Are you “There” with your family- The biggest thing you can do financially to be “There”
Investment Retirement Funding InsightsHow much time do you spend with your family?
And, when you are with your family, are you actually “there?”
There are many stresses in our life that can cause us to not truly be present when we are with family. A very common stress is money. This stress can come from the lack of it, to what do I do with it, and how do I keep it?
What’s the answer? AWARENESS
In my 14 years of helping people with their financial decisions, the more aware people are, the less stress they actually have.
Here’s what I mean:
#1 Awareness of what you currently look like financially
This is the first step and often the scariest. We don’t want to know what we look like because we fear what that picture may present us. It’s kind of like when you had that final exam you knew was coming up but just didn’t want to deal with it until you absolutely had to.
The issue is, money doesn’t have a quick feedback loop. You may not know you made a mistake until it’s too late.
#2 Awareness of what you are currently doing with your money and why
Many people are just blindly saving money in spots and don’t truly understand the purpose. They just read something online, it sounded good and they did it. Which frankly, is better than nothing but can still cause some stress because you don’t know the end result or the true purpose.
The more purposeful we are, the more confident we are.
#3 Awareness that your goals and family are protected if crap hits the fan.
The media plays a big part in our emotions. And what do the media normally talk about? Negative events or positive events? They get in our heads and we stress over what they are pushing.
Even if you “plan” for what the media is talking about, there are many other (probably more realistic) threats to your goals and family that you should be addressing.
It’s what you don’t predict to happen or maybe an overreliance of one part of your plan that causes your entire financial picture to get bleak. This is where someone you trust can call your blind spots so that if something bad does occur, you still get to live the life you are accustomed to.
In the end, the more you talk about money with your family and take action, the less stress you have which enables you to be present with your family. And that’s what we want, isn’t it?
