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Spending Smarter Plans (Budgets)

Lesson 8 from: Personal Finance for Artists & Freelancers

Galia Gichon

Spending Smarter Plans (Budgets)

Lesson 8 from: Personal Finance for Artists & Freelancers

Galia Gichon

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Lesson Info

8. Spending Smarter Plans (Budgets)

Lesson Info

Spending Smarter Plans (Budgets)

So what we're going to talk about what I want you to think about is there's four different ways to budget or spend smarter and I created this a few years ago when I started working with a lot of artists and freelancers and I saw not everybody was the same everyone's kind of different not every it's not like one size fits all not every shoe fits every person, and so I'm just going to go over these a little bit and realize that everyone is different and I would actually suggest trying all four but really one is going to probably work the best for you the weekly cash spending um out, we're going to really go into detail at the end and that's definitely the one that I like the best but I do all four of these so just to kind of give those is a big picture basis is the first is where did your money go the last three months? So we talked about that initially with meant it is hard for us to budget going forward unless we know really where money has gone because maybe there are habits that we r...

eally have to work hard on and one of a great great exercise that I like to do is what I call the rather exercise so this is where you asked yourself the non financial question as to what is important to you what's important to you guys like what do you love to d'oh d'oh um no no I love to love to do yoga yoga yeah and dance how about you what I love to do I love I love cocktails and I love going out to eat and I love travelling okay so then look it where your money's gone the last three months and stuff that wasn't yoga stuff that wasn't dancing stuff that wasn't cocktails let me see if I could get rid of so maybe you don't buy new shoes maybe you don't travels much maybe you don't to yoga I'm kidding he's like I could do that more importantly, look at where your money is gone so this is a rather exercise and I know that I had to do that for myself when I became my own freelancer so yeah when I worked in corporate america and I had a steady paycheck I could afford a lot more and I didn't spend I'd spend without thinking about it but I made a lot of money so I don't have to worry about it and then when I had male business and then a few years later had some kids I was like, oh, I really have to watch what I'm spending so what was important for me was traveling too and love to travel and also I lived in new york and I wanted to take advantage of culture because I thought, you know what? And I don't know if I'm always going to live here, and so for me, I really love spending money on shows like I just saw this amazing broadway show with daniel craig, so good I'm going to take my girls go see mamma mia or the holidays. I took him to see matilda and guess what? I want to sit in the first ten rows like if I'm going to go, I want to go sit and watch the show. I'd rather go twice a year and get good tickets, that's a hundred fifty dollars ticket I want to enjoy and I want to go out for dinner before so maybe that's five hundred or thousand dollars I've got to spend on that a few times a year, so I will spend on that, and what I won't do is I realize I'll spend money. I work in midtown when I work in new york or if I would don't work from home. I'm spending fifteen dollars on lunch, so I'm making the effort to not spend money on lunch and not go out for coffee because I'd rather spend money on the shows, so if you want to really take all the yoga classes and dance classes and that's three hundred dollars a month. Find that three hundred a month elsewhere, so I'm not telling you not to spend the money and I'm not telling you not to go out going out cost you three hundred dollars a week on cocktails find that three hundred money three hundred dollars, of money elsewhere so think a little bit about what do you love to do? This is that this isn't a money to exercise. This is how I want to live my life exercise so you know, over the chat room share some things that you would rather it's a great exercise I'd rather spend on shows than taxis like I just cannot spend money on a taxi it just kills me especially that I live in public transportation's city even here I've been in san francisco and I took part the other day I was like, wow, this is usually I can do it. Um so that's just a really great big picture way because and and I work with clients who make six figures, seven figures, because what your expenses on lee go up so making more money is not the answer because we've all made money, right? What do we do? We spend more before we used to shop at the gap, now we go to saks or, you know, before we, you know, used to eat it in subway now we go to the fancy restaurant, so I mean it's just you spend more when you make more so don't think will fight just make more that will be the answer because that's not the answer sure, I want you to make more in a ford more but it's also controlling your spending. So start by looking really where your money went the last few months and every time I do this exercise with the client, this is really the picture is what's amazing about this? Is that there's? No question that things come up that you see that you're like, I had no idea this is spelled wrong that I was spending this much on gifts, and so very often when I see that people are spending a lot of money on gifts, I'm like that's great that you're buying for others. But are you buying for yourself? And if someone doesn't understand that you can't spend a hundred dollars every time it's somebody's birthday, then they you know, maybe that's, not the friend or family you want to have around. Um so where did you get your money go last month's min dot com is the best tool if not just looking a bank statement, investment statement, credit card statement for the last three months and just put all that information together the next exercise which we're going to talk about in detail it's five places to plug so when you're going through this exercise find five places right away to cut back on the third one is putting twenty percent of your money into savings right off the bat and then the last one is creating a weekly cash potentially initially spending amount and this was probably the hardest but I actually think it's the most once we figure it out it's the easiest to dio are these complimentary to one another? Is that what you're saying? Okay, yeah absolutely so I was try all four but maybe only ones going toe work for you so absolutely try out for okay, so start by looking at where your money went the last three months you know, this is kind of a bear of an exercise it's not about fun, you know it's it's not that one but maybe you don't want to do it and that you do that in a month or two from now but just start by looking at where your money went and you know, it's never the numbers we want so it's always going to be less than we think or less money saved or that we're spending mohr so but I can these are your numbers own them it's recently where I was you know, realizing that I liked to take walks I live near uh, the ferry building, which is, like near the water in san francisco, and I always got caught into going teo, the coffee shop down there and picking up whatever, and I realized, like, I could actually take this with me, knowing that I'm coming back to my house, I'm just taking a walk, you know? So and I started to add that up, and I said, wow, I think I think I'm saving, like, one hundred dollars a week just by not going out and getting that and maybe something else. Oh, let me pick up this thing, teo, and, you know, it's like the target's in room? Yeah, you know, it's so funny that you say because it made me think of the story is that I had a client who realized that she was she was she had been recently divorced, and she was did always have her careful the weekend she had kids, her kids were always with her husband, her ex husband, and she lived in new york and on saturdays when she didn't have her kids, she would walk up and down broadway. Not enough, you know you're in new york city, especially uptown. Broadway's like it it's, an outdoor mall, it's an amazing so on saturday she would get up early should go get a cup of coffee, and then she'd walk up and down broadway, and she said herself that she was bored, but she kind of like did never can't you don't know what to do, and she spent so much money because you would just start going in the stores. I'm literally just looking at her spending this way. She realized just literally every other saturday that she didn't ever kids who's spending money on broadway so one of the things she did, as she said, or silicon, eager for my walks, but I'll go walk in central park or go walk on west end and it's like, why make it so hard for yourself? Like, if you know you're going to buy something in that store, don't walk by it, you know? So bring your coffee mug or don't walk to the very building you like I can actually just b b y o yeah e yeah e yeah, so this is what I like about this exercise is that especially if you're scared of your money and your fearful, fearful of your money, I'm not telling you to make changes right away, I'm saying, just look at where your money went because you will make your changes by looking at it but you're not walking in there saying okay, I guess she's going to tell me I got to start training or I've got to stop doing this and I'm not saying that I'm saying just look because right away you're going to see what's not important to you my sister in law recently did this exercise and she got rid of her landline and its opening I think this is just like a generational thing because how many of you have a landline here? Oh you dook I do too, but nobody else does go landmines no, I think it is like an age thing I don't know if it's just that you're moving a lot but I still like talking on a landline I think it's better you don't like I haven't used it I don't think I've used it in a year really we should get rid of that thing I know I don't even act like in a way I just got you fifty so you're landline or anyway or do your clothing like do you really need clothing or did you yes you d'oh alright, do you really need food? Yes ugo enter dave in transportation so again, just doing this one time exercise looking where your money went could just be a rely upon her and its old school I mean I wish I could give you the technology app and yes mint dot com works but at the end of the day it's it's a very basic bare bones exercise it strikes me that when you start to think about this that where you do actually spend you get to enjoy it a little more heat I mean you know because if you're doing stef unconsciously and then you start to draw kind of focus to it that you just sort of feel better about you know your spending you're saying things and the food tastes better right? That's my point is spend consciously like I'm not telling you not to go out and spend the money I'm just saying spend it on what you want to spend like do you remember when a cappuccino used to be a big deal? You know the lot, eh? I mean it's david bach coined the lot a fox to factor a long time ago and it's it's I mean it's got married to it I'm not saying if you don't drink lottie's you'll save money which is a little bit what he said but the cappuccinos should be a treat or if you really want the lot everyday great but then skip something else so if the coffee makes you happy to buy it and find money somewhere else but you realize why I don't need it then obviously you should change him frothy tea drinks for me like that since your waist like two tea bags and some hot water like you know yeah I agree I agree but again it's what's important to you or someone else that might be something that's worth spending their money on right and so that's where this is a personal decision I can't tell you what to spend your money on sorry just one of the things about the planet and I think about two super earlier it's like one of things that I do do use min dot com but one of things I always a problem with his cash because I don't know what I how much I've spent on that coffee for example because right? So any suggestions for that? Yeah, we're sort of jumping ahead but let's jump ahead this is fun so the idea is that say no I will use you as an example here so in the weekly cash say you know that your fixed expenses air three thousand and on average last year you made five thousand dollars a month so it's not that you make it every month but maybe make five thousand months so that's sixty thousand a year so you're left with two thousand dollars and you say five hundred and again I'll give you more examples later so now you're fifteen hundred left on a weekly basis so four into fifteen is I don't know about four hundred something a little over four it's a little less than four hundred this's where my math on the spot is a little bit difficult. So now you have four hundred dollars a week to spend on food, entertainment, cocktails, yoga, clothing take out that cash on monday, spend it till next monday. I don't care what you spend it on. Have fun with it, you're done, you're home, you're calling your friends over on your cell phone thing. Come on over and if you want to use a credit card, what I like to do it's really old schools, I put a little post it on my credit card and I write four hundred so I don't use cash and every time I used my credit card that week when it hits four hundred, I'm done. And so when the credit card bill comes in it's sixteen hundred or fifteen hundred, no surprises, I still get my miles. We'll talk a lot more about this, but go to count, you know? So your willpower is you go to the mme once on monday and you use whatever it is for the weak. I really have fun with it get it a male manicure, whatever do you want todo a go to cut up for cocktails? You know and what I like about it is like, I'll have some weeks where I you know, I've got my four hundred for the week and minds a little bit more because I do have a family of four and I've got groceries and such, but I have a weekly amount that some weeks I think okay, we have nothing going on we don't have any plans to go out for dinner, I'm not getting my hair done the kids don't need haircuts the kids don't need new shoes, I'm going to buy those black boots I wanted and buy them with conscious and not feel guilty about it and wear them because they're beautiful on the next week when the kids do need new snow boots and I do have to go to costco and buy me too, and I need a haircut I'm not getting lottie's I'm not going to the coffee shop, I'm not going to whole foods because the kids need new shoes. It was my mom's birthday and I had to buy meat at costco, but if I spend this that I'm saving this and I'm paying my fixed expenses so obviously this is variable, I get it, but someone's you have five thousand someone's you don't, but you're always spending the same so this number you have to figure out based on what you did past history so this is where you have to look at what you do the last twelve months and averaged out. And so, while maybe someone's, you make seven thousand and someone to make four thousand, but you have to come up the average and then we can adjust these numbers accordingly. So if this five thousand is three thousand, then you know, you gotta get your fixed expenses at two thousand, you know, we'll change that, and then maybe you live on one hundred a week and we will play around more with the numbers but have a weekly amount that you love on have fun with it, really? But what? Everyone, by the way, a manicure for a man is still called a manicure, a man eyes not held a woman in here. Now I like. So we're gonna focus on before we get into sort of like this weekly amount is we're going to talk a little bit about changing some of these fixed expenses and looking over money when so we kind of jumped the gun, but I think it's, good to think about that. So this exercise is finding five places to plug, so this is like a spring cleaning, I'm just such a big fan of spring cleaning. So the idea is that this is where you look at, where your money went and say let me find five places that I can come back and if you can find five places that each saves you twenty dollars that's one hundred dollars a month and I do this twice a year and it is painless so I'm not saying cut our plug things that you love but cutter plug things that don't matter as much and so I'll go into detail on what you want to think about on the big picture basis is if you can find a few places for twenty dollars and ten years you have eighteen thousand dollars so do all of you have an extra twenty dollars, four hundred? Yes to all of you have an extra eighteen thousand no but you have this and this turns into that that's the power it's really powerful let's find those five places newspaper delivery again this is looking where your money went is that for example? You know, I realized we weren't reading the new york times anymore. Let's get on our ipad half the cost saves the phone get rid of the landline checker utilities the bill cutter you know, for us we switched from oh god natural gas to propane too I can't remember but we switch something like way did some research there late fees do you know how much late fees are thirty nine dollars every time you pay something laid again? What this is such a silly little costs that we don't need to spend cable internet netflix man, this moving is changing I mean, god, I see so many people that just are paying less and less for their cable, their internet, their tv watching between lulu and netflix, I cannot even keep track of it, but that's the point? Do a check up on this twice a year. You can save so much money on your cable bill in your netflix like, how do you watch tv anymore? So think about that, and it does change there's so much that you could watch free or just pay a nominal fee for so that could be a really great way to reduce your bills. They're eating out again where you eating out like especially in new york? I saw that, and I see that and sort of like the metro communities that I work with is that very often we eat out for convenience because we're working late. We don't plan, but you're not eating out because it's a social occasion, you want to meet with some friends and you won't enjoy it. So it's not my place to tell you and if you're like you know what? I don't want to have to deal with cooking or planning it all fine but then you got to take the money from somewhere else but if you really stop and say I'm eating out because I'm just you know maybe sunday I should buy like ten frozen meals or prepared meals or maybe it's cheaper if I stop home on the deli on my way home in the deli instead of calling for take out or maybe if I just you know cook two hours on sunday I don't have to eat out so why are you eating out because this could be a huge huge money saver you're jim's did you switch jim likes for example, had a lot of clients that were, you know, paying for a yoga gym and then paying for spitting jim like, you know what? Maybe join a gym gym that you love that you can find one and you think it's expensive but actually you're going to save somebody there vacation maybe do staycations or driving vacations or camping vacations or again there's so many different things not telling you what to do fixed expenses these are harder to change but you can change them absolutely you could move apartments you in new york, you pay for a garage, maybe you're paying for long care if you live in a suburb look at your fixed expenses, say, what can I cut back? Medical expenses is a big thing. I mean, I'm not an expert in obamacare yet, but maybe there's something you can do with your insurance, increase your insurance deductibles, toe lower your premiums. So this is a big thing that if you feel that your you don't need a lot of medical care, they beacon lower your premiums and we're going to talk about insurance and medical insurance a lot. That's a big thing for freelancers, pet care, like, you know you have a pet, no judgment, they're wonderful, but are you paying someone to walk it? Are you paying for insurance you don't need with the patter you paying for premium pet food? If that's really important to you and you do want to change that, then find something to cut here. So find these five places to cut, so if you've got some places, let me know. You know, uh, let us know in the chat rooms or just any ideas or anything like that, let us know beauty treatments on there. I have a favorite spot that's near my house, and I realized that they run specials every, like, three to six months, and I started buying things in a package. And I was getting like lots of services for free or saving up tio like several hundred dollars by buying something in bulk right that's such a great suggestion yes so that was kind of a way where I was like wow like I you know they need the money I guess there's a business owner they you know they they need the cash up front I need cash yes you are and so you know to say beauty treatment because I do work with a lot of women and so what I found is that a lot of women who just got in the habit of getting a manicure every week getting their hair done every week and so I'm not saying don't do it but I'm saying maybe do it every other week or do it every three weeks or if you really you know most people say no why am I doing it every week it was just to have it on friday got a manicure well, you know on the off we do yourself that's ten fifteen dollars a week you've saved right there that's twenty five dollars a month if you can find a few more places in terms of the facials you know I've got a funny story because that's that's sort of my weakness like I'll do everything budget but I love my facial and when I have the extra money and so I found this place in new york he's like ten russian women you're in one room but it was fifty dollars for a facial which is a third of the cost of what I usually spent it's amazing so I sort of had to get over my humility of being in a room with like ten other women but he was amazing and I thought, you know what? This is a priority for me I want to get a facial every whatever month two months, three months and but I want to spend the money for it so let me find a cheaper I also another client who sometimes if you get a manicure on monday, tuesday or wednesday it's like twenty five or thirty percent off so just fighting your five places I mean it could be for you know they're these air the women things and not everybody does this kala gator thirty says I would rather go to concerts than spend a bunch on going out to dinner and jenna poole says I'd rather improve my health and try to look better you have a perilous says she stopped cutting her hair she never gets a manicure she stopped all the other staff the eyebrows etcetera facials year but she hanging with the massage great I mean we all over things that this is the point of it it's like I am not going to judge you and say you should stay home and eat spaghetti every night so but I love that everyone has different priorities, but the point is make the priority because as you realize and I guarantee you when you start to make more money with this course because you will when you started to control your money, you will make more because you'll be so more motivated. So when you start to make more money, don't think, okay, I'm making more. Let me spend more because I have a wonderful story of this client lovely woman makes seven figures she's one of the top not the ceo, but she's like a ceo of a large large corporation in new york. Wonderful woman I'm just so impressed with her seven figures and thinking why is she calling me? She did not have a cent to show for it. She had the house in the hamptons, the apartment in new york. She had two nannies because she worked so much bless her, she had a staff. She had a house boy. She eh? It was mind blowing. So yes, she was earning seven figures, but did not have a penny to show for it. She had just kept spending more and more so. The answer is not let me make mohr, so I can't afford this because you will make more, but you also have to make priorities any more from the chat room that I'd love to hear about bringing actually a lot of people right now if I could so I'm sending you the budget figures okay? It will be so so we thinking that we'll take those budget figures this afternoon yeah it we'll do it after the break absolutely m b twenty three says I'm so glad that she's not like you have to be a hermit and not enjoy life into everything off no no no no no no no I mean that's a lot I'm not going to tell you to stay home and eat ramen noodles even though my daughter's lover on the noodles and I don't want buying them they're not probably the healthiest sure achieved that they love um oh gosh no that that's the last thing I do I mean think about how hard we work we want to live our life, we want to enjoy it absolutely I'm just saying just make those choices yeah like eating out is not a big deal for me. I really it's funny my I went to a really fancy restaurant last night in san francisco just because I'd heard about it and I was kind of like really wasn't worth it, you know it's a funny thing because we about three years intimating here was the middle of the recession would saturday new business and things were flat lining and we really liked going out, but we decided we couldn't anymore, but he also didn't know that many people, so we started having barbecues, all the stuff that's just way would have the alcohol and ozzy sausages whenever I brought them back from australia and then all our night instead of bringing stuff, and now we have this regular thing, we have all these people that turn up and it's actually went off on the can from that sort of type austerity thing can come some really cool interactions with storm, so and I think to its what I found living in new york is that we did eat out a lot and it kind of became not a big deal after a while, so we realized this isn't where we wanted our money to go, and it wasn't as important to us. Now when we go out and really focus on, I want to go to this restaurant, we go out kind of like for birthdays or something special happens to us, and other than that, I mean, really my biggest thing is if I don't feel like cooking, I might bring in food and that's just like, is a working mom, that something that really helps me out. But on the whole, I mean, I just I spend a lot of time focusing on what our meals are so we can go to concerts. I can't take my kids to mathilda, I can go see broadway shows absolutely that's alvin ailey, I love alvin ailey, the dance show not to promote that and it's only there for two weeks in new york and again, I want to sit in those first ten rows and watch those dancers don't have to think twice about, and I would have to pay for a car service home and it's going to be a fortune. But that's, what I'm going to do and I'm not going to eat out for two weeks before that so I could do it that's how our family feels about cirque du soleil way just we just went on and, you know, I mean it's those it's, those experiences to that that your kids will remember that you will remember it's, not all those mindless nights out, right? Right at another trendy restaurant, you know, maybe that is important to you, so I'm not judging that I just know for us it wasn't a big deal and, you know, there was a really great study a few years ago that's that experiences were much more satisfying than buying products and goods you know how many pairs of black pants do you need? I've got a few minutes, but really, like, how many possessions do you need versus actually spending money on an experience? And a moment actually meant a lot more, and this was like an american express study or I don't remember the details, but I thought, you know, that makes so much more sense to me, so this is part of my whole philosophy of make it as easy as possible for yourself, like don't make money so hard, so one of the things that I would suggest is you get paid this's gonna not come out so great, but but it's kind of getting into that habit of just taking money away right away so you get paid, you get a check for whatever you get a check for a thousand dollars before you do anything, and I'll talk more about the details later either today or tomorrow, but you got to take some money away for taxes, but before you do anything after that, just take twenty percent and put into a separate account or texas or time now twenty percent after taxes, you always gonna be taxes first, um take twenty percent put into a separate account and maybe you'll need it, but it's a little bit like out of sight, adam on you can't touch it and then what do you do with it in a few months? Maybe you've built him some savings you put some in a rainy day you put someone in ira put some you know tio vacation and I have a client who do that with fifty percent she did make a lot of money, but she didn't always and she was self employed some one year she made thirty thousand extra she made three hundred thousand and sometimes she had to go into that fifty percent pot you know, when I got so much backlash, I wrote an article about this for some sights that I write for and I got a lot of backlash like, well, I can't do that I can't do that I'm like I know not everyone can do that, but if you can, why not? And why not start to do it? And maybe you do five percent maybe you do ten percent why not shoot for twenty percent? And if you see it doesn't work, then great take that money back from savings to live on but make it a little bit harder to get to put it away. You are taking care of yourself, you're not hurting yourself, you're not limiting yourself like don't think of this is this I'm taking the ruler and tasking you, I'm actually helping you by suggesting this so here's some of your food groups put it in the chocolate I don't that's why I like this because I love chocolate my mother is belgian so I just grew up like you know it was like here's your bottle here's chocolate eso take twenty percent put it into a separate savings account we're going to talk about the savings accounts tomorrow but I would start with an online savings account that's just a little bit harder to get to put it in your bank so your homework so over the break try one of the different spending plans so obviously we didn't get into the fourth one because that's the one is we started to get into a little bit which is a little more extensive so in this case like I said, you got your thousand dollars check you take twenty percent so you have somebody that's going to taxes maybe to hundreds of taxes you're left with eight hundred so you take twenty percent which is one hundred sixty ready way to the savings account and then you live on this eight hundred and if you can't live in the one hundred then take ten percent take five percent don't worry about this number focus on let me do something because again what I'm going to see if I if I if you don't do this, what I see is my client who worked for herself for eight years and didn't do this on was pretty pissed that she didn't save money and she didn't pay yourself for a year she was australian too. By the way, remember that over the break she this wonderful catering business with your sister. So try a different spending plan. The first is, let me just look at where my money went for the last three months and be like I had no idea I was spending in this on then part of that is your rather exercise I'd rather spend on this in this the memory and maybe the products are grief for you and by the way, the rather's khun change maybe you really want to focus on decorating your house this year and buying new furniture, and so you're not going to go out because you want to buy a new couch or you want to buy some vases or curtains or whatever. Um, the second exercise is fine five places to plug, so look at some of your habits and say, can I do these less often? Can I get rid of these? Are there some fixed expenses? Are there utilities that I can change? Is there something there that I can work with? And if it's not five grade, remember five places, twenty dollars each that's, one hundred dollars a month that's eighteen thousand dollars in a very short period of time and the last is just take a percentage out so I do that like I have a certain dollar amount automatically saved to savings account every month yeah if I'm feeling a little bit of a famine period in my work I might reduce the amount I really try not to get rid of it because it's hard to restart it maybe it's twenty five dollars a month automatically but when I get paid and I'll talk about that with habits but first of all just start thinking about I've got to pay my bills once a week I really have to examine my money once a week and in the end I'll talk about how to do it in just thirty minutes but start putting that into your weekly routine and what you'll find is it really only takes about fifteen minutes a half an hour it's kind of like the thirty second snap shot the first time you do it it's three hours but then after a while it really takes thirty seconds so if you think about that you can kind of deal with your personal finances on a weekly basis so for that week look at what money came in for that week especially is a freelancer that it does change say what money came in this week? What expense can I reduce? What can I have just automatically take and put into savings so much golden advice my head is watch it and I was spending in a very positive and more relaxed way than it was spinning first thing this morning talking about finance it's incredible I mean the thing on credit schools I mean I had no idea that if you had more credit but you simply weren't using it it was a good idea to apply for cards and then leave them untouched such straight up advice you know it's incredible couples make sure you're both authorized users on the card I mean again it's something so simple and obvious something that I would never in fact I'm going home to check on that right now not quite yet you know you coulda current incredible is incredible and then and then the way that you said with the rather exercise it sort of makes cutting feel like a positive thing because you're starting with the thing you love and then just working out how to make those others coming on it's just such an accessible way right and especially for those of you that might have children out there like think about the lessons you're teaching your kids you know my my husband I talk about that like we you know we've had some years that we do really well and you know to some extent like our kids are getting like we think a better life than we got just financially and but how are we teaching them that lesson like just giving them everything like if we just if we have a great year and we could afford every vacation and shop at whole foods and buy them, you know, the latest of whatever stores and mode and the latest ipod. Like, what kind of message is that? And so the rather exercise for me, prioritizing, like they see me bringing my lunch to work. You know, they see us not eating out, and it would be so much easier to just go out to eat. And I'm like, yeah, but by thunder box for four of us, I don't want to spend that. Yeah, yeah, so that to me, is a great message to our kids, too.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Day 1 Presentation
Day 2 Presentation
Day 3 Presentation
Monthly Spending Plan Worksheet
Weekly Spending Plan
Budget Worksheet
Emotional Side of Money Checklist
Mutual Fund Checklist
Personal Finance Checklist
Retirement Planning worksheet

Ratings and Reviews

Kieu Truong
 

I love how approachable and welcoming and easy to understand this course has make financial terms and situation sounds. I love Galia and she makes I really feel calm and comfortable learning from her. Great!

Danielle Allen
 

This class was an eye-opener for me. I love the way Galia makes you feel comfortable thinking about as well as talking about your financial picture. I also appreciated her many examples and actionable steps for planning.

Shannon Borg
 

Galia is AWESOME! I love how down-to-earth she is (hence the name of her business!). I learned so much, and am going into a new year with a totally different outlook on my money. Now I have a plan, goals and much less anxiety about the whole process! Thank you, Galia!

Student Work

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