As a teenager or college student, unless you were lucky to have really awesome mentorship, pursuing financial empowerment can skip your mind from a fixed mindset of living in the moment financially to a growth mindset needed to practice delayed gratification for long term wealth growth. Caring for yourself deeply could have the positive effect of also caring for your future which in turn further promotes our need to practice discipline. It doesn’t hurt to be known as the smartest one out in the group now, does it?
There are various ways to financially care for yourself such that you can practice, help you save money and grow wealth at your desired pace long term and ultimately cause you to have financial empowerment. You start early, invest more, save more and learn to budget.
Overview
- Pay with cash and use the credit system for credit building.
- Start an emergency fund (even if it’s a small one).
- Pay yourself first to allow practice compounding.
- Educate yourself on personal finance.
- Track your income and expenses like the Jedi Ninja!
- Begin having a passive income stream for financial empowerment.
When we talk about financial empowerment self-care practices, it goes without saying that saving money comes first to mind. But, with the rising inflation rates, your savings account is never going to grow on its own to sufficient amounts to actually empower you. Therefore, you need to take it as your responsibility, practice financial self-care, do the work and make some uncomfortable but important decisions.
So, while saving money in a traditional savings account alone won’t grow your finances massively, noting some of these financial self-care tips may get the ball rolling on some ideas to invest and generate wealth. In this blog, you will learn about some key practices for financial empowerment and building wealth with financial self care. So common, let’s dive in!!
Use the credit system to only build credit.
Coming from the middle class, all I ever heard was “work hard and don’t get in debt”. Hence, I grew up terrified of debt and credit cards or loans. While some of that advice was good advice- that is, having the effect of learning to live within my means from a young age, it was easier to also practice discipline back then because access to shiny unhelpful products was not available so easily through technology. Emotional shopping is now a thing and causing a lot of debt. People feel lonely and buy those shoes hoping that these shoes would be “the thing” that causes them to feel better temporarily. This is very bad for your financial empowerment.
Apparently people now have more relationships with their Amazon delivery person than we do in our real life. This is an expensive relationship to have because while there is absolutely nothing wrong with online shopping especially because it is so convenient, the thought and addiction of online shopping to gain some form of connection causing most people to live outside their means and resulting in the use of credit cards that have high interest rates. This is just too expensive long term for anyone!
Having said that, a good question that I have found to help me differentiate between my need and want in online shopping is: Will this product or service I am buying improve my life in the long term or add no value? Or will I enjoy it and earn money from it later?
As a finance enthusiast, this question has helped to balance the difference between my needs and my wants, which helps you build “assets” from “glittered unnecessary expenses”. I recommend you do so because there is peace of mind that comes with having financial stability.
So what do I pay with my credit cards? Credit cards are there to make money off your debt through higher interest rates and if not managed properly, could damage your potential to grow your money by adding flags on your credit history. Your credit card is not an emergency fund. Your emergency fund is your savings which you set aside as an actual “emergency fund”. So, you should only pay small recurring bills that do not exceed 30% of your total credit limit using your credit card.
This is the ideal utilization rate. However, if you are like me that you prefer to not push boundaries because 30% could become 40% next month, then stick with an even lower utilization such as 20% so you have the window to stretch your 20% to 30% and still have peace of mind that you are good. Adulthood involves a lot of tracking, which I’ll discuss more on below, so any system that I can set to make my life more enjoyable by not spending time that I could be spending outside, living life or spending time with our kids “tracking” expenses is wonderful.
Start saving towards an Emergency Fund NOW!
Suppose you come across some extra money from a bonus at work or the IRS refunds you some tax money – what do you do with it? Take a girls or boys trip? Party and booze? Or save it all? Or invest some in it in some mindful resource? Learn some online skills? Or go on an online shopping spree? This is a huge step towards financial empowerment.
These are a few things which you could be doing or not. But, hey–hear me out. Before blowing up with all that extra money, take a moment to think of how safe and fluffy you’d feel knowing you have something tucked away for a rainy day, the mental relief of knowing you have some “security” and are confident with your money. I know, I know, we’ve all heard it – life is too short right? Wait though, what if your life is by any chance one of the very long ones 🙂 Do you plan to live paycheck to paycheck forever? Or do you care about yourself to set both you and your next generation up for success?
Having an emergency fund not only gives you peace of mind that when any unplanned activity happens that you are covered, it is your own personal “insurance” for yourself. Practice this financial self-care tip and you will thank me later. Why? Because life is uncertain and some years from now, that small money would have grown to higher amounts reaching your emergency fund goals, which means you can actually begin investing with your emergency fund nicely tucked away as security for you. Financial experts say a good amount of emergency funds to feel empowered is 3 to 6 months living expenses. Don’t get discouraged though because you’d be surprised how much $$$ can grow with some consistency from your part. Transfer that baby and forget!
Pay yourself first to allow compounding.
Yes, we are really stretching that paycheck here. We are asking you to love yourself enough to pay yourself first! When I first learned about the concept of paying yourself first through one of my favorite investment books “The richest man of Babylon”, I was mind blown because this was after 5 years of running a successful business where I paid everyone else but myself.
I somehow had the impression that the Founder “pays the price” for a better reward in the future so even though I could assign myself a salary, I really wanted to “pay my price”. How fu**ing “wise” right? No. Not wise. To me, paying yourself first is saying- hey, I see that I am working these grave night shifts to pay everyone else- my electricity company, my children, my staff, my internet company, my church, but who majorly contributed to the work? Me.
I deserve something too- and that thing does not have to be called a name. I am enough and love myself enough to simply set some aside for me. We don’t need to give it a name or ask for permission to take out of what we worked for. But if you are a people pleaser and still are not there yet in your self-love game then give your fund a name- some good names are “My I love Me Fund”, “My Future”, “My [add your name] Fund”, “My Pay Me Too Fund”. Whatever you call it to make you feel better, as long as you practice it consistently.
And better still, if I put this money in safe investments, I find that it grows. This is compounding. And what’s better is, we never have to touch the interests this fund is generating because the interest can be invested too. And again, so we are overwhelmed with tracking this and that, automate that baby and forget it!
Educate yourself on personal finance.
We are not a financial expert but we have certainly been under the pressure of money or should I say, lack of money. Not having money or financial empowerment could lead to you having to ask a friend for gas money to even get on the road. It is embarrassing. It causes your self confidence to be chipped at. You may find yourself asking- what is wrong with me? Why can I not figure this out like everyone else?
I have a little secret. They are not smarter than you. They were just lucky to have people in their lives that taught them the basic skills of managing personal finances early on- whether a parent or mentor or maybe even a book. You are not dumb or weak for not having figured this out yet because this is not taught in schools. Why? Still blows my mind…
But now you know, and this does not have to be your story anymore. It is our duty to get educated on personal finance and how do we do this? This is where technology has been amazing. You don’t need to pay a school thousands of $$$ to teach you, and even if you don’t have the connections or time to spend reading a book- It is all online for free. Get educated, correct your mistakes so you can live a happier life, passing on the lessons to your kids. Do the work so you can pull you and your next generation out of the mental stress of the debt cycle. Because debt and lack of money does not only affect just our pockets, it has a deeper belief of shame, confidence issues, low morale associated with it and that alone is enough reason to say- I never ever want to be in this position again. Let’s do the work!
Track your savings, income and expenses.
I have to say- this is my least favorite part because I hate tracking. I feel like as adults there is just so much tracking to do. We have to track his report, this person at work, and track our kids, and track our parents, and track our bills due dates, the least thing I feel like tracking is my savings too. So here is our only advice – Know thyself and set processes that help you.
This means if you like to track and it helps you feel in control, then please set up your excel spreadsheet and happy tracking! but for those on the other side of the pond who are exhausted from keep track of it all, here are 3 tips that may be helpful:
- Connect your bank account to apps that help you track automatically.
- Separate each fund into separate sub-accounts and transfer each allotted percentage to their account so you can gain an understanding of where your money is going every paycheck. Simply transfer and forget it.
- Track only fluctuating expenses. Observe yourself to know where you fall short every month and track only that. For example, if you know you always end up buying more groceries than you need, you simply divide your budget for groceries into two and shop every 2 weeks or the budget into 4 and shop every week. Here, you are not tracking every normal recurring expenses but only fluctuating expenses and you’ve set a system for making sure you don’t fall behind where it matters.
Begin having a passive income for financial empowerment.
I can’t stress this enough. We all have that one skill that we love or feels comfortable or feels easy (note, it must not be your passion!) to do when everyone else finds it hard. For me, its business. I love generating ideas and testing ideas and the thrill of seeing something be formed from my head to paper and to reality. Everyone has that one thing. It could be writing or talking or sleeping or walking or dancing. And if you say- I have nothing. Then, maybe you practice more self awareness. A great book on this is Eckhart “The Power of Now” but we talk about mindfulness here too. And once you have clarity on one thing that you’d like to explore…why not share with the world in a way that helps you generate passive income.
Passive income means that you can make money while you sleep. Any idea that means you have to still always be present and available to make money is not passive income. The reason why his form of income is so important is there is only one of each of us but many ways to make money. Our time is limited so any way in which we can make money without being physically present, will keep generating more even in our absence. This is gold! This is financial empowerment!
Tip: The sooner you can figure out what your skills are and utilize them in a way to earn money, the better and sweeter and calmer your life will be, you will experience financial wellness and this is one of the ultimate ways to give yourself financial empowerment!
Final Thoughts
Again, you don’t need a master’s in economics or finance to have financial empowerment. You don’t need a perfect Jedi Ninja on personal finance to talk you through these financial empowerment self care practices. You only need curiosity and a bit of pain from having lacked money to buy an essential need to fire up your butt. Personal finance like selfcare is personal. Only you can decide what your financial needs and wants are. Only you can decide what financial steps are comfortable for you right now. However, as long as you are stepping and taking one step at a time, engraving these selfcare practices we mentioned above for your financial well-being and don’t forget them, we’d be more than fine.
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