November 2020 Living Debt Free and Wealthy Newsletter
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Why do you do the things that you do? What influences the choices you make and the actions you take? According to Oxford Languages, “[Motivation is] the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.” Motivation is the guiding force for all human behavior. Put simply it is “why” we do the things that we do. It is no secret that motivation is extremely important, but where does it come from? What do we do if we are short of it? To overcome a lack of motivation you need to first understand where it comes from. Psychologists have come up with many different models explaining this, but essentially, motivation comes from one of two possible places, external forces or internal forces. External forces are easy to understand, it is motivation coming from someone or something other than you. Let’s use exercising as an example. An external motivation might be a player running a mile because their coach told them to. Internal forces are inherently more complicated because they are based on your emotions and thoughts. A few of the many internal motivating factors are… to avoid pain, to seek pleasure, for fun, to please others and/or to avoid guilt. If we use exercising as the example again, you might run because you enjoy it, you might run because you promised yourself you would run every day, maybe you are running because your health is important to you, or maybe you are running to spend time with someone you like. These are all examples of possible motivators
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Creating A Financial Plan
Everyone has heard the Boy Scout’s motto, “Be Prepared!” Truly, we have a plan for almost everything. We have plans we follow for blizzards, hurricanes, floods, fires, evacuation routes etc… But what about financial crises? Too many of us have no financial plan to follow and are only 1 crisis away from bankruptcy! According to uscourts.gov, over the past 10 years, almost 11 million families have filed for bankruptcy. That’s over a million families per year!
Creating a financial plan is no different from planning for any other crisis. The first step is figuring out where you are at right now. To do that you need to know exactly where all your money is going each month. How much are your necessities each month? If worse came to worse, how much do you need to make ends meet? Have you had a cash flow analysis done?
The next step is to think about what can happen that can cripple your financial state. There are many things... If you get sick/hurt and lose your job, if you get laid off, if you or your spouse pass away, or if you or one of your kid’s gets extremely sick. All of these things can cripple your financial situation. So how do we protect ourselves from them? .
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Free Report- Learn How to PAYOFF Your Debts and Truly Live Debt Free!
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“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
-Zig Ziglar
Interesting Facts:
-The first Thanksgiving was held in 1621. It included 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians and lasted three 3days.
-Thanksgiving wouldn’t become a holiday until over 200 years later by Abraham Lincoln, at the behest of Sarah Josepha Hale. (The same women who wrote Mary Had a Little Lamb).
-There were no forks used at the first Thanksgiving. Back then, there were only spoons and knives. Forks would be invented 10 years later but wouldn’t become popular until the 18th century.
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Thanksgiving Friends
Thanksgiving is a time For reviewing what we treasure, The people we hold dear, Who give us so much pleasure.
Without you as my friend, Life would be a bore; Having you in my life Is what I'm thankful for.
By Joanna Fuchs
Thanksgiving Delights
On Thanksgiving Day we're thankful for
Our blessings all year through, For family we dearly love, For good friends, old and new.
For sun to light and warm our days,
For stars that glow at night,
For trees of green and skies of blue,
And puffy clouds of white.
We're grateful for our eyes that see
The beauty all around, For arms to hug, and legs to walk, And ears to hear each sound.
The list of all we're grateful for Would fill a great big book; Our thankful hearts find new delights Everywhere we look!
By Joanna Fuchs
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However, I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t discuss my favorite motivator, goals. Studies have shown, countless times, that people with goals succeed more often than those without goals. It’s not hard to imagine why. Imagine for a moment, you are in a speed-shooting competition and you are facing the world record holder, Jerry Miculek. I can 100% guarantee you will beat him every time- provided you blindfold Miculek…and spin him around a couple times. Now you are probably saying, that’s silly how is he supposed to hit a target he can’t see, or even which direction to shoot in? That’s a good question; here is a better one…how can you hit a target you don’t have? Still think you don’t need goals?
My best advice if you are running short on motivation? Set goals and write them down! Goals are my favorite motivator because, when done correctly, goals are made up of so many different internal motivating forces. Goals give you a big picture to work towards, and the cool thing is if you get overwhelmed you can break down that big picture into easily managed action steps. Finally, and most importantly, goals show you where you are headed and why. And that’s what matters.
Lastly, I would like to leave you with a quote from one of my favorite speakers, the late Zig Ziglar. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” Refresh your motivation daily! Remind yourself and focus on your “why” each and every day. I look forward to seeing your amazing results!
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Creating A Financial Plan
The next step to protect yourself is to establish an emergency fund. A common problem I see with families is they aren’t saving but saving to spend. What I mean by that is they have an account they put money into regularly but then they spend it once they get enough for their vacation, new furniture, new car etc… You need to create a designated emergency fund that you only touch in the event of an emergency. Everyone’s situation is different, but a good rule of thumb is 3-6 months of income.
Another way to protect yourself is with insurance. There are many types of insurances that can protect you from losses; health, homeowners, auto, disability, and life insurance. Now it’s important to know what you are covered for and what you aren’t. Some of these may make sense for you, or they may not. You also don’t want to bankrupt yourself trying to afford coverage for all of these. That’s why an emergency fund is so important. It allows you to “self-insure”.
Lastly, you need a plan for what’s ahead, short, and long-term. Short term goals like; do you want to take a big vacation or buy a new car. Long Term goals like, what money are you going to need in the future? Are you saving for retirement, do you want to help your children pay for college, or is there something else you want to do? How much money do you need for that future expense? When do you need that money by? Are you on track to reach it?
Where are you at with your crisis plan? If you would like help creating or modifying your plan, give my office a call today. There is never any obligation, or judgement
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