Jul 6, 2018
Budgeting. This is a powerful word. It creates fear and anxiety. It produces avoidance-type behaviors. It even impacts relationships.
What are the costs of not budgeting? There are costs to our overall well-being.
1) Health: Lack of sleep
2) Quality of life: Financial-related
stress
3) Financial: Actual dollars &
sense
Most of my clients come to meet without a budget. There was no formal system for tracking expenses. Each spouse had a debt card – and spent money freely. What was the cost? Credit debt with high interest rates. Overdraft fees to the tune of thousands of dollars. Not saving for college as the kids approach college-age. Using the equity to pay of debt. And, then add in divorce on top of all the mayhem.
Budgeting is central to all financial decisions – and yet we avoid it at all costs. Women will often ask how much can I afford for housing? How much should I save? What can I afford for insurance? Etc. Those are all certainly great questions, but I don’t know the answers… until we put together a budget. Think of a target. The bulls-eye is budgeting. The next ring is insurance – risk protection. Then savings (short, mid and long-term). Then estate planning and lastly end of life planning. All of those big decisions hinge on the budget.
When I was in the financial industry it was normal to give clients a template, ask them to complete it and bring it back to the next meeting. The challenge was that most people took the template, filled it out on the way to the next meeting and missed some key information. There wasn’t a process to help people develop a budget.
When I left the financial industry in 2014 to open The Women’s Financial Wellness Center, one of the first things I did was develop an actual budgeting process. My colleagues thought I was crazy. Would people really pay for someone to help them with a budget? The answer was YES! It was one of our fastest growing programs. We offered the budgeting services as a small group workshop as well as 1:1 coaching sessions. As I tested and measured the results and launched the podcast to reach more women, I decided to create my 10-step process into an online course. It is called the Beautiful Budget Course.
What are the key elements of a successful budget?
1) Awareness
2) Step-by-step process
3) Support
Who needs a budget? Women who want to be empowered to make good financial decisions. Women who are open to learning. Women who are frustrated with their current situation.
Once the budget is complete, the next phase is analyzing the results. It is important to look at the information in a way that is constructive. For example, you can first say… isn’t that interesting? It helps neutralize the emotion especially if you see you are in the red each month. Then ask yourself, what could I do to move from being in the red to being in the black? Start to brainstorm all the possibilities. Are there expenses you could reduce? Calls you could make to find out about special promotions? Ways you could increase your cash flow? For example, could you start a business? Or turn your hobby into a side hustle? Or ask for a raise? The Women’s Financial Wellness Center can help coach you through all of these situations.
To get started, I would encourage you to go through the new Beautiful Budget Online Course. Then the next step would be schedule a 1:1 strategy session for additional budgeting support. Be sure to visit the course tab on the website at www.womensfinancialwellnesscenter.com
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