FINANCIAL WELLNESS
“Knowledge is power: you hear it all the time but knowledge is not power. It’s only potential power. It only becomes power when we apply it and use it. Somebody who reads a book and doesn’t apply it, they’re at no advantage over someone who’s illiterate. None of it works unless you work. We have to do our part. If knowing is half the battle, action is the second half of the battle.”
- Jim Kwik
There are a lot of reasons why we feel the way we do about our finances and when we are struggling with "money problems," it often seems that the simple answer is that having more of it will fix things. What we don't realize is that the habits we create around finances (how, when, and why we spend, save, and invest it) generally scale up or down dependent on income. Money doesn't fix the problem, it usually just changes the size of the problem.
When we are looking to make changes in our financial lives, it can feel easier to focus on finding and using a plan that will allow us to focus exclusively on what we see as the problem... our income and expenses. We tell ourselves that we need to budget better and be more careful with our spending, only to be confused and frustrated with ourselves at the end of the month when we see how we ended up using our money. While "money in, money out" is the nuts and bolts of money management, there is so much more going on in your financial system, because YOU are a part of it. When we don't take our own unique experiences (our history, strengths, fears, family norms, values, etc) into consideration, it shouldn't be surprising when we struggle to be successful with a straight forward approach that only focuses on our action and not our mindset.
I can help you start to understand where your views and beliefs around money come from and how they have either served you well or created more difficulty for you. As we work together to change unhelpful thoughts, beliefs, and feelings you hold around financial matters, we will see how they influence your decisions with money. Once you gain a better understanding of the motivations behind how, when, and why you spend, save, and invest, you can develop a plan to build new habits that move you closer to the financial hopes you have for your future. While I am not a financial advisor or an accountant, I can continue to help support you as you pursue these efforts.