After my last post, It’s Good to be Back, my life became incredibly busy and as a result I was unable to blog as usual. My apologies. Now I am back, but instead of blogging three time a week I will only blog twice a week.
It’s summer time and I am committed to spending most of it outdoors and enjoying the cultural offerings of my hometowm (NYC)–the best place to be, in my opinion, in the summer, or the fall, or the winter, or the spring…you get the idea.
Anyway, enough about me and my addiction. Now it’s time to get back on track. I trust that everyone has completed their project–which was to rearrange, sort, and file your important and necessary documents–and is now aware of every detail of their financial life, i.e. what you own and what you owe. The topic of today’s entry is how we can go forward in creating the financial life we desire. Whether you are in your 20s, 30s,40s,50s or older, we are going find ways of making sure that we get the financial life we desire and deserve.
It’s not a secret that we are staring down the barrel of a recession. So this is a perfect time to take a cold, hard look at our finances and decide what steps we have to take to become financially healthy. Ask yourself the hard questions: How much do I earn? How much do I owe? Who do I owe? (Remember, there is good debt and bad debt) For example, student loans are good debt because they’re an investment–like buying a home–in your future. Credit cards=bad debt. You will be paying for that pair of Jimmy Choos long after the season is over. Are you saving for retirement or thinking about it? If you are saving for retirement ask these questions: Am I taking advantage of of my company’s 401k-matching dollars? Am I contributing to my 403b (non-profits)? And, if you are already contributing, are you contributing the maximum? If not, then you should be thinking of ways to fund your retirement to the maximum.
One of the first things to do in this exercise is to get a few sheets of paper and a pencil. Next, at the top of one of the pages write down your monthly income. Then, a couple of lines lower, jot down your monthly expenses, i.e. housing, utilites, food, clothing, transportation, insurance, healthcare, entertainment, credit cards, student loans and any other expenses that you incur monthly. Subtract the expenses from your income. What’s left? And now the task begins.
With this imformation, you are now ready to take control of your financial health. Although your particular situation is unique, the general outline above is a good first step in clarifying your current position. This is a lot of work. But, if you are serious about getting your financial house in order you will find this task exciting. It’s always better to have a name for an ailment. Why? Because then you know what to do about it. After this exercise you will know what to do in order to remediate or enhance your current situation.
I know what you are thinking…this does not feel fabulous. But it is. After you go through your assets and liabilities, and come up with a plan of how to reconcile the two, think of the relief you will experience. My friend, that relief is fabulous. Being in control is fabulous. Taking responsibility one task at a time is fabulous. It empowers you. Not wishing your debt away is the first step to controlling it. Making the decision to save more money than you spend is empowering and that equals fabulous. Planning and saving for your retirement equals fabulous.
Next time I will share with you the result of my financial housekeeping adventure and how this experience has made me calmer, happier, and able to enjoy the summer with a vengeance. I am also using some of the strategies from the entry titled Sing A Song and they help me to have fun inexpensively.
Don’t be afraid to get into the driver’s seat and take control of your financial life. Complete the task for this week and if you need extra help with it, check out this website which will give you access to a number of calculators. Until next time!
Thought for the day: Take time to figure out what you find most satisfying-Karen Levine
Posted by Pea

