Minding Your Money 360 - Quick tips to manage your money for success

I know it’s not Monday but I have a question. Is Social Security as we know it on its last leg? – no pun intended. When it first came about it was thought to be the third leg in a 3-legged stool for your income in retirement – the other two being your pension and savings. Over time that stool has become a little wobbly with pensions disappearing, savings at an all-time low and now the Trump administration is floating the idea of fiddling with Social Security. More specifically, the way its funded and that could open the door to even more changes in the future.

Social Security has been part of the fabric of our nation for a very long time and it has long been regarded an entitlement program by many not because we do feel entitled but because we pay into the system (and employers do to) and we see this as a kind of payback. The new proposal that is being floated would do away with the fee that is deducted from our paycheck and the employers contribution and instead impose a VAT or value added tax on all purchases. I am supposing that this would be in addition to a sales tax. So everything would cost more – the old pay me now, pay me later tradeoff.

While it’s unclear that if this is real or if they are just floating this idea, it’s important to watch this and get as many facts as possible so you can make your voice heard either way. At this point, I don’t really see how this will help the average person.

And, that’s the minute for today. The minding your money movement facebook group is now live. I’ve made it a closed group so we can continue our conversations with friends. I will be in and out all the time so we can discuss relevant topics and answer your questions. Again the group is Minding Your Money Movement – join us!

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

It's Monday and I have a question. What’s your why? In other words, why is money important to you? So here’s the question I want you to ponder this week. If money was no object or obstacle, what would you be doing right now? It’s one of the most important questions you can answer because it can literally set the tone – the pace – the color of your life from here on out.

It’s sort of the passion question that people ask but a little more personal. So what would it be? Sometimes when I ask clients this question they come up with vague questions like buying a house or a car or sending their kids to school but I want to know what’s behind that why do you want to buy a house, why you want to buy a car, why you want send your kids to schools? What’s in it for you – what do you get out of it? And, that answer – your motivation will determine how you go about making it happen.

For example, if you want to send your kids to college because you never had a college education and you want them to have a better life that’s one thing but if you want to send your kids to college because you want to get them out of the house, that’s a whole different thing. Those are two different motivations stemming from two different value sets which can lead to different ways to solve the problem.

So, I repeat what’s your why and what would your life look like and what would you be doing right now? And, if you feel like sharing, email me at [email protected] And, that’s the minute for today

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

It’s Friday and time for our word of the week –the word this week is money conversations.

I chose money conversations because I’m convinced that if we had more of them we would have stronger relationships, get our kids off to a better start so they don’t make some of the same mistakes we made and make better decisions overall.

I know that so many of you would rather get a root canal than talk about money with your spouse or your kids but it is so important – it’s the elephant that is often in the room that everyone tries to ignore. When I think about this, I am reminded of the story of the kid who every time he asked his dad for something he said, “ we can’t afford that.” Then finally one day out of real concern the kid asked the dad, “on a scale of 1 to 10, with one being homeless and 10 being Bill Gates, where are we?” The dad sensing the worry and real concern from his son finally answered, “we’re okay, I would just rather spend the money we have on things that really matter.” And, the elephant disappeared – at least for the moment. I have no doubt that this kid will be prepared with a better argument next time now that he understands things more clearly.

My point is not talking about money can lead to confusion, worry, a lack of trust and broken relationships. And, while it may be difficult to have these conversations in the beginning – one thing is for sure – not having them will not make things get better and in fact, they often get worse.

Our word of the week money conversations: ignore them at your own peril.

And that’s the minute for today. We have a private FaceBook Group! Join us at the Minding Your Money Movement and continue the conversation!

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

What’s your poison? Are you driven by fear or greed? You might think that they are actually two sides of the same coin but they are not. One causes you to do things to avoid it and the other pulls you toward it. It’s important to know what drives you especially if you are an investor because it can not only make a big difference in the investments you choose but also in how you manage them.

Remember, the best way to succeed in the market is to buy low and sell high but depending on which one of these factors drives you – fear or greed you may to just the opposite.

For example, if you are driven by fear – you may be tempted to sell as soon as the market goes down and then wait it out until things clear up which means that you will most likely fall into the trap of selling low and buying high and you lose on both ends.

However, being driven by greed isn’t a cakewalk either because instead of getting out when the market is high because you are, well greedy, you stick with it and ride it to its end even when it goes down which eats up all of your profits.

So what’s the answer? Well, there are actually two answers – one is to design your portfolio in such a way that it can manage your fear or greed and still let you come out ahead. Or #2 aim for balance which means your portfolio compensates for your tendencies by balancing them out. More on balance in later episodes.

And, that’s the minute for today. Got a burning question, send me at [email protected]

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

So, I got a few questions about yesterday’s show where I asked you to delve into your past to begin to understand where some of your money habits and behaviors might come from whether it was from one of your parents or someone else. But guys, I didn’t do that so that you could use that as an excuse. I wanted you to do that so that you could understand the root of maybe some of your issues today and then fix it or let them go.

Two things tend to happen when you look at your past – you either followed in your money models footsteps or you went just the opposite way and rebelled like the kid with frugal parents who vowed to spend every penny they got when they were older or the kid who grew with nothing and vowed he would never be poor again so he saved every penny. Neither extreme is good. So, if you are at the extremes in your life today – that’s something that you should definitely work on. And, if you have kids, remember they are watching you more than they are listening to you – remember, history tends to repeat itself and you could turn out to be someone’s money model tomorrow.

And, that’s the minute for today. Get the tools to take control of your money? Join the Minding Your Money Movement! Better yet, join our Facebook group by the same name - Minding Your Money Movement and lets continue the conversation.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

I know it’s not Monday but I have a question. Who’s Your Money Model? I remember working with some young kids and talking to them about money and then meeting their parents afterward. It was fascinating how similarly they approached money topics.

It’s no secret that so much of how you treat and think about money today comes from your parents or others who were around when you were growing up. But we often don’t think about is how what we learn at a very young age can impact our lives and how long it can last. In fact, I swear I have seen some adults walking around with money ideas and attitudes they learned when they were four years old.

So my question for you is who’s your money model? Who’s the person in your family or circle when it comes to managing your money that you are most like? Is it your mom, your dad or someone else? Once you identify that person, begin to look at their money habits – are they spenders or savers? Do they invest on a regular basis? Are they deeply in debt? Do they manage their finances on a regularly? Do or did they live paycheck to paycheck? Did they talk about money or was it a taboo topic? Did you think they were rich or poor? More importantly, when you were growing up did you think you were rich or poor?

If everything is working great for you, this exercise can serve as a piece of your money story and you can put it back on the shelf. But if things are not what you want them to be in your money life, the source of the issue might lie in your money story. Sometimes when you understand where something came from – when you unmask it – it’s easier to fix.

And, that’s the minute for today. The Minding Your Money Movement Facebook group is now live. It’s a closed group so you have to request to join. I will be in and out all the time so we can discuss topics like your money story and answer your questions. Again the group is Minding Your Money Movement – join us!

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

So financial literacy month or Minding Your Money month as I like to call it officially kicked off this weekend. I was at a meeting where they read a proclamation from our governor regarding financial literacy month so it’s a big deal.

So here’s my question, “What are you going to do to celebrate financial literacy month? Are you going to do something to up level your skills such as taking a class, reading a book, starting an investment program, etc. or if you are already there skillwise are you going to help someone else out – like teaching your kid about money, a relative or a neighbor? There is literally no limit to the things you can do to celebrate this month and I would love to hear what you plan to do so please share them with me and maybe it will help someone else decide what to do.

For my part, I started the month out volunteering this weekend to help people with their taxes and I took it a step further. I gave them the software and showed them how to use it so that next year they can do their taxes on their own.

So what are you going to do? Email at [email protected] and let me know so I can share it with the audience. And, that’s the minute for today

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

It’s Friday and time for our word of the week –the word this week is good debt.

I chose Good Debt because I see so many people going into debt in the name of good debt and later regretting their decision. So in order to really to talk about good debt, let’s define what we’re talking about. Typically good debt is defined as debt used to purchase things that will appreciate in value – like a house or a college education that will allow you to earn more money. And bad debt is often defined as things that depreciate in value or get used up – like cars and paying for your groceries with a credit card that you don’t pay off each month.

I have no problem with the bad debt definition BUT when it comes to – “good debt” I have an issue because no matter how you define it debt is debt and you can’t make hard and fast rules about when it’s good and when it’s bad especially today because so many of the old rules are not always valid. Homes do depreciate in value and getting a college education is no longer a guarantee that you will get a good job so you can pay off the loan. So before you jump into loans of any type, good or bad, create a plan to pay it back and before you sign on the dotted line, be sure you understand every detail of it, especially mortgages and student loans because they can include all kinds of bad stuff that can come back to bite you.

My point is do your homework and make decisions that work for you because you will have to live with the consequences – good or bad.

Our word of the week good debt: it’s not so cut and dry anymore.

And that’s the minute for today. Don’t forget to visit my website at www.psworth.com and sign up for the Minding Your Money Movement and download a copy of the handbook so you can get started right away making your money work harder!

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

I was a meeting last night and we were talking about being a money magnet and ways to attract money to you and that was all great and I will share some of that with you in the future but I want to take on sort of the opposite thing today and talk about debt magnets.

I got on this track because of a letter I got from Carmen, she asks, “Patricia, are there certain people that just attract debt? – I think I’m a debt magnet because it just seems to happen automatically. Every month when I open my credit card bills they just seem to get higher and higher and the credit card companies aren’t helping because they just keep raising my limits. Is there a way out of this?” Well, Carmen I don’t think you are a debt magnet but there are certain behaviors that attract debt and you may be falling into them:

No goals. What do you want to accomplish? Having goals – especially things you really want helps you to stay on track – they provide you with the motivation to use your money to consciously go after your goals.

Playing the retail therapy game, that is using money to make you feel better when you feel hurt or you have a problem. The problem is, you are always going to have problems and spending all of your money on things you don’t really need or want is not going to solve them.

Finally, having the belief that life is too short and you deserve to have the things you want. I remember creating a financial plan for a woman years ago and she insisted that I stop her plan at age 86 because she was convinced she would be dead by then and she would no longer need to have money but I insisted on age 99. She is now 70 and still going strong and she only has another 16 years to prove me wrong.

And, that’s the minute for today. Carmen, if you really want to get out, the best thing that you can do is just stop charging and develop a program to get out of debt. If you would like my help, I have programs that can help so email me or call and we can talk offline. The worst thing you can do no is nothing. While no one can predict the future, this does not sound like a good path to keep traveling down. Got a burning question, send me at [email protected]

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!

Is money stress real? I think, well I know it’s real. And, if you have ever gotten a sinking feeling that your money life is out of control – whether it’s during the day or in the middle of the night, you’ve probably experienced money stress. Anyone, whether you’re downing in debt, you’re living paycheck to paycheck or you’re doing great, you can experience money stress. It seems to affect almost everyone at one point or another. And, more importantly money stress doesn’t just affect your finances it can also affect your health as well. So it’s important to get a handle on it.

Here are 3 things you can do to lessen or put an end to your money stress:

Change you attitude and focus. If all you focus on is what you don’t have or how you wish things were different, you are doomed stay stuck in a defeating loop. Instead look for the positives – things you have that you are grateful for – your family, friends, your home etc. And stay in the present. If you are constantly looking back or projecting doom on your future then that is most likely what you will get – you've heard of the self-fulfilling prophecy...well it's true!

Recognize your power – the choices you made in the past are responsible for where you are today and the choices you make now will greatly affect your future. So make a decision to focus on building wealth versus buying more things so that you can create a better future for yourself.

Reduce your debt. One of the best ways to reduce your debt is to create a budget or a spending plan. This allows you to allocate your money so that it goes where you want it to – paying off debts, decreasing expenses and growing your savings.

And, that’s the minute for today. Take control of your money? Join the Minding Your Money Movement! Visit my website at www.psworth.com and sign up today.

Thanks for listening and as always remember that minding your money really is the path to a richer life!