What would you say to your younger self about money?
This was the same question I have asked in my social media account and instead of sharing what I love to tell myself, I would share the responses that came from my lovely audience and I have expanded it with my own interpretation.
Let’s start:
1. Be clear on your ‘why’ when being generous to others with your money. You don’t need to give money away to receive love and connection, especially from those who take your generosity for granted.
This blew me away. It takes a lot of vulnerability to know this and ask this to yourself. But I know a lot of people who really spend money to be loved or as a way to happiness.
In the coaching arena, we call this compensatory love. We spend on something to compensate for a feeling. And it is usually the need to feel loved or being important.
We think we are only as good or “valuable” as the money we make or the money we give or what we own. We forget that true worth begins in ourselves and no amount of money can help us realise our worth because self-worth starts with you.
It is how you see yourself. Knowing what you value about yourself, what you consider to be successful, and what makes you happy is the first step to having a positive view of your self-worth and positive self-perception.
What you say and feel about yourself is your self-worth and not how others define it for you.
2. Never answer that credit card offer call.
I love this statement. Not because it sounds sarcastic or funny but it’s true.
I coached a client who shared with me that there was a credit card company stationed in their university encouraging students to have one.
She was persuaded and she applied for one and took it. Unfortunately, she never had any damn idea about late payment fees, interest rates or finance charges.
She had trouble paying on time and she felt really ignorant after knowing that she had missed a lot of payments as the due date was something she never heard about.
And this reminds me of this statement, the essence for me in this statement is: Never use something you don’t fully understand.
If you know that you are not yet prepared, delay. Especially when it comes to financial decisions.
It also means knowing yourself and being honest about how you spend. If you know that you are the impulsive type, then say no right away and never answer that credit card offer call is the way to go.
3. Start building passive income in your 20’s
You can either work for money or make your money work for you. Making money work for you is what we call passive income. With active income, you have to deliver a service, use your skills to get paid. With passive income, even if you are just home, you still earn money because you have acquired assets that appreciate and earns for you.
You can either be an investor or a business owner to create passive income. I am a fan of both but I would want to be an investor for the long term.
In the cash flow quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki, being investors have the highest financial education of anyone in the CASHFLOW Quadrant.
They are adept at finding assets that provide a steady income in the form of cash flow and they often use other people’s money (OPM) to attain those assets.
They then use the income from those assets to acquire even more assets, growing their wealth through this velocity of money.
Ask yourself, what asset are you building?
Although investing in yourself can be your biggest asset, you can get sick, you cannot be sure if you can always work, that is why the risk of being business owner is greater than being an investor.
Aside from building your own human capital, start building assets that will work for you.
To date, I have my own stock market account in the Philippines that gives me passive income. I have also bought a property in the Philippines for my own rental business.
One step at a time.
The earlier you start saving, the earlier you can have more money, the earlier you can have more money, the earlier you can invest and buy income-producing assets.
So start earning money without sweating more.
4. Do not give money from your 401K or any other source to adult children. You will end up with zero savings in your elder years.
In the book of Dr. Thomas Stanley, The Millionaire Next Door, one of the things that separate a true millionaire from the rest is this: Most millionaire next door didn’t receive much financial help from their parents, they aren’t likely to give any assistance to their adult kids, either.
Many millionaires in this category understand the importance of healthy financial accountability, and so do their kids. That means not paying for everything their kids need, but rather forcing their adult children to provide for themselves and make their mark on the world.
I couldn’t agree more. Being an adult means being independent and also teaching other people including your own children to stand on their feet.
Lastly, if you don’t provide for your own retirement or protect your retirement fund you may end up living in poverty.
5. Start putting aside money regularly where you can’t see it!
Pay yourself first. We heard this quite a thousand of times but why is it hard?
Because we don’t make it automatic and we don’t put it somewhere that we can’t see!
If you want to pay yourself first, start putting aside your money in a bank account you have no access to and forget it!
There’s a very good saying that goes: You don’t miss money you don’t get.
Here’s a classic example, John is a professional working from 8to5. He signed up for an automatic savings plan when he was just new as he was encouraged to do so.
He actually forgot about this and knew about this when he resigned from the company.
The money he accumulated was not that large but even so, because he was not aware of it, he was able to accumulate money better.
You don’t miss money you don’t get is really a good reminder you can tell yourself so you can start saving more.
Your turn, is there anything else you would like to add to this list? Share your comments below. I would like to hear from you.
Wishing you wealth and abundance,
Jennifer
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P.S. If you are currently experiencing financial stress, worry and having difficulty in dealing with your spending habits, saving and even paying off your debts, you can book a free 45-minutes financial freedom breakthrough session here. Talk to you soon!
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