Written by: Corey Jahnke, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I walked into the local coffee shop the other day and noticed my friend Sarah sitting with her laptop, a stack of bills, and a look of devastating fear on her face. When I asked her how she was doing, she said:
“I just don’t understand it. We make really good money and yet we are always struggling. Always! Now with inflation and rising gas prices, I’m really scared we are not going to be able to cover it all. Worse yet, I don’t even know where to start to turn things around.”
I nodded and tried to comfort her.
A few years ago, I felt the exact same way. Every paycheck was spent before I even got it, and our family was going deeper and deeper into debt every single month. It felt hopeless. Then, out of desperation, I agreed to let my wife make an appointment with a financial planner who helped me to understand WHY we were where we were, and worked with us to create a plan to reverse our debts and stop living paycheck to paycheck.
As a result of implementing what she taught us, reading a dozen or so books on how to manage your own money, and learning how to leverage everything we had to work with, 3 years later our credits cards are gone and our future feels much brighter.
Like Sarah, I think the most upsetting part of our struggle was that we didn’t understand what had happened to our money, and we had no idea of how to make our way out of the mess we had created for ourselves. Ever since we paid off our consumer debts and began working towards a meaningful retirement, I have made it my mission to help others do the same.
The key word is HELP. No one can do it for you.
You have to realize that as a professional speaker, Larry Winget, so firmly says, “You are broke because you want to be.” In short, you are struggling because you haven’t formed a plan to not struggle. When Sarah mentioned that she didn’t know where to even start to turn things around, that really hit home with me. I asked if she wanted to talk about it, and she said she wasn’t sure. Today, she was just trying to keep her head above water.
Talking to a person when they are gripped in fear is rarely productive anyway, so I asked if I could have her email address and if it was okay to email her the 5-Step Checklist that we had used to pull our family out of the financial tarpits. She agreed, so after reviewing the notes I had taken throughout our journey I sent her a short email outlining the first five steps I thought she should take.
I told her that If she could do these 5 things, she could begin to build a strong financial future for her and her family.
I think if YOU started here, you would be surprised how much progress you could make in a pretty short time.
Make sure you have a list of everyone you owe, how much you owe them, and when the payments are due. It is painful to create, but gives you a sense of control knowing what you are up against
Log in to your checking/charge accounts every day and question every deduction. Are there things you don’t recognize? Didn’t want to renew? Didn’t know you were renewing? Call to reverse them out and cancel them as they occur unless you really want/need them. Ex. We had 2 Amazon Prime accounts and a car wash subscription we didn’t realize we had. Make sure you know exactly where you are every single day.
Make a list of all of your assets. This is anything you can use to help you create leverage in your financial situation. Savings, coins, time, energy, skills, things you can do that you have currently been paying for. Commitments that can be reversed out/canceled. Ask yourself, what can we sell? Where can we find money that we didn’t know we had?
Have a meeting with your spouse and children. Discuss your realities and take suggestions. Work together to create a deeper understanding. BE HONEST and educate, share, explore concerns and possibilities. Create a family vision board. WORK TOGETHER.
Establish a realistic budget using cash only and make sure everyone gets something and gives up something. Explore compromises that will reduce spending but ease tensions. Look for ways you are nickel and diming yourself to death.
Obviously, each point is an article within itself, and I will explore them all in my next several articles, but I would encourage you to commit to making a few changes to the way you approach your money and see if you don’t feel stronger inside and sleep a little better knowing that you are in charge of your own life and not at the mercy of the banks and bill collectors.
Keep in mind, that ALL 5 steps have one very important thing in common. They are all things YOU can do that will help you regain control over what is going on in your own financial life. Once you start taking action, you will want to take further action and your financial life will be better because of it. If there is anything my own financial struggles have taught me, its that feeling out of control is fraught with anxiety and fear.
Taking charge is freeing. Give it a try!
Until next time,
Corey Jahnke
Corey Jahnke, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Over the course of his highly successful healthcare career, Corey Jahnke has gone from getting killed to killing it. If you've ever felt like you were stuck, drowning in the day-to-day firefighting and being micromanaged, Corey can relate to you. After 30 years in healthcare, he finally found his way out of the doldrums experienced by so many; now, Corey helps others get reengaged much faster than he did.
