Lesson number one, Suze Orman asks me to write a paragraph about how I truly feel about money, to examine my inner road blocks. For me, this is the part where I feel shame, or embarrassment as I was taught we don't talk about these things to anyone. Here are my money emotions, a testimonial:
"At this point in time, I truly feel hopeful about our financial future. We have a clear getting out of debt plan and goal to celebrate after. I am afraid of a few things, as well. I am afraid that once we are mostly out of debt, I will not know how best to invest in our financial future and will let our money sit in a low earning money market. I am afraid that as we get more money and financially stable, the rift between how I spend and how my spouse spends will only grow as I am not sure how best to reconcile this difference (yet). I am glad that I am helping my sister and really getting to see all her I wants, to keep some of my own in check. I am a little ashamed at some of my spending habits. My biggest fear is that we get in over our heads again, once we are debt free and have a surplus cash flow. Many say that as ones income grows, so do ones expenditures, but I really want to save for college for my children and I really want to be able to retire someday and not have to rely on Social Security. Thus my venture to build my courage begins."
Really think about how money and your situation makes you feel. Maybe the same as me, maybe different. If you are comfortable sharing, I would love to hear.
This is the time to start researching about investing. Start talking to different people tht have experience. Read reliable articles and books. This way when you are ready, it will make sense to you. Don't make rash decisions. Anyone that pressures you to do something now or you'll lose the opportunity isn't worth listening to.
ReplyDeleteMy mom has always been very open about money and costs. Her mother was open about it because she was a bank manager. The Longley family (Grandma and mom) viewed keeping your children aware of income, bills, and current prices helped teach math and "reality" so that they could be prepared for life. This was all in direct opposition to the Zaczkowskis (my father's family which refer to themselves as Zacks), where finances were taboo.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much wear my entire life “on my sleeve”. If you ask me about something I’ll tell you, and that certainly includes our financial history.
How do I feel about money? It’s a necessary evil in a global economy. Would I like it better if I lived on a commune and operated on the barter system selling baked goods and technology support? Sure, sounds like a good idea... But is that available in this era of society? Not if I want to keep my current level of technology, air conditioning and medical care. I’ll stick with the money. Mike is pretty good at making it, and I’m pretty good at managing it. Together we make it work.
Slowly we’ve been improving our home and chipping away at a mountain of my medical debt, and just like Mel, we begin to see a light at the end of the tunnel. We’ve laid out an aggressive budget plan and hope to have student loans paid off in 4 years and the house paid off in 15. At that point we’ll have to figure out investing in retirement, but as long as interest rates on investments are less than the 7% we owe on our house, it doesn’t make sense to start long term savings.