What’s your WHY?

As you may know, I am on a mission to help parents and families that want to break the financial cycle they have been living in.

You know what I am talking about. So many of us are living paycheck to paycheck, and far too many aren’t even making it to that next paycheck.

We’ve all likely been through that situation at the grocery store, where they swipe your debit card and thought, “Oh G-d, please let this go through.”

I can almost guarantee at some point not all that long ago, you got a bill in the mail, and though “Oh, they’re gonna have to wait on that one.”

Am I the only one? We’ve all been there. I don’t think there is any shame in that, because when were we supposed to learn how NOT to find ourselves in that situation?

Did someone ever tell you how to keep your finances in order? As a child I wasn’t taught:

this is how you budget,

And this is how you invest.

And this is how you prepare for your financial future.

I did have a teacher that sat me down and talked to me about needing to make more money, and about some ways to save money, but that was when I was already married.

Actually, I have this type of conversation with people frequently, to help get them to realize they need to change their spending patterns and focus on a healthy financial life.

As a child, there were no set by step guides for how to be successful financially.

When I was 12 years old, my father passed away. He was 42 years old. My father had recently started a business, so he cashed out the life insurance plan he had, and took the cash value and put it into the business. Things would have been great had he lived a few more years, but that’s not what happened.

He left my mother with two children, ages 12 and almost 2 years old. My mother hustled so hard to give my sister and me a good life. She still works hard.

My parents both showed me what a solid work ethic is, but no one, at any point in my life sat me down to discuss how to keep and grow my money, or avoid financial mistakes.

I would imagine that a solid majority of us also lack that education. Can you blame those that came before you? No, because more than likely no one taught them about money either.

We were taught to go to school, get a good job, provide for our families. Then the advertisers came and and said hey, you work hard, you make good money.You deserve the best! You should spend your money on this. Then they sweetened the deal and said hey, we’ll put together a payment plan that works for you. Pretty sweet. Now we are riding around in a big fancy car, driving to our big fancy house. Life is great. All we have to do is keep making those payments.

Life feels great because we tell ourselves we’ve earned it. What will be tomorrow? I don’t know, but as long as I keep making those payments, it will all be good. At least it feels that way, until it’s not all good. In my family we lost a parent. After such a loss, the last thing the next of kin want to deal with is making payments.

What happens if you lose your job, or if one of your elderly parents get sick and you need to stop working? What happens when you realize your kid’s college is way more expensive than you thought, and the first year of school keeps inching closer. Well, you could cash in that 401k that was supposed to help you get through retirement. You might pass that college hurdle, but retirement lasts a lot longer than 4 years. What then? That fancy car with its monthly payments isn’t so fancy anymore, and it won’t be of any help to you.

I know for a fact that we can break this cycle. We don’t need to live this way. What would happen to our fancy things? The lifestyle might not even need to change all that much. That’s where I come in. With a few drops of knowledge, I will teach you to be financially savvy.

We just need to learn how to operate in a way that doesn’t get us into financial trouble. We can live a life with a financial safety net. Your car comes with a seatbelt to keep you safe. I can teach you to have your money act as a seatbelt to protect you and your family. It will be a fun journey. I hope to make you laugh, and not cry too much. I can promise you that every drop of effort that you put into this will be worth it. You will be able to not only take control of your own financial ship, but you will also be in a position to sit down with your children, and teach them to be financially savvy.

What’s you WHY? What is the reason that you know you want to improve your financial life? What is going to motivate you and keep you going?

I know my why. My why is because I lost my father. I know how hard that can be on a family. I am working hard to leave my family with a safety net. Hopefully I live a really long time, and they never need it, but we never really know.

For yourself, you need to think of your why. What is it that could motivate you to make some changes and get on the path towards having a healthy relationship with money? Think about all of the troubles you have had, trying to figure out how you will pay that bill, or how you could afford this or that. Or even the joy of getting a call from bill collectors. Who doesn’t love that, right?

Imagine for a moment if your kid never had to go through any of that anguish, because YOU taught them the skills to successfully navigate the financial seas. You could free them of all that pain and worry. Wouldn’t that be the gift of a lifetime?

What’s your why? You might not even know what it is right now. You can feel probably feel it, even if you can’t verbalize it.

Maybe you want to travel. Maybe you just want to live by your own rules. Maybe you just want to prove to your in-laws that you are good enough. Whatever it is, it’s a good reason. It’s your reason. It’s your why.

If your why is strong enough, because deep down inside it is the thing motivating you to succeed, it will help you get through some tough times. The journey isn’t easy, and there are sacrifices along the way, so knowing your why will get you through those rough patches.

Sometimes I want to put things off, but like my father, I don’t know if there is tomorrow. It sounds sad, but honestly, it was one of the best things that could happen to me, because now, I actively focus on taking care of my family and making sure they will be fine with or without me. That’s my why.

We all need a financially savvy parent. I am happy to be yours. If no one ever sat you down to the talk about money, consider this your invitation. I hope you take me up on my offer. You can join me here on the website, on the podcast, or you can check me out on youtube, whatever works best for you.