Financial Self-Care
January 3, 2023
Hellooooo my friends! We are only days away from the New Year (2023 what whaaattt), and I know we are all focused on family and friends and taking care of ourselves during this holiday season. Let me just say, I LOVE when people take some time to themselves and really focus on self–care; hence, why I picked this topic to write to y’all about today. I want to talk about financial self-care. Because financial self-care is JUST as important as the self-care you give yourself by taking care of your skin, or taking time to do the things you love, or making an effort to spend time with family. I’m going to share some key things to help you care for yourself finically as we turn the corner into a new year. Put your cozy slippers on and maybe a face-mask, and let’s start finically self-caring, while we’re already self-caring!
Save, save, SAVE!
Those of you that have read my previous blogs know that I am a stickler for saving… because it WORKS! Saving your money is a staple for financial self-care. Having a plan in place to save a percentage of your money is a great way to keep yourself finically stable and disciplined. As we move into 2023, I challenge y’all to come up with some sort of savings plan that you can stick with. Maybe it’s putting $5.00 a day in your savings account, or a few hundred a month, or maybe a certain percentage of your paycheck goes into your savings. Whichever way you choose to slice it, please please make sure you are giving yourself a piece of your money pie. Pay yourself first (aka put money into your savings), then take whatever is left over after you pay your bills to purchase things that you want! Let’s all start self-care saving!
Debt… do it right, or don’t do it!
Debt is borrowing money from someone with the intention of paying that money back plus whatever interest has been accrued. Debt can be very useful and necessary at times when making large purchases, such as new home. However, debt can also be very dangerous. If we take out a loan and miss a payment or don’t pay the allotted amount back each set period, that can seriously damage credit scores. A bad credit score can really hurt you financially. Just like we do skin care face-masks and do yoga to keep our faces and bodies healthy, make sure if you are taking on debt you are being smart and making all the payments on time!
Manage your income and outcome.
When most people think about taking care of their finances, they think about saving money and making sure they don’t spend money unnecessarily. That’s GREAT! That’s exactly what you should do when caring for your finances. However, it’s important we monitor our income just as much as our outcome. What I mean by this is for us to make sure that we are constantly working to bring money in actively or passively.
When money is actively coming in, you are working daily for that paycheck. When money is coming in passively you don’t have to work much or at all for that money to flow in. An example of this would be investing in stocks and seeing a return on those investments, or passive income could come from holding money in a savings account and earning interest on that money - your money is making you money! Who doesn’t love that!?
Check out the link below for more information on a Guaranty Savings account or feel free to give us a call with any questions! (888) 572-9881
https://www.gnty.com/banking/savings-account/
Pay those bills!
Paying your bills and recurring charges may seem like a no brainier, but it really is something that helps with our financial self-care. Think about it… if the first thing you do when you get paid is to make sure all your housing, utilities, and overhead charges are taken care of, you can now relax and put some money in your savings and then enjoy the rest! I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I challenge you to try it and see if it doesn’t lift a little pressure off for that month!
Guaranty also has a wonderful feature that enables you pay your bills securely from your bank account whenever you need, so you don’t ever have to miss a payment. This allows you to save time as well as enabling you to make payments any time with automatic payments or by setting up reminders, as well as being able to track your bills at different locations. If this sounds like something you could benefit from, give it a look! (https://www.gnty.com/services/bill-pay/)
Set a yearly financial goal
With the New Year just a couple days away, now is a wonderful time to set a yearly financial goal. Just like lots of healthy habits we all want to get into, if we don’t set a goal or a standard it can be very difficult for us to mind the motivation to finish what we started. I mean come on, I can’t be the only one who told myself last year I’d do more self-care and go to the gym 4 days a week only to fail and then quit a few months in… financial goals are no different! We must set a goal and push ourselves to reach that. If we fail, that’s okay! Don’t stop, keep pushing and trying to get where you want to go financially.
When I set a yearly financial goal, what I find most useful is breaking it down into smaller increments. So set a goal for the year and work backwards by setting a monthly goal, and then a weekly goal, and then maybe a daily goal. This makes the task seem much more attainable rather than some monster you have to conquer before year-end. If you are having trouble picking a financial goal, or aren’t sure what would be most beneficial for you and your family financially, I can’t encourage you enough to go speak to one of our Guaranty personal bankers. They are the NICEST people who truly want to help you. Give them a call or stop by and take advantage of their help as we move into the new year.
I hope you really do take some time to self-care for yourself mentally, physically, and financially. All of it is so important to our wellbeing. Let’s get into gear and make 2023 the best year yet!