You want to save money, get rid of the credit card debt and hopefully one day buy a house but you have no idea how to make it happen. You have tried budgeting but weren’t sure you were doing it right and every time you felt like you were starting to save money some unexpected expense would blow your budget out of the water. Oh yeah and then there is the whole ‘will power’ and ‘discipline’ thing, you want to save money, you want to eliminate your debt but it is so hard to resist the temptation to spend. If this is you, then perhaps you should consider taking on a budget coach. What’s the point in spending money on a budget coach, if I am trying to save money? Yes, I know it seems counter intuitive to spend money to save money but let’s be honest, how much money did you save last year? How much debt did you pay off last year…… Hmmm For most people the honest answer is a big fat zero and for others it’s “not as much as I should have”. So if this is you it’s time to invest in your future and get …
Parents, Teaching Children about Money is your Responsibility
The statistics are sad, scary and far too true. One-third of Gen Y have no savings and are struggling with debt. One in five could not find $500 in an emergency, and one in two young people experience financial stress on a weekly basis. It is little wonder that anxiety and depression have become so prevalent amongst our younger generations. This is why it’s so important for parents to under how to teach your children about money. As a budget coach, these statistics are absolutely heart-breaking because this isn’t how it should be. The core principles of wise money management aren’t difficult to understand or to apply but other than a lesson or two in Year 9 maths, no one is purposefully teaching children about money and money management. Parents, I am sorry – whether you like it or not, it is your responsibility to teach your children how to manage money. It is your responsibility to teach them: how to budget how to save a percentage of every dollar they earn how to avoid lifestyle debt
My Personal Finances are a Mess. I Don’t Even Know Where to Start!
Earlier this week I was meeting with one of my coaching clients. She had done a brilliant job of getting her finances under control and was now wanting to refer a friend, but first wanted to warn me in advance: “She has a good job but her personal finances are a mess, she is living pay cheque to pay cheque, her credit card is maxed, she has student loans and outstanding bills and she just doesn’t know where to start!”
But a Budget Coach Will Tell Me I Can’t… Or Will They?
One of the biggest concerns people have about taking on a budget coach is that they are fearful that when going through learning how to budget, they will be told they can no longer spend on something that is really important to them. Fortunately, this is rarely ever the case. As a personal budget coach at Grandma’s Jars, my primary concern is not so much what you spend your money on, but how much you spend relative to what you earn. The Golden rule of money management simply states – you cannot spend more than you earn. This is the mantra of every good budget coach.
Getting Financially Fit with a Budget Coach
The power of a coach The only thing that matches my passion for budget coaching is my love of long distance running. Through my twenties and early thirties I spent many weekends competing in half marathons, marathons and cross country races. I loved nothing better than heading off into the bush on a Sunday morning with the dog and good friends for a 30-35km run. While I raced in the NSW Marathon team for a few years at the National Championships and held a couple of course records, I never really fulfilled my potential. I trained too hard, never rested enough, paced myself poorly and spent half the time injured. I often wondered what I could have achieved had I found a good coach that was genuinely interested in me, a coach that understood me, a coach that could help me develop a long term plan and was there to make sure I rested when I needed to rest.
When Do You Need a Budget?
As a budget coach, I think the answer to this is always. It is an unfortunate misconception that most people seem to think that they only need to budget when money is tight. But this view of budgeting seriously understates the powerful impact a good budget will have on a person’s long term wealth. In my role as a portfolio manager, I have managed multi-million dollar portfolios. It is rarely the people with the high paying jobs that have the greatest wealth but rather those that have earned modest incomes, budgeted well, and consistently grown their savings that end up the wealthiest. Having a high income is never enough, it is what you do with what you earn that has the biggest impact on your long term wealth. It is too easy to forget that what we are doing when we go to work is trading our most valuable resource, ‘time’, in return for money. Your average Australian earns $60,000, or $45,000 after tax and superannuation. This means every dollar you earn costs you 2.33 minutes of your life. Every time you spend $206 you will need to add another 88 minutes of work to make it back. In …
What Budget Coaching Is, and What Budget Coaching Isn’t
Over the years we have had a lot of clients tell us that despite being referred to Grandma’s Jars by trusted friends or family they were initially very hesitant to try budget coaching. They knew they could do with some help getting their finances sorted but the idea of sharing intimate details about their spending habits and finances to anyone, let alone a stranger, was very disconcerting. At Grandma’s Jars we understand that talking to a stranger about your finances can be a very difficult thing to do. Admitting we need the help is often the first hurdle but then there is the fear that we will be judged or ridiculed for the financial mess we find ourselves in. In this blog post I want to address some of these concerns or misconceptions by outlining what budget coaching is (and isn’t) at Grandma’s Jars. A Budget Coach Doesn’t Tell You What You Can and Can’t Spend Money On We often find that our clients are initially fearful that by taking on a budget coach they will lose control over what they can and can’t spend their money on – this is not true. The golden rule of money management is …