If there’s a roadmap for your financial life, would you follow it?
I love to share with you some divine secrets of affluent women that will help you create your own financial roadmap.
Secret #1: Get Engaged…with Your Finances
The truth is 90% of women will have to manage their finances on their own at some point in their life.
Why?
The average life expectancy for a woman is just over 80 years, which means not only a retirement that could last 15 to 20 years or more, but also a high likelihood of outliving their spouse.
Although that does sound a little nerve wracking, that doesn’t mean you have to go through this alone.
No matter where you are in your life, it’s never too late to begin talking about money with your family and trusted friends. By beginning the discussion, you and your loved ones can work together to help you save.
Secret #2: Stop Resisting your Financial Prosperity
Have you ever heard of any of these money stories?
Money doesn’t grow on trees, ever.
People aren’t made of money, even your parents.
Money is the root of all things evil.
As we continue to grow older, those money stories become money messages because they play a significant part in keeping you broke or preventing you from being rich.
While it’s important to be aware of the subtle messages behind the money stories you heard throughout your life, it’s also just as important to rewrite those very same money stories and accept the energy and prosperity to flow in our lives.
After all, it’s your birthright to receive infinite gifts.
Secret #3: Be Proactive about Saving for Your Future
Savings is about creating a plan to help finance your dreams, big and small.
It can also can make life cheaper. For instance, when you live paycheck to paycheck, your probability of racking up credit card debt for emergencies are much higher.
Building savings habits now will give you options to pursue more, experience more, and achieve more because you have the financial foundation and flexibility to do so.
Here’s three easy ways to get started today:
Save for the Basics: Keep 2 months worth of living expenses available to account for day-to-day expenses.
Save for the Unexpected: Create an emergency fund in a savings account or money market deposit account to earn higher interest rate.
Save for the Future: Automate your savings. Try to save 10–15% of your after tax income for your longer term financial goals.
Secret #4: Map Out Your Financial Future
Planning out your finances is a lot like playing a strategy game — you need to know what you need to do to succeed and how to go about it.
Ready to start mapping? Here’s three key pointers your financial map should include:
Your Life Goals — make sure you include short, medium and long term
Your Assets (anything you have that can be converted into cash) & Liabilities (obligations to pay back what you owe) you have — separate them into two categories and write them down
Your current financial position — Here’s where you write down the amount of bills you have to pay as well as your income, retirement funds, or 401ks, just to name a few.
Develop your plan — create a “mind map” for achieving your different financial goals
Implement your plan — make the changes and make it happen
Monitor and review your plan at least yearly and make adjustments when needed
Whether you are just starting out or have already been planning for a while, I would love to hear what your financial goals are. You can reach me at Kiena@Fortunista.co. For more information, you can find my book on Amazon — here is the link for the Kindle version.