What are the keys to financial wellness and success? We are not fans of “get rich quick” schemes. We will focus on proven principles and sound concepts. God has given each of us money to steward, and we think that a shift in mindset can make change happen over time.
Set your priorities
Most money arguments between couples aren’t really about money, that is, salaries or credit cards or investment accounts, but about conflicts about priorities. Is it OK to spend on your golf club membership, or how about your wife’s yoga classes? Should we get a new car this year? Is takeout food worth the money or time savings? Write down or type your priorities and put them in a list. For example, giving to charity, traveling, cycling, accommodating guests in a top party house, having more bedrooms for lots of kids, driving the fanciest car, retiring early. Order them.
Mindset
It may be time to adjust your mindset. Do you believe that you will always struggle with money or that you will always be poor? Why? Can you let go of those negative beliefs? Can you allow your future to be a clean slate?
Discipline
Personal growth requires discipline. Changing habits requires work, and there will be setbacks and frustrations along the way. Can you convince yourself that you will persevere?
Earning
We will have future posts on earning money. For now, let’s assume you keep working your current job at your current salary. From there we will discuss growing your career, second jobs, etc.
Saving
How much are you currently saving, if at all? For sake of argument, let’s count any 401k/403b/etc. contributions you make at work, as well as leftover cash you have each month, as your savings. In today’s environment, savings accounts don’t pay much interest at all. Once you have saved enough to fund your emergency fund, you can focus your savings toward investments.
Investing
In order to grow your savings, you will need to invest it. With the magic of Compound interest, combined with time, you can generate quite a bit of wealth to use at retirement. We prefer broad total stock market index funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) such as VOO or VTI held at a low-cost brokerage house like Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade or e-trade, or directly with Vanguard or Fidelity. As this site progresses, we will discuss alternative investments, which may be appropriate once you have started investing. We plan to discuss real estate, cryptocurrency, individual stocks, dividend stocks, artwork, NFTs, coins and more. However, it is unlikely we would recommend any of those alternates until you have a sizable nest egg already stored up in nontaxed retirement accounts first.
Noice! To the point. I liked this. Looking forward to future post.