All posts by SeattleMoneyCoach

How to enjoy summer more with an annual plan

Practical Money Path

From dental bills to vacationing in Mexico- one woman does it all

June is a great time to adjust your annual spending plan, whether by yourself or with a money coach. (Talking through your thinking with someone can be very helpful!) It’s about getting ready to enjoy your summer. 

So what are your summer plans? Are you taking a vacation? Doing some large home projects? Hosting family?

Monthly spending plans are about managing your cash flow and keeping your stress down- they keep you in touch with your spending and your larger plan. And indeed- cash flow in the summer can get pretty crazy with expenses like travel putting pressure on your accounts. But annual plans are about decision making, visioning and how you want and need to live your life for the year. (Your monthly plans are what enable you to live out your annual plan.)

Freshening up your annual plan in June and July (mid-year) will give you peace of mind and help you see if you need to change anything, to make sure you can be financially stress free when you travel and work on your home projects. The last thing you want to think about is money, when you are off enjoying the summer sun. Give yourself the gift of financial clarity. My clients often report that one of the great gifts of money coaching is enjoying vacations more- and not worrying about coming home to the credit card bill.

One of my clients, when we were adjusting her annual plan, was worried about a trip she really wanted to take, because she was hit with high dental bills recently. Turns out she needed some emergency crowns, due to cracking a molar back in February… 

However, as we sat there working with her annual plan, we saw that if she waited on buying some living room furniture, or considered buying the table and chair set at consignment instead of new, she could easily go off to Mexico with friends this summer. She practically floated out of my office.  (She did not want to reduce the new higher retirement savings she had recently started. So we adjusted a few smaller things as well to give her some breathing room.)

The key is knowing what you want to protect. For her, time with friends and time away from work, was more important than buying brand new furniture.

Enjoy the summer,

Mikelann

Audio: How to feel abundant (and spend on what gives you joy)

Practical Money Path

 

Want some joyful inspiration for your money life? Here is an amazing podcast interview I did on how to live your financial life in alignment with your core values- so you can spend on what truly gives you JOY, while also protecting your future. This interview also looks at how to unhook your self-worth from your net worth. And then  it addresses the metaphysical question of money as energy and how to feel truly abundant. Give a listen- I think you’ll be truly inspired.

Listen here

The lovely woman who interviewed me was Seline Shenoy – an author, entrepreneur and seeker of truth on a mission to inspire others to live fully and authentically.  She is the founder and writer of the blog, The Dream Catcher, and the host of The Dream Catcher Podcast. Find her here: www.thedreamcatch.com

2 Powerful New Year’s Questions to Ask Yourself

Emotional Money Path

Here are two powerful questions that I ask all my clients when we put together their annual spending plans for the year:

  • What would you like more of in your life this year?
  • What would you like less of in your life this year?

Simple sounding? Perhaps. But when I ask myself those questions, I hear, “more tango lessons, more retirement savings, and less time spent on housework.” All three of those translated into my 2018 annual plan. I increased my IRA contributions by 2%, hopped on line to find another local tango class, and hired a house cleaner. Ahhhh. Such happiness.

What about you? Grab a pen and a cup of coffee and jot down YOUR answers. What do you want more of in your life? What do you want less of? Simple questions can be the most powerful.

Don’t get stuck in the “how”. Just be open to wanting or disliking something. Step into desire. Explore your irritations.

You may want a material item (more clothes) or a service (more house cleaning) or experiences (like travel).

You may be tired of spending so much time on something. One client of my mine immediately said, “I want less time spent helping my kids with math homework after dinner!” After chewing on this, she decided to hire a teenager to come over after dinner and supervise math homework for her two elementary aged children. She said it was the best money she ever spent.

Simple questions yield powerful answers.

Happy New Year!

Mikelann

If you would like help transforming your relationship to money and creating a life you love, or simply need a fresh start in working on your money, I would be honored to be your guide. Visit www.seattlemoneycoach.com for info. I have amazing clients all over the world.

6 tips for sane holiday gifting (video)

Videos

In this post I shared six tips to have a saner, less stressful holiday around gift buying. Here’s the video. Remember, no one wants you to go into debt to give them the perfect gift!

Mikelann is a money coach with over 20 years’ experience, helping women escape the money fog, feel more in control of their finances and love their financial life. If you are ready to leave money stress behind and design a life you love, please see www.seattlemoneycoach.com and read about this life changing work.  Once there, grab her free eBook on how to stop worrying about money.

 

 

 

 

How to create a holiday spending plan

Practical Money Path

If you want to avoid that January spending hangover and December stress, find 15 minutes, a pad of paper and a cup of tea.

Remember, a plan lets you know when you’ve completed your shopping. It tells you when to stop — if you don’t have a finish line, you are going to keep shopping as long as the stores are open. (Or until the “guaranteed delivery dates” from online shopping move to December 26.) Knowing what you have already ordered and have left to buy — and how much more you want to spend– will save you a ton of money. You will finish your shopping earlier and you will have fewer impulse buys.

TIP: Create your plan in whatever form will be easiest for you to bring with you when you go shopping or sit at the computer. If you are a pen and paper person, use that. Keep everything on your phone? Make it digital. The best plan does you no good if you don’t bring it with you.

Make Three Columns

  1. First column: List People —Think of everyone you are planning on giving a gift to, and list them in the left column. Don’t put down gift ideas yet. Only brainstorm people, and make sure you get everyone. One of the biggest pitfalls is gifting a lot more people than we originally intended. Consider creating three sections: family, friends, and service providers (babysitter, hair stylist, etc.)
  2. First column: Now add other holiday expenses: after you list the people, write down: holiday cards (and photography?) holiday decorations, holiday clothes, holiday party costs and holiday travel.
  3. Second Column: List Gift ideas and other things that cost money — Now that you know who and what is on your list, write down gift ideas for people.  And also write down the gifts you’ve already bought/ ordered. Write down holiday entertainment you are contemplating. (Going to see a holiday play? Need a new Christmas tree this year?)
  4. Three column: Money— Last, enter amounts of money in the final column. Do the best you can – a guess is better than nothing. If you have already purchased the gift, put down what you think you spent. Let me be clear- if the money has already left your account for ordered gifts, or gifts purchased long ago, list these amounts. Then list the amounts of money for gifts you have not purchased yet. What will the play tickets cost? The tree? Circle these unpurchased gift/ item numbers. 
  5. Totaling Up and Adjusting — Now add up your total. If it includes gifts already purchased (back in August?) you may be surprised at the actual total. And then total up the remaining items to be bought- the numbers you circled. How do you feel about the amount? Does this seem reasonable? Really think about it. Can you afford this? Is it worth going into credit card debt to be able to give a gift to everyone you know? What are your other options? If your total plan seems too high, go back and make some adjustments and then re-total. Keep doing this until you feel better about the total.
  6. Tracking — As you spend money on the remaining gifts, jot down the amounts on your plan. Add up what you’ve spent on a weekly basis, or more if need be. Where are you? Remember, part of creating a plan is seeing what will happen before it happens! If you don’t like what you see, take the time to work on your list.

The good news is, trying to stick to a plan (regardless of how successful you are with it) will cut down on impulse buying, which is a major problem during the holidays. Without a plan, people buy more things and spend more money on each item they purchase. The temptations can be overwhelming when you are out shopping.

If you have gone through your plan and don’t know how to make this work, consider getting more creative. What if you changed your holiday gift-giving ritual? I used to give gifts to friends, but now we all go out and enjoy a play together. This came out of doing my own first holiday spending plan. I felt a little guilty when I approached them with my idea, but discovered they were all relieved.

My colleague Karen McCall wrote an amazing post on how to have a joyous and debt-free holiday. She covers not only how to do a holiday spending plan, but also helps you examine your feelings and beliefs about the season to see how they impact your behavior. Check it out: The 10-Step Plan to Have a Joyous and Debt-Free Holiday Season (financialrecovery.com)

And last, a final quote for you from Dr. Seuss: “Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store.”

I wish you joy,

Mikelann

Creating rental income and funding college

Practical Money Path

Fall- my favorite time of year. Curious where I’ve been? Here’s my update, with thoughts you may find useful on creating rental income and financing your child’s college. Speaking of college- here is a picture of me and my son Zander at the big high school graduation party. Hallelujah!

What’s Mikelann the money coach been up to?

Creating rental income: This summer I finished building a second home—on my property–  and then rented it out! I wanted to diversify my investment and retirement portfolio. We all have to put together our financial lives in different ways so we know we will be able to “retire” someday and have what we need.  For me, to get where I wanted to go, adding rental income became a key piece. Now, both my houses are on twenty year payoffs, so I know when I will be mortgage free. Will creating rental income work for everyone? Of course not. But part of money coaching helps us see what we need to live a good life. From this we see what we need to earn. And then you take it out even further- you see what lifestyle you want to have in the future, and how to make it happen. Personally, I think of it like “designing” a life with various puzzle pieces that form the picture we like. And it’s been a heck of a learning process…

How I financed my kid’s college: Last month I sent my son off to college. This has been my proudest achievement for many reasons. On the money side, I will share this- the month he was born, we began saving $100 a month into a 529 plan. That’s it. Fast forward to today and we have his tuition, housing, and meal plan fully funded for over the next two years at Western Washington University ($39,000). To this we added a $5,000 GET account from his grandmother. He will have scholarship money that is the equivalent of one year’s costs. We are cash flowing the rest. Starting last month, we stopped funding the 529 and now my ex-husband and I each put $225 into a dedicated savings account. Each month. We estimate this will cover our son’s fourth year. Every family is different. I simply share it to give you one way to think about college funding.

Whew!!! No wonder I haven’t sent a newsletter out in a while! I’ve been a bit busy. Oh- and I added another financial certification- now I am an Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC ®) The certification is for professionals who guide clients through a holistic counseling framework of life-cycle financial education–  Say what??? Meaning- helping people realize their money goals and achieve lasting financial well-being.

Does it change what I do? No. As a money coach I work with amazing people who want to heal and transform their relationship to money.  But it was a lot of study and I’m proud of it. We all have to stay on top of our professional game.

How to discern your real needs and heal deprivation

Emotional Money Path

 

siren call want vs need

Siren Call: definition- The enticing appeal of something alluring but potentially dangerous; — “Unable to resist the siren call of the cards, she withdrew her savings and headed for Las Vegas.”

She succumbed to the siren call of new carpeting… and left the broken front porch … broken.

Ultimately, one of the most profound issues in healing our relationship to money is being willing to enter into a conversation about needs vs. wants. This subject can be deceptively simple. However, many people are not clear about what they need vs. what they want, so they spend a lot on their wants and neglect their needs. And some people neglect both sides, assuming it’s not possible to get their needs OR their wants met.

Wants are so alluring, aren’t they? We think our wants fulfilled will make us happier. And when they don’t, we move to the next want, hoping it will do the trick.

If you are still not satisfied after a big purchase, it is possible that the money would have given you a deeper sense of satisfaction if you targeted it to a need.

But wants sound so great- they sing to us like the sirens of Greek mythology- the beautiful but dangerous creatures that lured sailors with their enchanting musical voices to shipwreck…

And so it is that attending to our wants first will shipwreck our beautiful financial ship.

I remember years ago my mentor Karen McCall wrote that when we spend money on our wants before our needs, it is like we are putting up pretty wallpaper in a room that has faulty wiring sticking out. Wow. Here are some examples:

·         We buy lots of plants at the plant sale instead of having the front porch fixed

·         We spend money on fancy clothes, but we neglect our teeth.

·         We spend money on the new master bathroom, but we neglect our retirement funding.

Did you notice the word “neglect?” What are you neglecting or ignoring? What you ignore leaves you feeling depleted or deprived. And deprivation is the opposite of fulfillment.  And when you meet your true needs first, you feel fulfilled. 

Though you have to know what your needs are, in order to resist the call of the sirens.

Try this: 

Grab a piece of paper and make three long columns. In the middle column, start writing a list of needs and wants.  Just start writing. Don’t worry if it’s a need or a want. Just dump. Invite the Siren’s song. What calls to you? (When you listen to the sirens call in this way- writing down and acknowledging what is alluring to you, it actually makes you feel more grounded. It puts you in the adult role of naming your needs and desires, giving you the ability to discern.)

To help you brainstorm, think about these four areas: material items, services, experiences and feelings.

Material Items—what stuff do I need or want? Boots, a new couch, a better computer, more jewelry, a nicer dining room table, a house

Services—what services do I need or want? I want monthly professional hair coloring, monthly house cleaning, dental work, personal trainer

Experiences—what experiences do I need or want? I want two weeks in Hawaii. I want more mountain climbing.  I want to go to a musical this fall.

Feelings— What feelings do I need or want to have? I want to feel more secure (that might mean more savings), I want to feel more attractive (throw the tummy tuck on the list) I want to feel more confident (there’s the tooth whitening or attractive wool blazer)

And for a final doozy, answer this question: What am I tired of putting up with? I’m tired of that broken porch railing and cracked windshield

Now label the empty left column “need” and the right column “want”. Simply sit with your list and start moving the items to the left or right. For each item, ask yourself, “Do I need this or do I want this?” Is this necessary or would this be nice? Will I feel more fulfilled/ ‘right with the world’ with this? Should this be attended to? Can this wait?

Keep this list with you and chew on it. It is a process.

I sat on my couch just this weekend with a new list of needs/ wants jumbling and tumbling down a center column. I sat there and took in the siren’s call. So beautiful. And it took me a while to move each item left or right. Now I have my priority list. Will I attend to some of my wants? Absolutely. But when I do them, I will know that I am truly taking care of myself by attending to the needs first.

Then the wants will be all that much more satisfying.

Remember, when you call everything a NEED, you lose the ability to think through how to prioritize items, how to get projects done creatively, and what is really important to you.  Ultimately, this is about taking care of YOU.

foundation money

Foundations arise from (money) mud

Emotional Money Path

foundation moneyI am thinking a lot about foundations- literally. I am in the process of building a second home that I will rent out. (I’ll write future posts on alternative ways to think about retirement, income streams and going “work optional”. Once you are in command of your money, there are many ways to do it.)

I had underestimated the importance of the foundation part of the project. But not anymore. My back lot is a sea of mud, there is an excavator parked in the middle, and concrete forms are rising up out of the earth. Water and sewer pipes are being trenched in. (Is that a verb?) The picture is complete with a honey bucket in my front yard.  Wow.

As I gaze upon my queendom, I realize that this foundation will stand strong for my entire life, regardless of whether the house that appears on top is remodeled and changed over the years.

I sat with a client recently, coaching her on how to manipulate her annual income and spending plan to give her more of what she wants- more time, more savings, less debt. But she was able to engage at this high level because she had worked hard on her foundation. She had spent several months with me learning how to be in touch with her money– track it,  use savings to manage her cash flow (instead of debt) and work at the monthly planning level. She had also fully engaged in exploring her emotions around money. And while the initial stages were a bit messy, like my back lot, her foundation is now very strong.

So it goes without saying that a healthy foundation is key to building the house- and life – you want. But in money, we often want to rush to the “sexy” stuff. So we build a gorgeous room on dirt or sand, and then it eventually sinks and falls apart. We want to move to investing, or focus on making large pots of money from big projects etc. But without a strong foundation, these things will simply not give us lasting impact. A year later, we often find ourselves in the same place. (Stressed out and anxious about money.)

The cornerstone to the foundation for a healthy relationship with money is tracking the flow of it. If you can track the flow of money in and out of your life, then you become in charge of that flow. You can direct the flow, like a conductor leading an orchestra. And once you learn how to direct the flow, pure magic can happen. (It’s also easier to increase the flow once you are in control of it. Trust me.) You become the conscious creator of your life- your own life architect.

From strong foundations, pure magic can arise and you can build the house of your dreams.

(But oh man– I can’t wait for the honey bucket to get carted away.)

Couples and money- so you did not marry your clone

Emotional Money Path

 I wanted to share some additional thoughts to my previous post on my work with couples and money.

While happily married couples are generally compatible, they have some dynamic differences between them as well. This often comes out in their money relationship and can be quite wonderful to explore. The key is to be able to talk about money and share a vision for your life.

Sometimes one person has been managing the money for years and they want to shift to feeling more equal around the financial decision making. They want to be able to explore what is and isn’t working around their money, and feel like they are on the same page about both their present and their future.

Couples sometimes have fairly different backgrounds around money and different “money personalities”. This is not a bad thing- in fact, it is very common. (Besides, it’s not very sexy to marry your clone- of course you have differences!) “Savers” often marry “spenders” (in a very simplistic sense) and couples often want to transcend this, as it tends to not work for either person.  Likewise, “money worriers” often marry “money avoiders”, and eventually this doesn’t work for either person, but they don’t know what to do.

And often one person is more detailed oriented while the other is a bit more “big picture” oriented, though of course everyone needs both of these abilities.

Money coaching helps you explore your differences and utilize your individual strengths around money, while shoring up your weaknesses.  There is a sense of being a team and money coaching facilities this. This work is about exploring how to balance your present needs, wants, income and expenses, while making sure you avoid debt you don’t want, you build savings that makes you feel great, and you have a way to talk about money and make financial decisions. It is about how to create a life you both really love, as well as a future you look forward to.

(see previous post on Couples money coaching – becoming the dream team you knew you could be)

couple money coach

Couple’s money coaching with Mikelann – becoming the dream team you knew you could be

Featured Post

couple money coachI have worked with couples on their relationship to money for over twenty years. It’s transformative work for them.

Money coaching for couples works best when a couple is generally happily married, but may not feel completely on the same page about money—and would like to.  And usually, one or both people feel like they are in a “money fog”. They long to feel clear, be on the same page about money, and feel good about what they do with the families resources- but they just don’t know how to go about all this…. One of them may be contemplating a career transition, perhaps they are worried about insufficient savings, nagging debt, or they simply want to feel freer about money and spend less time worrying about it.

Money coaching will show you exactly where you spend your money, teach you how to better manage your cash flow, and most importantly, teach you how to plan where you WANT to spend your money so your finances are in balance. Along the way, you will assess your entire lifestyle, with the aim of bringing it into balance and deciding on any changes you want to make as a couple. And throughout it all, you will learn to talk about money and jointly decide how you want to spend (and earn), so there is never any stress or spoken and unspoken conflict or resentment around money. You will be become the team that you dreamed you could be and your friends will envy.

Over the years, I have refined the couples I consider working with–

  • They must live in the greater Seattle area so they can do in-person sessions twice a month. (I work remotely with many individual people- but I prefer not to work with couples over the phone, at least initially.)
  • They must have joint finances- meaning they do not maintain separate accounts. If this is the case, individual money coaching can make sense. Alternately, I’ve worked with many couples over the years who wanted to explore how to become more joint around money and I helped them make this transition. (Note: I also work with married individuals without their partners. This can work well if they are in charge of the finances and want to work on their own relationship to money.)
  • Both people must want to enter into money coaching. I want to avoid situations where one person is “dragging” the other person in.
  • I do not work with high conflict couples or couples who are exploring separation. This is generally a better case for couple’s counseling and marriage therapy.
  • They must be willing to work together on their homework each week- the key question is if the couple has time to work on their relationship to money.
  • Note: Mikelann will speak with each person individually in trying to determine if the three of us are a fit.

If you think you may be a fit for money coaching, please contact Mikelann to set up a time to speak.

See related post: couples and money – so you did not marry your clone