Is Financial Success for You?

Is financial success for you, or is it impossible? George G talks about what it takes to become financially successful and how to make it happen!  

Jun 20, 2024 | Blogs, Podcast

About the Episode

Is financial success for you, or others? Do you think you’ll eventually find success, or are you stuck where you’re at? 

George G talks about what it takes to find the level of financial success you desire, and shares the specific steps for making it happen!

Did you get anything out of this episode? Do us a solid and leave a review:

https://ratethispodcast.com/alignedmoneyshow 

Learn more and engage at MoneyAlignmentAcademy.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook

Buy George G a coffee (he loves coffee)

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeblood

Have George G speak

https://moneyalignmentacademy.com/speaking/ 

Financial literacy and wellness for individuals, families, and companies

https://moneyalignmentacademy.com/ 

Find George G’s books here

https://amzn.to/3R2gIhH 

The Aligned Money Show is the podcast for Money Alignment Academy, copyright 2024. 

George Grombacher

George Grombacher

Host

Episode Transcript

Do you think that financial success is for you? Is financial success for you? Or is that for other people? Who is it for? Is that available to you? Is it just for rich people is just her fancy people? Is that for people that were born into money is that for people and the other side of the tracks? What do you think about that? What are your thoughts on all of that? Have you ever thought or said I’m just not good with money, or, you know, financial success is for other people, because a lot of people do think that. And that’s fine, if that’s what you want. If you want to lead a hard life, that is hand to mouth where you’re constantly struggling, and that money is a source of stress and anxiety, and probably causes fights in your relationships. And it’s just pure negativity, then that’s great. Keep doing that. If, however, you do not want that if you want a healthy relationship with money, if you want to become financially successful, I suggest that you change your thinking, you change your self talk, otherwise, you’re going to create this awful self fulfilling prophecy where it comes true, where you keep saying, I’m just not good at money, or it’s not for me, I’m just bad at money. Well, that’s just how you’re gonna live them. And what’s the point of that? What’s the value in that? Like, why even say, or think that it’s not true. You might currently not know enough about money or don’t have a lot of financial sophistication. But that’s just a couple of blog articles away, it’s a couple of YouTube videos away. That’s some podcast episodes away from getting coached up. The learning curve is not that steep. It’s right there. Fundamentally, if you keep saying that nonsense to yourself, if you keep putting garbage into your own head, or if there’s other people that are saying that to you. It’s going to be true, it’s going to stick and I don’t want that. I don’t want that for anybody. Here’s the thing is that I’ve got news for you. And for everybody else, that financial success is available to everyone, literally everyone. In fact, the vast, vast majority of new millionaires every year, are first generation millionaires. That just means that they didn’t inherit money, nobody gave them anything, they got it the old fashioned way. Or maybe the new way by earning saving and investing. started from scratch, became very successful, nothing better than the story of an immigrant who comes to the United States and becomes wealthy and becomes a success. Nothing better than the first person to go to college or graduate, high school or whatever. Those are my favorite against all odds. That can be you. It’s available to you. You are worthy of financial success, you are deserving of financial success, but you are not entitled to it. So don’t let that stand in your way. I am telling you, you are worthy and deserving of financial success. But there will never be anybody that’s going to come along and give it to you. You must take initiative and work towards it. How about that? You’re good to go. Say no more. You’ll take it from here. You could just do it. Now? Of course not just do it’s awesome for sneakers. Not great for changing your financial life and your overall financial fortunes. So what does it take us? Well, I’m happy that you asked because I am interested in telling you what it takes to become financially successful. You what you must do to become financially successful, get your pen and paper out. Maybe slow it down. Instead of speeding up this episode. Slow it down. So I’m speaking a little bit more slowly. So it really sinks in, number one, define what financial success means to you. And I don’t mean treasures in heaven or health is wealth or anything like that. Those are true. Those are important, like super important, but not for today. I want to talk about cash money, dollars and cents, money, the bank, all of it. Your 401k balance your real estate portfolio, gold bars that you buried in your backyard, whatever. So how do you do it? Number one was decide what it means to you what is financial success? Whatever it is, dream it, believe it, all of it. That’s number one. Number two, is to make a list. Remember when you were a kid and you wrote your list of Santa Claus, not unlike that. Not unlike that. Dear Santa To this year, I want to get out of credit card debt. I want to save an emergency fund. And I want to save for the down payment on a house. Great. That’s awesome. But in the mail to the North Pole, to that, write it down, this is what I want, I’ve decided. So that’s the list. What’s the main thing or the main things? If you ever heard this one, the main thing is keeping the main thing, the main thing, we’ve got way too many distractions, we are totally diffused when it comes to our attention. And it’s easy to do easy to get lulled to sleep, and to get sucked into Netflix and chilling and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, online gaming and gambling and so many things that keep us from doing the things that are really important. Just because you’re worthy and deserving. If something doesn’t make it easy. It’s not. This is going to be hard, it’s going to be hard for you to become financially successful. So maybe I should have led with that this is going to be hard. But you can do hard things. I do hard things all the time I seek them out you do you do hard things, do you know how to do hard things, I think that you do you can. So you have to create a list or a hierarchy of the most important things. Cuz not everything can be the most important thing. Some things you have to place at a higher level than other things. So if you can’t do that, if you can’t prioritize, you’re gonna have a hard time doing this. Number three, get laser effing focused, laser focused. There’s so much power in becoming and being single mindedly determined, become and focus, pursue single minded determination, put it to work in your life. It’s how we do things, it’s how you get good at things, it’s how you find success in life, is to lock in on something and work your ass off to get it. So you decided what financial successes, you’ve made a list of the most important things, stop living paycheck to paycheck, get out of credit card debt, save an emergency fund, begin saving money proactively for your future, those are good ones to start with. So if you’re having a hard time deciding what is most important, I would start with those, those are the things that are going to give you financial peace of mind and or financial security. laser focused on accomplishing those things. So how does it work financially? How do we, how do we actually put this to work in your financial life, I advocate using what’s called a reverse budget. Okay. So reverse budget, that’s when you pay yourself first, which, if you’ve listened anything I’ve said, that’s the golden rule of personal finances, paying yourself first. That’s because if you’re in the habit of paying everybody else first and waiting around to pay yourself, you will get to the end of the month, and there’ll be no money left over for you.

And that’s never gonna, that’s how we stay exactly where we are. Literally, just stay stuck paying everybody else first slave to the lender, all of that stuff, you need to put your priorities, those priorities that we just talked about, number one, where they deserve, put your interest, your family’s interest, number one, put yourself first pay yourself first you do it by using a reverse budget. So you fund your top priorities. So that’s number one on your budget, get out of credit card debt. Okay. So we put a plan together. So I know, I decided I want to be out of credit card debt in two years, or three years or one year. So that’s going to cost me $500 a month. So that’s the first thing on my on the top of my reverse budget list, half credit card debt $500 a month. Great. So it’s this framework for improving your financial life by thinking first about the long term, then taking care of the short term. So again, this is most important. We’re going to work it all out. So you create your version reverse budget, you set aside the money toward your goal, and then you allocate what’s left, essentially towards everything else. So your top goals, you put those first and you make sure you’re allocating money there. So you’re not going to be categorizing every single line item. You can still do that if you want. I’m just advocating for this method because I want you to put your needs and your priorities first. So step one we’re doing this is to dis audit all of your spending. So look through all your cash flow. Everywhere. You’re spending money so you know how much you’re spending, go through your fixed expenses go through your variable expenses. So that will help you to know and that will also help you figure out where you can make cuts because odds are, if you’re having a hard time becoming financially successful, you can either earn more money, or you can figure out how to live on less. I don’t like talking about reducing spending, but are your top priorities which you’ve already decided on. Now we need to find the money to be able to allocate to those things. So whatever those savings goals are, and then I want you to keep everything in, in perspective, so you want to set milestones and goals. So if it is $5,000, in credit card debt, and you figured out, okay, over the course of three years, here’s how much you’re going to have to allocate. Perfect. But the first thing I want you to do is to figure out what the lowest if you have several credit cards, multiple credit cards, start with the smallest balance, that’s the first milestone is we’re going to knock that out and know within a couple of months when that’s going to happen, and then you break it down from there. And then I want you to automate the savings. So set up direct deposits, or move money automatically in between different accounts. And then it’s all about just checking in on everything and making sure that we are not overspending in certain areas, or whatever adjustments are needed. None of it is a game of perfect, but the whole idea here is that whole idea is that you have decided your biggest priorities, and you are now allocating money directly towards them, and you’ve automated it, that’s going to help you to focus. So once you’ve decided what your top priorities are, it’s time to put the blinders on and to get to work, I want you to get mad, I want you to get pissed off. And what is the right term super motivated and driven to accomplish what you’ve set out to accomplish? Again, put the blinders on, stop caring about what anybody else thinks, aside from your loved ones. Stop caring about what your work people you work with think or your neighbors, whatever. Life is too short, unless those people are paying your bills or contributing to your priorities, stop caring about what anybody thinks, get to work. And if you gotta go without, then go without, again, if you desire change, a change is probably required. An object in motion, it’s gonna stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside object, same as an object at rest is going to stay at rest unless acted on by an outside force. The outside force is what’s needed. Either stop you from going so fast down the wrong path, or to get you off your butt and to start moving down the right path. Because what you’re doing, if you’re not financially successful right now, what you’re doing is not working. A change may be required, it probably is. So how do you stay focused? Well, you got to review it all the time. But I advocate the thought find three to five things every day that you could focus your energy on an execute, that will help you to feel more in control. top priorities, figure out what must be done in service of what you want, and get to work on those. There’s this cool conversation called the one versus three. And the idea is simply that we have a tendency to overestimate what we can do what we can get done in one year and underestimate what we can get done in three years. So I want you to have long term goals, I want you to have midterm goals, I want you to have short term goals. short term goals are zero to three years, mid term three to 10, long term 10 Plus, in terms of years. So you need to have midterm and long term, I just want you to focus on three. So one versus three says that we have a tendency to overestimate what we can done in one year, and underestimate what we can get done in three years. Can you get a lot done in a year? Maybe? Yeah, can you get a lot done in three, you could change your life in three years. And that’s what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about changing your financial future in three years, is that possible? It went 1,000% as possible, I can almost guarantee that you can become totally debt free, and have a fully funded emergency fund within three years. I think you can do that. What I want you to think about is three years for the rest of your life. The thing about it is when you know what you need to be doing every month to realize your top goals and priorities. And you execute those for three years if you do it. No guarantees out there but you really set yourself up for long term success. Why? What you’ve done it, you did it. You decided on something and you did it. You frickin did it. You executed it. You’re debt free. You got money in the bank. You’re saving money. You’re investing you’re an investor. That’s amazing. Let the tension come out of your shoulders. Take that deep breath. Let’s go Let’s go. That’s awesome. And I bet what’s gonna happen is you’re gonna win the three years after that. And then you’re gonna win the three years after that financial success is yours. Way to go, how good is that going to feel really good. So you you’re worthy, financial success, whatever level you’re wanting, you’re deserving of financial success but you’re not entitled to it. Gotta get focused, gotta prioritize, got to put the blinders on. Got to buckle down and get to work. Keep it top of mind, stay focused, execute on the things that must be done every day in order to get you what you want. Sometimes it’s starting, sometimes it’s stopping. Sometimes it’s adding sometimes it’s cutting out but always with the end goal in mind, keep your eye on the prize. Finally, friendly reminder. Financial success is available to you got to act accordingly. It’s never going to be anybody more interested in your financial success than you are. Get to work. Let’s go

 

 

More Episodes

The Guide to Financial Prospering

The Guide to Financial Prospering

Too many of us are just getting by.  Many of us are stuck in credit card debt (The average American has $6,000). Almost two-thirds of us are living paycheck-to-paycheck.  When you’re in a tough financial situation, you can feel like there’s no way out. I...

How to Be Safe with Your Money

How to Be Safe with Your Money

With so much uncertainty in the world, what can you do to be safe with your money?  While it’s impossible to completely insulate ourselves from risk and danger, there are certainly ways to protect ourselves and our finances.  My goal here is to give you some...

How to Start Succeeding Financially

How to Start Succeeding Financially

What does succeeding financially mean to you?  Have you ever asked yourself that question? I think it’s a highly subjective thing. What financial success looks like for Warren Buffett may be very different from yours.  Is it a question worth asking? I think...

Living Well: The 6 Key Areas to Focus On

Living Well: The 6 Key Areas to Focus On

What does “living well” mean to you?  I’m fond of saying, “The only way to live how you want is to know how you want to live.” For a long time, I didn’t really think about why I was doing what I was doing. I thought about my work as a means to an end; a way to...

Get Good with Money in 6 Steps

Get Good with Money in 6 Steps

Who comes to mind when you think of people who are good with money? Do you think of someone famous like Warren Buffett, Elon Musk or Sheryl Sandberg?  How about someone you know personally?  Are you good with money? If you’re not right now, do you think you...

4 Simple Steps to Financial Wellness

4 Simple Steps to Financial Wellness

Is financial wellness attainable? Is it attainable for you?  Yes, to both.  Not only that, but it may be closer than you realize.  While I have no idea what you’ve got going on in your financial life, I’ve been in a place where I felt like I was...

How to Become an Investor

How to Become an Investor

Good for you. Asking “How to become an investor?” is an important first step in becoming an investor. You’re off to a great start! Anyone can become an investor, and there are a lot of ways to invest. You’ve got the stock market, real estate, crypto assets,...

How to Take Control of Your Finances

How to Take Control of Your Finances

Humans crave certainty. We want control.  And we understand that the majority of things that happen to us are beyond our control. But we can control how we prepare and position ourselves, as well as how we respond when things happen.  I’ve been helping...

3 Ways to Start Doing Good with Your Dollars

3 Ways to Start Doing Good with Your Dollars

“Tend to the part of the garden you can touch.” - Jack Kornfield It’s hard for empathetic and kind people to look at big problems in the world. They can be overwhelming because they seem unfixable. And to a degree, they are. The way forward is to do exactly as Jack...

Join the show.

Interested in being on the show? Tell me a little bit more about you and what you’d like to talk about!