Know Money, No Problems

When it comes to money, most of us think we just need a better budget or more willpower. But real, lasting progress with your finances starts with something deeper: knowing yourself and knowing your numbers.

1. Know Your Values

What actually matters to you? Is it freedom? Stability? Generosity? Adventure?

2. Know Your Priorities

You can’t do it all at once. Prioritizing means deciding where your energy and resources go first.

3. Know Your Goals

Dreams become goals when they’re specific and measurable. Your goals should be clear enough that you can track progress and celebrate wins.

4. Know What It Will Take

Once you’ve set a goal, get real with the math. When you translate goals into numbers, they go from fantasy to possibility.

Systems That Keep You in the Know

Here are a few examples of simple systems that can help you stay connected to your financial reality.

1. Track Your Spending

Whether you track your expenses daily or weekly, in a spreadsheet or a notebook, the practice increases your consciousness and gives you a more realistic sense of how much you spend.

2. Quarterly Money Check-Ins

Once every three months, set aside time to reflect and review. Here’s what my husband and I do during our quarterly money check-ins:

• Update our Conscious Spending Plan so that we have a clear sense of how much we make and spend every month (shoutout, Ramit Sethi, my favorite financial expert).

• Track progress towards our saving, investing and debt payment goals

• Discuss how we feel about how we’ve been handling money. Has it been aligned to our values and priorities? Are there tweaks to be made?

3. Cut Credit Card Confusion

There are so many benefits to using credit cards these days, but one drawback is they make it really hard to know how much you’re spending. Here are some ways to get clearer on your spending if you use credit cards:

• Pay it down to zero every week. If you can pay down your balance to zero every week, you know you’re spending within your means and you have a clearer sense of how much you’re really spending.

• Separate debt from spending. Keep your credit card debt on a different card than the one you use for regular spending. This allows you to see how much debt you really have and how much you really spend.

Knowing Is the First Step

You don't need to know every single penny. You don’t need a finance degree. But you do need to know a few key facts about your life, your values, and your numbers. That’s the foundation for a more peaceful relationship with money.

Want help getting started? That’s what money coaching is for.