The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Take Control of Your Finances in 20 Minutes

Starting point is 00:00:05 Well, unfortunately, I can't magically deposit a million dollars into your bank account tomorrow. I wish I could, but I can't. But believe it or not, I can offer you some pretty instant relief for whatever financial dilemma you might be facing. And spoiler alert. Step one is a mindset shift. And step two gets a little bit more specific. So stay tuned for all of it. And make sure to like, subscribe, and share this episode with a friend. So I saw a CNBC article the other day and it got me thinking about how important the mindset is when it comes to your money. We always say, Rob Ramsey, that personal finance is 80% behavior. It's only 20% head knowledge. So there's a head knowledge side that you need to know, but mindset is even more than just head knowledge. So not even knowing the facts

Starting point is 00:00:51 and numbers being able to explain what a mutual fund is. So we're not talking about that. But the mindset and the belief and why you do things with money is such a big deal because that is paired so closely to your behavior. And when your mindset changes, then your behavior, is going to change. But it can be tough to sort through your thoughts and your anxieties and kind of get to the other side of worry and doubt. So let's set aside 20 minutes, either daily or weekly, and I want you to do five simple steps. You ready? Step one, write everything down. Write it all down. And this can include your worries, your stressors, your frustrations, financial problems, like whatever is going on that's in your head that is stressing you out, write it down.

Starting point is 00:01:36 I will do this on my notes app, sometimes on my phone, because I'm like thinking through this. And maybe even small stressors of like a scheduling thing. And I'm like, oh, gosh, am I going to be late here? And I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to timestamp it out and just see it out there because there's something about it getting out of your brain and out on paper to visualize what is going on. So if there is a stress point with your money that keeps coming up over and over and over again, Write it down. Get it out of your brain. Put it down. Now we're going to do other things with it,

Starting point is 00:02:04 but that is one of the first steps that you can do. I think alleviates some of it, because again, our minds are so powerful, y'all, and it can magnify things. It causes you to lose sleep. I mean, it does so much. The mind is so powerful. So when you can get it out of your minds and just visually see it out on paper, that's going to be really helpful. Next, I want you to sort that list, all the things that you worry about, into two categories, what you can control and what you can't control. Now, some of these are going to be broad. So spending, for instance, is something that you can immediately control. You can say, I feel like I'm overspending. Okay, we can change behavior and change that. Your salary, you know, you may be able to control long term by making, you know,

Starting point is 00:02:47 different decisions, maybe career path or companies that you work at or whatever it may be. But today, you probably can't control that, like, right this second, right? You can go get a side hustle and maybe go do something new this weekend. But in that moment and today, we can't really change that. So you can put that in one category. Now, others might be more specific of, you know, I don't know if we're going to have money for our kids to go to college or not. You know, you can put that.

Starting point is 00:03:12 Maybe everyone on Instagram seems to be traveling all the time, and I feel like I'm just trapped in dead, and I'm never going to get out, and it's stressing you out, you know. So being able to actually plot these things of, okay, can I take control of a certain part of this worry? And are there certain worries that are just completely out of my control? And I need to see that. Now, step three is, once you have it listed, I want you to talk about it.

Starting point is 00:03:37 Verbalize it in some way. And this could even be taking a walk and praying about it. This could be talking to your spouse about it, talking to a friend. But what you're going to find is money is very emotional. And it's okay to have some feelings about your circumstances. I mean, it may cause a level of sadness and angst. You could even have feelings on the other end of like, okay, no, I'm actually feeling hopeful because I'm actually going to start a plan to deal with some of these things. But please say it out loud.

Starting point is 00:04:07 Say it out loud. We talked about visually seeing it, but bring someone else in because I do think when you have people in your life that you can kind of banter and have a conversation with some of the things that you worry about, and this could be money or not. That other person has a different perspective, a different story, a different way at looking at the situation. And hopefully they'll be able to empathize with you and actually meet you and some of your stresses and anxiety with it. But they also may be able to help just say a couple of things of encouragement or they may have a different perspective and be like, it's just not that big of a deal. Right. Like, I hear you and I know you're stressing out about that, but like, that's okay. Your kid is six months old.

Starting point is 00:04:46 We don't need to be stressing about college right now. Like we got 18 years for that, right? So you just need a good friend or a spouse to kind of get your perspective back. Now, steps four and five are going to be the solution part of this conversation and probably what you've been waiting for. But first, I do want to tell you about a solution to protect your family's personal info online, and that is, delete me. So online scams get more and more advanced by the day. From fishing to harassment to weird AI messages that feel real, you cannot risk your personal info getting leaked to websites that you've never even been to before. So,

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Starting point is 00:05:51 So when you are working the baby steps, your bank shouldn't be working. against you. This is why I love Fairwinds credit union because they share Ramsey values like getting out of debt and saving for the future, but also they put people first. Their smart checking and savings bundle was designed to line up with the baby step so you can keep your momentum and continue to build wealth the smart way. So when you're ready to move your money somewhere that supports your financial goals, Fair wins is what you've been looking for. Just head to fairwins.org slash Ramsey to open your smart checking and savings bundle today. All right, step four, take small tactical steps towards the change that you want to see. So next to every stressor that you have written down,

Starting point is 00:06:38 just put a little plan in place, like just a small thing. What can you be doing? If you're stressed about college savings, just say, all right, today I'm going to open up a 529. Like, I'm going to just do that, right? Or maybe that feels overwhelming. And just say, within the next week, within the next month, this is what I'm going to do. Maybe if you want to go on a trip and you're like, okay, I'm going to be out of debt in 17 months and it feels like forever, then plan a vacation maybe six months after that to know, okay, once I'm out of debt, I can start saving X amounts. Instead of paying off debt, maybe I can save a little bit while I'm saving for my emergency fund to put as a vacation sinking fund. Or maybe you are debt-free and you have an emergency fund. You just feel like you're living

Starting point is 00:07:17 paycheck-to-paycheck. Well, maybe it's to say, okay, let's look at the budget and take some money out actually save for vacation, being proactive with it. Maybe it's creating professional goals that you want to achieve in the next year. Maybe you're looking and seeing your salary and you're like, I'm just not happy here. I'm not happy with this. And maybe that kind of sparks an idea of a career change or a shift. And you think, okay, maybe I need to do something or talk to someone who's in this other field that I'm thinking about. Whatever it is, just have one small action item and put it next to each stressor because you're actually starting to solve the problems. Now, in the column of what I can't control, there may not be any solutions because we can't always control the housing market and interest rates and all of that.

Starting point is 00:07:58 So there may not be much there, solution there, but the things you can give a small solution. And step five is to have a high-level plan so you know what to attack first. And overall, your financial plan should be the seven baby steps. And if you're not doing these, these are going to help guide so much of the big stressors people have because people feel overwhelmed with. debt, they feel overwhelmed because they don't have savings. And the baby steps help solve a lot of those. So make sure to get a $1,000 emergency fund first. Once you do that, you can move on the Baby Step 2, which is to get completely out of debt, everything but your house. Then Baby Step 3 is to save three to six months of expenses. And so those are all done individually. Once you complete all

Starting point is 00:08:38 of those, then you can start saving for retirement, 15% of your income, save for Kids College, like we talked about, pay the house off early, put some extra towards the house. And then once that's all you're on to Baby Step 7, which is just building wealth and continuing to be generous. So having an overall financial plan is going to help. And then even a budget is going to help you with that. Every dollar is an incredible tool when it comes to your budget and your overall financial plan. So they talk through the baby steps, things you can do, small changes you can make to help find margin. But every dollar is incredible. I'll put a link down below. Now, while we're talking about some powerful shifts, you have to check out the five powerful ways to

Starting point is 00:09:18 redefine wealth and it's not just about money. That's coming up next. You can click here or if you're listening on podcasts, click the link below. All right, you guys remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.

The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Take Control of Your Finances in 20 Minutes

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