3 Clever Ways to Trick Yourself Into Saving Money

February 24, 2023

I actually don’t think we have a financial literacy problem in America as much as we have a financial wellness problem. Everyone I talk to on our financial helpline knows what they’re supposed to do to be more financially stable. But while knowledge is power, putting that knowledge into action is where the real trouble is. It’s the same thing with eating well and exercising. We know what we’re supposed to do, but we don’t always do it. Continue reading “3 Clever Ways to Trick Yourself Into Saving Money”

What Britain’s “Nudge Unit” Can Teach Us About Achieving Goals

May 12, 2017

In a recent episode of the Freakonomics podcast called “Big Returns from Thinking Small,” two members of “The Nudge Unit” (an arm of the British government designed to help save money) talk about the process they use to help improve processes and save money. They also dive into how they take that process home with them and make progress on their personal goals. It’s a 7 step process that could very easily be replicated by anyone to make progress on their own personal financial goals.

Step 1:  Set a goal!

What is it that you’re trying to improve? Some examples are  reduce your debt, increasing your retirement savings, buying a house, and building an emergency fund. These goals can be very simply stated and right to the heart of the matter.

Step 2: Make a plan.

This is where the goal becomes actionable. Using some of the above examples: Pay an extra $100 per month on your credit cards. Sign up for the rate escalator and increase your 401(k) contribution by 2%/year.

Step 3: Make a commitment (a public one).

I’ve done this with exercise goals. I have used the website stickK.com as well as their phone app to commit to a goal and have a “referee” to hold me accountable. I haven’t used my kids or my girlfriend as a ref because they’d likely be too lenient and let me off the hook. Instead, I’ve used friends and former teammates who will have no trouble telling me I fell short.  Whatever your goal is, ask a couple friends to be your “accountability partner.”

Step 4: Have a reward or punishment in place.

For many people, it helps to have a reward or punishment system. Allow yourself to buy a few books or running shoes or something small but fun AFTER you pay off a credit card.   Take a nice vacation AFTER you pay off your student loans.

Donate $50 to a charity that goes against every fiber in your being or wear the jersey of your most hated sports team if you don’t reach your financial goal. (If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you could always ask a friend to get a bell and walk behind you, loudly saying “shame” if you fall short of the goal.) Knowing the consequences – good and bad – of your actions can help you stay focused on the task at hand.

Step 5: Share the goal.

Post your goal to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. so that you are publicly declaring your commitment to the goal. Ask your friends for support or see if anyone wants to join you in your quest to help make progress in their lives too. When I’m hiking, going uphill always seems easier when I’ve got someone with me to talk to. The same concept applies when trying to reach the top of the hill financially.

Step 6: Get feedback.

Measure your progress. If you have $10,000 of credit card debt and want it gone in 3 years (36 months), do an end of each month measure to see if you’re reducing $277.78 or more of debt. Tracking your progress and knowing exactly where you stand toward your goal can be massively motivating.

Step 7: Stick!

Practice progress. Celebrate it. Course correct when needed.   Learn from the process.

Keep doing what’s working and do more of it if possible. Stop doing things that take you further from the goal. Be resolute and gritty on your way to reaching your goals.

This is the process that a unit of the UK government used to improve their processes and save money and helped the members of that unit replicate that success in their personal lives. It works. If you use this rough framework, you can nudge yourself ever so gently into reaching just about any goal that matters to you.

 

 

Failure Is All Around Us – And That’s a Good Thing

April 14, 2017

One of the consistent themes in life – in virtually every facet – is failure. It was one of the things that the University of North Carolina basketball team talked about after they beat Gonzaga for the national championship. Last year, UNC lost in the national championship game to Villanova University. This year’s team used last year’s loss as motivation. There are countless examples in the sports world of a failure being used as a motivation for a future success, but it only works if something is learned in the process.

We see that when we are interviewing candidates for positions here at Financial Finesse. At some point in the process, the conversations usually turn toward their biggest successes and failures in life. It’s amazing the stories that we hear about both sides of that equation.

More often than not, the lessons learned from the failures are much more valuable than the lessons learned from the successes. The same concept has proven to be true in the financial lives of many employees I talk to each week. There are a few “rules” that I use when coaching a person through a failure to help them not repeat it and to end up in a better place because of the lesson learned in the failure.

1. Forgive yourself. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from berating yourself and giving yourself negative messages. Say “I messed up this time, but I’ll get better.”

One of the more common “failures” people talk to me about is amassing credit card debt. They view it as a personal failure, and many people think that they’re the only person in the world who has gotten a little bit in debt. When they learn that others have been in this position (and MUCH worse) and then gotten themselves out of debt with just a few slight tweaks, they can exhale, begin to forgive themselves for the debt, and prepare to move forward.

2. Figure out why it happened. What exactly led to the failure? Was it a lack of attention? Was it a disregard for the consequences? A lack of information/education or something outside of your control?

Once you figure out the why, the real learning is possible. In the debt situation, it’s usually a simple lack of attention to detail that created the issue. A $20 purchase here, $25 there, a doctor’s visit with a copay and a night out with friends and all of a sudden there is more month than paycheck – and the need to use a credit card is there. If that pattern persists for long enough, there can be a few credit cards approaching their credit limits.

It’s not malice or blatant carelessness. It’s a gradual slow creeping up of credit card debt that happens when there isn’t a focus on exactly where each dollar is going. I’ve met a lot of people with significant credit card debt. Exactly zero of them woke up one day and said “I’m going to max out four different cards today and then struggle to pay them back.” It’s a slow build, and once there is a realization of that – the pay down can start.

3. Recognize that whatever the failure is, it isn’t YOU. It’s usually just one behavior that if modified ever so slightly, can be turned into a strength/reason for your next success. The tired old movie line “it’s not personal, it’s just business” is important here.

Don’t take a financial speed bump as a personal failure. It isn’t you. It’s situational…and situations can change.

4. Change whatever that behavior is! This is by far the most important step. The old “if you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting” phrase comes to mind.

Usually, changing a behavior isn’t as tough as we think it is. I’ve started to use an app to track my exercise and nutrition and as a result, my level of fitness is increasing while my level of body fat is decreasing. One quick change – using an app to log my meals and my exercises – is helping me make very small changes that are providing good results.

5. Stick to the positive change. The world is filled with stories of people who have made progress, only to regress after a short period of time. I’ve had friends lose 25-50 pounds, only to put on 30-55 after burning out of the program they used to lose it. I’ve seen people file bankruptcy because of massive credit card debt, only to rack up another $40-50k in credit card debt within a year or two of the bankruptcy.  Progress is best when it’s sustainable.

It’s impossible to go through life without experiencing failure. If someone does, it means they’ve either never tried anything difficult or they have absolutely zero self-awareness and don’t recognize their failures. Neither is ideal. So if it’s virtually impossible to go through life without experiencing it, embrace the failure that is all around us and use it to motivate you to a future success.

 

What Do You Owe You?

March 24, 2017

As someone who loves a good “pregame speech” and has heard and given fiery speeches before and during games, the field of motivational speaking is one that I enjoy. It turns out that one of our newest planners, Vekevia, shares a love of a good fiery speech. We talked about this recently and she shared this with me:

I love listening to motivational/inspirational speakers. They remind me of why I’m working towards a particular goal, which is what helps keep me going when things are tough or just not running as smoothly as I’d like. They drive me to keep pushing forward when what I am seeing doesn’t necessarily look as promising as I envisioned.

That helps in life goals and is especially true with financial goals. I heard one motivational speaker, Eric Thomas, ask the crowd a series of questions to get them to self-reflect. His message was “You Owe You” and I want to share the questions he asked:

“Know ‘what do you want’. What do you want in your marriage? What do you want with your son and your daughter? What do you want in your health? What do you want financially? How much money do you want to make a year?

What do you want to drive? How do you want to live? Stop just waking up like an accident. What do you want? And then, once you find out what you want, spend the rest of your natural life waking up and going after it.”

Managing your finances/financial planning is a life-long process. You don’t get to just plan today and then that’s it. You’re done.

For some, that can sound like a daunting task, especially if you don’t enjoy the process. I think that’s what makes it even more important to know why we have the financial goals that we have. Here are some tips to figuring that out.

Identify the ROOT of your goal. Know your big picture.

How to do it:

Go beyond your need to save to send your kids to college, pay off your student loans or buy a house. Do you want to give your kids a life full of better opportunities than you had when you were growing up? Do you want to be debt free and create or continue growing wealth in your family or simply gain a sense of freedom? Do you want to move into another neighborhood to surround yourself and/or your family with better opportunities? Do you want to live more comfortably?

Determine WHAT has to happen for you to get to that goal.

What to consider:

Do you have to stop spending as much on eating at restaurants or other forms of  entertainment? Do you need to get a handle on how much you swipe your credit card? Do you need to sit down with your spouse and get on the same page about your finances?

Tools:

Easy Spending Plan

Expense Tracker

Debt Inventory

Create a clear plan of HOW you’re going to make it happen.

How to do it:

Get Smart About Your Financial Goals

Include some goals that are short-term so you have small wins and give yourself some “atta boys” along the way. Include long-term goals as well so you are always planning for consistent progress. Take advantage of resources you have through your financial wellness program at work. Find out what assistance is available through your employee assistance program (EAP) at work.

Do something daily and make it a HABIT.

How to do it:

List small steps you can take every day or every week to get you to your long-term goal. I live by my calendar. Work tasks are included. Workouts are included…everything. If it’s in my calendar, it’s getting done.

Self-reflect.        

What does that mean?

At times, taking a minute to “stop and smell the roses” makes sense. It allows us to reflect on where we are, where we’ve come from and where we’re going. Pausing for a moment to experience the “now” and be grateful for all that we have provides a meaningful context for pushing forward.

Alter your plan if it’s not working.

What to consider:

Why isn’t it working? Do you need to make a simpler goal? Were the steps unrealistic or too ambitious? Do you need an accountability partner? Make changes to your plan accordingly so that your next steps take you closer to your goals.

Reward yourself.

Really?

I’ve found that people who are always pushing toward a goal without acknowledging their own success have a tendency to backslide or mentally break after a period of time. Reach a goal and congratulate yourself in some small way. One of my coworkers is working toward some fitness goals and is watching his food intake and his exercise routine. When he hits a milestone, he allows himself a “go crazy day” without working out and eating a gigantic plate of nachos, knowing that the next day, it’s back to the grind. Knowing that a small reward is ahead allows him to stay focused in between milestones.

It’s up to us to live up to our full potential. We have goals and we have to find a way to make them happen. We have to find a way to work around what we can’t control and do everything in our power to find a way to win.  You owe it to you to become financially secure. If this blog post isn’t enough to motivate you toward your goals, watch Dr. Eric Thomas and he’ll light a fire that will help you get started toward your goals.

 

 

Getting Smiles Into Your Days

March 03, 2017

As I sat down to write a blog post, my phone’s text message alert went off.  One of my friends sent a message that he was watching the Baltimore Orioles first spring training baseball game of the year. He sent that to a group of us who get together periodically to go to baseball games and that message made me smile. When pitchers and catchers report to spring training, it tells me that warm weather is right around the corner. The first day of spring training games is almost a holiday in my mind.

Opening Day is one of my favorite days of the year. As a kid, my uncle took me to a lot of Opening Day games in Baltimore and that feeling of being a kid taking the day off from school to watch baseball still hits me as an adult. Baseball, to me, means the end of winter and the start of spring and summer which are my favorite seasons.  It’s all about renewal and hope (for a winning season). On Opening Day, everyone believes that their team has a shot at winning the World Series. 

I’ve seen the spirit of hope and optimism hit employees of our client companies when we have had a few conversations and their debt level starts to come down. A large percentage of people I talk to are coming to me for help with reducing or eliminating their debt load. In those cases, the first meeting is usually one where they come in looking very tense and full of stress. Being overwhelmed with debt, from my observations, is bad for a person’s posture, mood and stress level. 

After the initial conversation, we put together a personalized plan of attack for their debt and we check in periodically (the time line depends on the person and the severity of the debt load) for what I like to call “brag sessions.” In a brag session, they come in and tell me how much of their debt they’ve been able to pay down since our last meeting. We celebrate the progress and acknowledge that there is still room to go. The important part is that these sessions are enjoyable and we are always looking for ways to make more progress. 

In many cases, after a couple years of check-ins and brag sessions, the debt level is close to zero and you can see their eyes light up when talking about what life will be like when they get to $0 debt. I’ve had a number of people come in to the office and pull up their final credit card balance on their laptop to show me that they just paid their last little bit of debt off. When they show me that or bring in the checkbook and write the last check in the office, their level of excitement about what comes next reminds me of the first days of baseball season when excitement and optimism reign.

Are you’re looking for a way to generate some smiles and some enthusiasm into your days? Check out some spring training baseball or..get one of your debts to $0. Either way, it’s a great idea.

How to Stop Hating New Year’s Resolutions

January 03, 2017

I was having a conversation with friends over my favorite dessert, which is basically anything chocolate. One of my friends mentioned New Year’s resolutions and like a symphony, I heard a range of moans and groans. I told them to consider re-framing their idea of success by focusing on consistently (not perfectly) making small changes instead of focusing only on the end goal. If they change their behavior and do it consistently, the natural byproduct is their goal.  I gave them the following as a starting point to consider.

Being Healthier:

1. Replace two drinks a day with water. If you cannot stand the tastelessness of water, throw in some fruit – strawberries, lemons, etc for extra taste.

2. Fill half of your plate at lunch or dinner with vegetables. A salad is a quick and easy solution. Just minimize the dressing to 2 tablespoons or less.

3. Consider having a “walking” meeting with a colleague. Commit to a 15-minute walk during lunch. If you travel a lot, you can use workout apps with various workout programs and even a coach to keep you motivated like Aaptiv or Fitstar.

Saving money

1. Start off with an amount you are confident you can save per pay period and adjust your payroll to have the funds automatically sent from your paycheck to a savings account. You can always increase the amount.

2. Consider using the “round-up-to-the-nearest-dollar” bank savings feature or have deposits (interest, ATM usage rebate) automatically deposited into your checking account.

3. Have a “no-spend day” when you choose where you are committed to not spending any money for the day.

Becoming Debt Free

1. Stop using your credit card. The easiest way to reduce the amount you owe is not to acquire any new debt.

2. Call your creditors and ask for an interest rate reduction. Research from CreditCards.com cited that 3 out of 4 people who ask for interest rate deductions actually get it.

3. As we head into tax season, consider earmarking part of your tax return to reduce your debt.

What are your goals? Starting off with the small changes can give you the quick wins to keep you motivated to reach them by the end of 2017. Then maybe you won’t groan the next time you hear about New Year’s resolutions!

 

 

Are You Disheartened By This Election Season?

October 28, 2016

After watching all of the political debates, I am both disheartened and encouraged. As much as I am disheartened at this point, I’ve always been a big fan of finding reasons for hope and optimism. Don’t let obstacles outside of your control impact your life. Here’s why:

Stock markets rise. Stock markets fall. We know this (or we should).

Yet every time the stock market has a rough week, I field calls from nervous investors. People who see their 401(k) balance go down every day for a week or two tend to want answers. We talk with them about their long term goals and their current asset allocation. At times, they are invested in a way that is either way too aggressive for their stage of life and their goals and at other times (and fewer in frequency), they are invested more conservatively than their stage of life and goals would indicate is appropriate.

Most of the time, though, they are invested in a way that is perfectly suitable. In those cases, we talk about patience and allowing the market to do the rising and falling that it always does without getting too emotionally invested. They can’t control the markets, but they can control how they react to changes in the markets.

Similarly, whether the economy is great (remember when that used to happen?) or lousy or just muddling along like it has for the last 7-8 years, no one individual (not even Janet Yellen) can control the overall US economy.  Even less control can be exerted over the global economy. The one thing that we can control to a large extent is our “personal economy.”

How much are you contributing to your 401(k)? How much are you saving in other accounts on a regular, automatic basis? What’s your level of spending in relation to your income? These are things we can totally control.  

Those who examine their financial habits and lifestyle will find that their personal choices control a great deal of their financial life. The great thing about choices is that they aren’t permanent (kinda like elections) so if we’ve chosen to spend 102% of our income over the last few years, we can decide to spend less, move to lower cost housing, drive a lower cost car, cut the cable cord, etc. If we haven’t saved enough in our 401(k), we can increase our contribution every year. If we don’t have a solid emergency fund, we can direct deposit $5, $10, $20 or more to our savings account with each paycheck. The amount isn’t as important as the momentum.

So let’s use this season of disheartening political shenanigans to focus on our own personal economies and make progress on our goals. My challenge to you is to pick one area in your financial life, one where you DO have control, and before election day, make one change to your current habits. We can’t change the national economy, but we can change our own.

How Financial Wellness is Like Weight Loss

April 28, 2016

I always like to say that financial wellness is a lot like weight loss. When I came across this article in Vox about “surprisingly simple tips from 20 experts about how to lose weight and keep it off,” I realized just how true that is. Here are the weight loss tips and how they apply to financial wellness:

1. There really, truly is no one “best diet.” Scientific studies have found that all of the various diet plans have about the same modest long term results. What matters is finding one you can actually stick to. The same is true of money management systems and asset allocation strategies.

2. People who lose weight are good at tracking – what they eat and how much they weigh. They tend to count calories and weigh themselves at least once a week. In the same way, you need to track or otherwise limit spending, continually re-balance your investments, and periodically run a retirement calculator to make sure you’re still on track.

3. People who lose weight identify their barriers and motivations. Like with diet and exercise, we usually know what to do with our finances. The hard part is actually doing it. Start with knowing the “why” that motivates you. Then look for the barriers that are standing in your way of taking action.

4. Diets often fail because of unreasonable expectations. People tend to overestimate what they can achieve in the short run and underestimate what they can achieve in the long run. Don’t try to save too much too fast. Instead, set big long term financial goals that motivate you and then see how much you need to save to achieve them.

5. People who lose weight know how many calories they’re consuming – and burning. Similarly, you need to know how much income is coming in and going out. Making sure the latter number is lower than the former is the only way to increase your wealth.

6. There are ways to hack your environment for health. For example, don’t surround yourself with unhealthy foods. Simple things like where your food is served from and what size plate it’s on can also affect how much you eat. For your financial life, don’t put yourself in situations where you’re likely to spend more and try to automate your savings as much as possible.

7. Exercise is surprisingly unhelpful for weight loss. More accurately, exercise alone isn’t very effective since people often eat more to compensate for the calories they burn. Earning more income can have the same effect when we automatically spend more as well.

8. Weight loss medications aren’t very useful. Neither are “metabolism boosting” supplements. Complex, sophisticated, and high-fee investments are the weight loss medications and metabolism boosting supplements of the financial world. Stick to the basics.

9. Forget about “the last 10 pounds.” If they’re that hard to lose, people generally gain them back. Most of the health benefits came from the other lost pounds anyway. Likewise, trying too hard to save more can backfire if it starts to feel like too much deprivation. Allow yourself to splurge now and then too.

So what’s the main thing that weight loss and financial wellness have in common? They are both about making small changes over a long period of time. Instead of looking for the quick fix, find an approach that you can stick with.

 

The Four Pillars of Making Habits That Stick

February 29, 2016

How important are daily habits to financial wellness? In my own financial wellness journey, they’ve been crucial. By changing my own habits, including my inner dialogue about myself and my income, how I managed my cash flow and how much I saved and invested, I altered my own trajectory. The primary reason I became a financial planner is that I believe other people can do it as well. Continue reading “The Four Pillars of Making Habits That Stick”

How Understanding Your Personality Can Change Your Life

February 22, 2016

I’ve written frequently about how I changed my financial behaviors over time. Once someone who spent her paycheck down to the last penny, I became a successful saver and investor over time. That all happened because I changed both what I believed about money and what I was worth, as well as what I did in my everyday life to align my daily habits with those beliefs. Continue reading “How Understanding Your Personality Can Change Your Life”

How To Turn That Resolution Into Reality

January 05, 2016

I was talking to a group of girlfriends over an amazing cup of hot chocolate with melted chocolate on the bottom and toasted marshmallows on top. For a chocoholic like me, this was heaven. I will admit I focused more on the chocolate than the conversation, but after a few minutes, my financial planning ears perked up. My friends were talking about their top New Year’s resolutions, which was the same for all of them- to get out of debt. Continue reading “How To Turn That Resolution Into Reality”

Take Your Own Baby Steps

December 29, 2015

I am a huge fan of the movie “What About Bob?” starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfus. Bill Murray’s character was so overwhelmed by life that he went to see a psychologist (Richard Dreyfus’ character) for help. The psychologist introduced him to the concept of “Baby Steps,” which suggests taking small steps to achieve your goal. In the movie, Bill Murray took baby steps, literally, but the steps were baby steps based on Bill Murray’s mental state, not someone else’s mental state. Continue reading “Take Your Own Baby Steps”

Are You Suffering From Analysis Paralysis?

August 28, 2015

There are times when I look at my life and realize that I’m not 20-something any more. The phrase “Just Do It” showed me that last weekend. When I hear “Just Do It,” I think about Nike and the ad campaign that started in the late ‘80s. It’s tough to believe that Nike campaign is over 25 years old. Continue reading “Are You Suffering From Analysis Paralysis?”

Be the Pilot, Not the Engineer

October 24, 2014

One of my colleagues is hopelessly stuck in the years BC (“before children” as he explains) with his cultural references. He made a reference to the movie “Airplane” (acting as if it were a relatively new movie) and as we discussed the absurd premise of the movie, he made an interesting observation. “If I had to fly a plane, I’d rather be getting directions from a pilot than the engineer who built the plane.”  His point was that a pilot knows how to focus on what is necessary to keep the plane flying whereas the engineer may get bogged down in the details of how the plane works.  That’s how far too many people feel about their financial lives after they attend a class or read a book about finances.  Continue reading “Be the Pilot, Not the Engineer”

What Are Your Monkeys and Bananas?

September 26, 2014

One of the phrases my coworkers and I used a lot (at another firm during my career) in times of frustration was “monkeys and bananas.” That was our way of saying that we were operating under a bunch of constraints and no one could explain a logical or rational reason for those constraints.  “That’s the way it’s always been done…” is the beginning of an explanation that would always irritate me.  Just because something has always been done that way doesn’t mean it’s the way it should continue to be done.  So…how does that relate to monkeys and bananas??? Continue reading “What Are Your Monkeys and Bananas?”

The Best Laid Plans…

December 27, 2013

As someone who did some online shopping this year, I read this article about gifts that didn’t arrive in time for gift giving and felt a great sigh of relief.  I can’t imagine getting to my mother’s house completely empty handed on Christmas Day.  The people who ordered their gifts online, with a “guaranteed” delivery prior to Christmas, and didn’t receive their items probably didn’t have the joyous holiday they expected. There was probably a bit of anxiety and disappointment mixed in with their holiday. Not that the season should be all about gifts…but the reality of where we are as a society places an undue emphasis on a commercialized Christmas.  (My opinion!)  This article made me think about not just my view of the holiday season, but of life in general. Continue reading “The Best Laid Plans…”

Do You Have a Financial Plan or Financial Gridlock?

October 21, 2013

It is déjà vu all over again with the debt ceiling debate having reared its ugly head once again. In my opinion, when it comes to the financial stability of our nation, it doesn’t matter if you lean to the left, lean to the right or are somewhere in between with your political views (or if you are completely indifferent to political dialogue).  The reality is that something needs to get done to end the gridlock in Washington that impacts every American.  Continue reading “Do You Have a Financial Plan or Financial Gridlock?”

Putting It All Into Perspective

August 12, 2013

The real purpose of the financial planning process is often lost when we focus on just the specific elements of a plan such as budgeting, eliminating debt, investing, minimizing taxes, and saving for retirement. Financial planning is more than these things. It’s actually the process of aligning our financial resources with our life goals, values, and vision for the future.  Continue reading “Putting It All Into Perspective”