Your relationship with your spouse can have a huge impact on your finances. There are a few things that you can do to build that relationship and keep your finances flowing smoothly.
- Monitor your expectations.
- Lower them as is realistic.
- Reward Effort.
- Love and Respect your mate.
What does this list mean? We’ll start with the first one, “monitor your expectations.” Take a second to write down a couple of your financial expectations that you have of your spouse. Have you shared these expectations? Are they realistic? Are they causing problems in your marriage? Now take some time to work on lowering your expectations – this doesn’t mean that you have to do all the work while your spouse plays and spends all the money, as some of you might be thinking. But it means doing what we can to work as a team and be realistic in our goals and relationships.
Now, rewarding the efforts of your spouse can go a long way. Do you know how much a simple “thank you” can do? Your spouse may really struggle in a particular area of your finances, but a little appreciation and encouragement could be just the motivation he or she needs to keep trying. Positive reinforcement can do so much more to build your relationship and finances than nagging and bitterness. Remember that you are a team, and a team can go much farther in unison and harmony than in discord and anger.
Men and women are different. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that, and it’s a well-known fact. But sometimes we forget this and treat our spouse the way we would want to be treated instead of the way they need to be treated. So husbands, remember to make your wife feel loved. Show her how much you truly care about her. And wives, be sure you are respecting your husbands. One of the best things you can do for your finances is to build up your marriage to one of love, respect, and solid teamwork. Good relationships don’t just happen – they take work, but that work is well worth the outcome!
Tags: finances, good relationships, marriage, spouse
Many people lost significant amounts of money throughout the year and have no idea where it has gone. It seems like paycheck after paycheck, more and more money keeps disappearing. Here we will discuss a few tips for solving that “money mystery.” Wouldn’t it be great to know where your money is and even be able to save some of it?
- Keep an expense tracking log – How can you know where your money is going if you aren’t keeping track of it? By writing down every penny that goes in and out of your household, you can know for certain where those “spending leaks” are. Knowing is the first step. Try tracking for a month and see how it can help you out. It may seem daunting or unnecessary or tedious, but you will find that it can be incredibly useful.
- Set goals and follow up on accomplishing them – Once you know where you are spending your money, you can see if it lines up with your goals. Say you want to save $1200 for a family vacation because it is important to spend that time together each year. Your goal is to save up for this special time with your family, and now that you can see where all the money is going, you have the power to make changes and realistically strive towards your goals.
- Make a budget to accomplish these goals – So you figure you need to save $100 each month to have your $1200 vacation fund ready in 1 year. If you create a budget, you can enter this $100 as a line item. You can also adjust other items if you find you don’t have enough each month for your vacation fund. For example, you might cut out your daily latte and decrease the grocery budget in order to shift enough over to that vacation fund. You can set all sorts of goals, but having a budget puts the numbers right in front of you and helps you accomplish them. Another thing a budget does is help you stick to your goals. Before you make purchases, you can determine whether they are in line with the budget you have created. Do you really need that new purse? Will it keep you from being able to save your monthly amount for the vacation fund, which ultimately means time spent with your family?
- Stick to it! – If you will do these three things and stick with it, you will be sure to find out where all of your money is going each year. Keep tracking every penny, keeping in mind your long-term and short-term goals and budget.
If you would like to learn more about expense tracking, budgets, and creating and achieving goals, we would be happy to discuss them with you! Our desire is to get people to a place of financial freedom, and these are essential building blocks to achieving that success.
We understand that there are many resources for getting out of debt and managing finances. These range from your self-help books to seminars, videos, and a variety of other products. We view this as similar to the diet industry. There are many “fixes” out there, but it all boils down to doing certain things like exercising regularly and eating balanced meals within certain limits. The same is true for finances. We are not out to sell a quick fix, but rather to help people develop healthy habits and a financial lifestyle that will ensure their success. Here is a list of the Top 5 Questions that people should be asking when searching for financial help:
1. Is there really a quick fix for my finances? To be honest, you need a long-term plan and goals to maintain your finances successfully. You can try those products that promise fast results, but they do not work for long, and you will end up back in debt or even further in debt than when you started. We believe in a personal approach to fixing your finances by finding out what in your life specifically affects them and what changes could be made so that you can be successful.
2. What does it mean that “money is the smallest part of my finances”? Every area of your life affects your finances, from relationships to your job to your goals and dreams. Money is part of your finances, but it is the smallest part because every other area in your life affects how the money comes in and goes out and whether or not you enjoy life. In our courses we take a look at what money actually is, how people traditionally view it, and how we can change our perceptions so that we can focus on the real big picture.
3. How could a Financial Life Coach help me? Why do I need a coach? A Coach is there to teach you things, to help you make improvements, to encourage and support you, to see you through failures and into success. You can learn ways to do well and manage your money, but a Coach is there to ensure your success and bring it to higher levels. Even the greatest athletes in the world have coaches.
4. Where does my money go? It is actually not very hard to write a budget. When people come into our office, we can sit down with them and write out line by line what they spend on things. However, just because you write down that you spend $200 a month on groceries, it does not mean that is the real amount you spend. It could be closer to $400 and you just don’t realize it. We stress the importance of tracking every penny for a while so that our clients can see where all of the money goes and where there might be spending leaks. By doing this we can help make changes and get your finances on track.
5. Are my finances really OK? Many people think they are doing OK with their finances. They are often surprised to find out that they could be doing so much better. They could be saving for retirement and investing so that they make more income from their investments than what they spend each month. They could set up a periodic savings account so they don’t have to try to come up with funds in an emergency. Even if you are doing OK, we want to bring you to a much better place where you are confident and in control of your finances, a place where you enjoy and love your life.
Here is a quick list of the top 5 most frequently asked questions about the iMoneyCoach program with a brief answer. To find out more, give us a call or visit us on the web at www.imoneycoach.com:
1. What is iMoneyCoach? It is a long-term process of goal setting, training, and encouragement to help you take focused action to achieve your goals. It is a system that actually produces lasting results because it is NOT the one-siz-fits-all approach that is so common and ineffective today. We walk with you through an interactive process of figuring out barriers to your financial independence and setting goals to break through those barriers and move towards success.
2. Who is it for? People who feel stuck, make decent money but never have anything to show for it, those who have tried everything to make their finances work but have not had success, and those who want to be successful so they can leave a legacy by teaching their children how to manage their finances well.
3. How does it work? You will work with a Financial Life Coach who will teach you our system and work with you to create a personalized financial management plan. If you find you do not have the time to do this (we recommend you make time though!), then you can access our online courses and go through them at your own pace. The courses are available at http:/store.imoneycoach.com.
4. What is a Financial Life Coach? Think of an athletic coach. A Financial Coach is similar in that he or she takes an outside view, offering insights that are not visible otherwise – because we all have blind spots. A Coach is there to see us through our failures, to encourage us, to help us see where we can improve, and to keep us going. A Financial Life Coach helps us sort through our lives to figure out our finances and what affects them so we can make the necessary changes and be able to live life to its fullest.
5. 
How is iMoneyCoach different? Here we take a different approach to finances because we recognize that every area of our lives affects our finances. We cannot change our financial situation until we understand how those areas affect our finances. The main areas that we believe life is comprised of are: Spiritual, Personal, Relationships, Work, and Finances. These areas need to be in balance in order for a person to be able to achieve success and live a life they love.
Budgeting often has a huge stigma attached to it and can seem like an insurmountable task to many people at first glance. Throw in the holidays and all the pressure we feel to buy and spend, and the idea of budgeting easily gets thrown out the door. But this is a time where it is especially important to have a budget and stick with it! Here are a few advantages that a budget can offer and some ways to be sure you are staying on top of it:
Don’t have to come up with the money all at once
If you sit down and work out your budget early, you can save for Christmas shopping throughout the year. A proper budget takes time to develop, and during the first 3-6 months you will do quite a bit of “tweaking,” but you will get the hang of it. If you budget $50 a month to put into a savings account for Christmas, you will have $600 to spend after a year! If you did not budget for this year, know that it is something you can start on right away for next year. You will be so much happier when December arrives and you don’t have to panic about where the money will come to pay for the gifts (this is also a good idea for saving up for things such as insurance, car repairs, and medical bills, but that’s a blog for another day!).
Can keep you from impulse buys and more debt
If you have a budget, you have set down an amount that you can spend on your holiday shopping. When you go to the store with your list of names and gifts, you will be less likely to grab items off the shelf that don’t fit into your budget. This is great because it can help keep you from getting further into debt. You know what you can spend, and if you stick to that, then you will be much happier in January when the credit card bill arrives than if you were to go out and spend willy-nilly on all the gifts the stores are pushing (it is so easy to want to throw them into your cart when you see them sitting there in the glamorous display with the big “sale” sticker on them).
Make a list
As mentioned above, you can keep from impulse spending with a list. Before you go out to do your holiday shopping, grab a pen and paper and maybe even the newspaper ads. Sit down and make a list of all the people you want to get gifts for, and then write down the amount you want to spend on them. Find gifts in this price range. When you actually head out to the stores, stick to your list!
It’s not all about Quantity
Remember that it’s not all about how much you spend. A gift can mean so much more if it is from the heart and shows how much you care than one that is expensive and flashy. Show your family and friends how much you care this Christmas – bake cookies, get a set of pens and a nice pen holder for your sister who is always looking for something to write with. Give a coupon good for a day of fishing with your uncle Arnie who always loves telling you tales of his days out at the lake. You don’t have to spend a fortune to show people you care.
We here at iMoneyCoach hope that you have a very merry Christmas and happy New Year!
Tags: budget, quality, save money at Christmas
“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” This probably conjures up an image for you of a little blue train engine chugging up a hill until he finally makes it to his destination. We all remember the point of the story is that if you think you can do it, then you can. The little engine struggled and worked but finally achieved his goal.
We all need to be more like that little engine. And not just in thinking about achieving goals. The brain is a very powerful thing. What we think affects how we feel. And how we feel affects what we do. And what we do determines results in our lives. So if we think we can, we feel motivated and work to do it, and we end up accomplishing the task. But what are other ways that thinking affects our results? If we are presented with a new task, cooking gourmet meals for instance, do we think “Oh, I can’t cook. I’m a terrible cook!” or “What a fun new thing to learn. I can do this!” Most of us would probably choose the former. And that suspicion is confirmed as we pull out burned goo that doesn’t look like the Duck a l’Orange photo that came with the recipe. It is as though our brain listens to what we tell it and then responds to make sure that it comes true.
Seligman and Meier did a study in which they placed dogs in a shuttle box with 2 compartments. One side had a regular floor, and the other side was electrically charged so it would produce a shock if the dog walked on it. Some of the dogs were trained beforehand to expect an inescapable electric shock when they heard a tone. The other group of dogs was not trained this way. When put into the shuttle box, the untrained dogs quickly learned that they could jump over the electric compartment and escape shock. The previously trained dogs did not figure this out and laid down, giving up, because they had learned that shock was unavoidable. Often people view their finances in this way. They have certain feelings, beliefs, and fears that they have learned about money since childhood. They end up saying, “I can’t do finances. I’m not good at this. I’ll never get out of debt.” And they won’t. Because they are holding themselves back. You see, there is a way to escape the shock, to jump out of that compartment. It starts by changing the way you talk to yourself. Start by repeating over and over, “I can do this. I’m going to learn how to manage my finances, and I WILL get out of debt.” Starting here is setting yourself on a track for success. Remember that what you think affects what you feel, which affects what you do, which creates your end result.
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