saving and having a buffer for unforeseen changes to income or outgoings?
6) What is your money plan? What is your vision for the future in terms of your earning, investment, saving, and level of debt? Using positive language that focuses on the benefits, describe the actions you will take to reach your spending goal.
7) When you have elaborated this shifts you want to take to income, outgoing and money management as far as you can, identify the challenges you face or ways in which current financial behaviors may appear to serve you. (For example, “a sense of status” might be the reinforcing factor/reward of overspending. “Not having to face the facts of my financial situation” might seem like the reward of being disorganized when it comes to your financial paperwork.
This step benefits you by alerting you to specific financial behaviors that you may wish to adapt. The health of your finances is impacted over time by many contributing factors that influence the level of your earnings and outgoings. Becoming more educated about the flow of money in your life and the ways in which you can direct it is key to managing your prosperity.