Why you need a Financial Coach
If you have perused through my previous blog postings, you may be overwhelmed and thinking that you do not know how to handle your finances and that might seem scary! Strangely, that is a good thing because most people/couples do not know how to properly manage their finances. We rely on banking apps, credit card statements, etc. to tell us what bills need to be paid, how much money we have, or worse that we just automate spending and pay bills without understanding how much we are spending! Automation is a great aspect of living in the Technology Age, but it has dangers and pitfalls!
The most common source of spending you notice once you begin writing down every expense are the small, sudden, last-minute purchases. These purchases may be at the checkout lines, on the aisle end-caps, on ANYTHING that states it is “On Sale”, or any item marked Clearance! While the purchases may seem small at first, over the course of a month and the 15-20 stores visited by the average person, they have a significant impact on your Financial Fitness! The reason we strive to write each purchase in a notebook is, again, to create an emotion and imprint so we remember that purchase for longer.
A Financial Coach’s first job is to understand where you are financially, without any judgment, and to understand where you want to go (i.e. what is your Financial Fitness Goal). The only way to accomplish this task is for me to ask each client personal questions concerning their income and spending habits. Typically, income is a well-known number, unless your position is heavily commission-based, but we have to know how much money is coming in! The next thing to know is how much are you spending. This is where things start to get interesting!
There are two categories that people grossly underestimate how much they are spending: Food and Credit Cards. These two (2) categories eat up (haha!) a large portion of most household budgets than people care to realize. By writing down each and every expense, you are holding yourself (and partner if applicable) accountable to your overall financial health. Most beginning budgets underestimate groceries by $200-300 per month, and underestimate how much was charged to a credit card (or how much CC interest they paid) by at least $150 per month. You likely are underestimating how much you spend on dining out or take-out meals each month! Even ordering take-out directly from the restaurant and picking it up yourself, rather than using Door Dash or Uber Eats, can EASILY save 30% versus using delivery services!
The purpose of having a Financial Coach is to give you someone who can help you analyze your income and expenses, and help you achieve your Financial Fitness goals! Every year in January tens of thousands of people sign up for gym memberships to work on their body fitness (that costs money each month), but rarely do we see people sign up for Financial Fitness coaching! I am here to offer my services to help you achieve your Financial Fitness goals. I want to see you succeed and will do everything in my ability to ensure that happens. A lot of our conversations will be based on expressing your thoughts about money, understanding what went well the previous week/month, and what some areas to focus on are. My purpose as a coach is to not train the same “money muscles” each week/month, but to provide enough variety to really make a difference in you!
However, the major commitment comes from YOU! So, if you think that maybe you need a little financial check-up, book a free 15-minute consultation and let’s chat. If you already know that you need financial help and coaching, go ahead and book a coaching session and we can get started immediately. Each day/week/month that goes by without you committing to improving your finances is another day/week/month that you are letting your finances control you, rather than you controlling your finances!
Proverbs 13:11 Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow
