6 Tips That Helped Me Get Good With Money

Confession time. When I was in my early twenties I thought I was good with money. In fact, people used to tell me that I was good with money. I was pretty good at earning money. For someone in that age bracket I did well. I was able to afford my car note, rent, and went on trips. I always had savings and I only had two credit cards that were never maxed out. I can see why people thought that I was good with money. I held on to the idea that I was good with money, until I got a reality check at 30.

At 30 many of my poor money habits started to rear their ugly heads. Starting with the fact that my student loans were coming due and it kept me from buying the house that I thought I could afford. It was a terrible realization to find out that I wasn’t as good with money as I once believed. My answer to the problem was to work harder and to out earn those monthly payments, which in turn would change my debt vs. income ratio and qualify me for the property I wanted. It was failed plan and I ended up stressed and sick. Literally, I got sick from stress. To read more about my story click here. That was the moment everything changed for me and I put a lot of new habits and smart strategies in place that made me truly good with money.

When people find out that I am a personal finance coach, it begins their confession time. The biggest confession is, “I am not good with money.” It appears they have been holding onto this secret for a long time and have found a safe person to finally say it out loud. Well, it is true that their secret is safe with me. I understand how personal it can be to know that you are not good with money, or in my case to think you are better than you are. Right now, I can comfortably say that I am good with money and you can be too.

Getting good with money takes trial and error, patience, commitment and trust in yourself and the numbers. The habits that I have developed, which I share in the blogs, are now second nature. To get to this point, I had to put in hard and consistent work. Here are some tips to help you start to get good with money.

1) Language

Language has a tremendous effect on how you see yourself, which ultimately changes how able you feel about making a change. The more you say that you are not good at something, the more you believe it. Turn yourself into a work in progress by changing the words you use to describe yourself. Saying you aren’t good with money is stopping you before you even get started. Start saying, “I am getting better with money.” Changing your language along with your habits is a combination that catapults progress.

2) Practice

The saying practice makes perfect is especially true when it comes to money. The more you do an action and learn from that action the better you become. You can either practice good money habits or poor ones. The repetition of either is practice. If I were you, I would practice the good habits to make a difference in my financial situation. Work on practicing good money habits and perfect them. One of the beauties of long-term good money habits is the creation of a richer and fuller life.

3) Patience

The real evidence of a commitment to your new habits is the amount of patience you have with your plan. Getting good with money doesn’t take a month. Within a month your new plan hasn’t been tested against the inevitable phases of life. Along the way to getting good with money, you will experience pressure to spend unfavorably, accidents that need your financial attention, and more. The real test is whether or not you get back up and start again. Usually, you start to feel the positive emotions of your financial changes months after you have put them in place.

4) Know Your Numbers

You can’t get good at something that you can’t see and you don’t know. It is imperative that you know your basic numbers. The more you know these numbers by heart the easier money will become. Do you know how much you bring home every month? How much you pay in debt? How much you spend every month on luxuries?

5) Personal Honesty

People that are good with money are very honest with themselves. They are good at confronting their money habits and creating strategies to improve them. The more frank you are about your money situation the more information you will have to make improvements. Being honest with yourself can often feel uncomfortable, but remember, it is just information. If you haven’t taken time to think about your spending or if you are avoiding looking at your debts, the time is now to get started.

6) Goals

Without a goal you have nothing to aim for and chances are there will be less motivation to change. Choose a well-defined goal that has a due date and numbers. Start to see your habits through these goals and ask yourself, “Is the way I am treating my money going to lead me to this goal?” The more defined the goal the better

If you want to start to think deeper about how you treat your money try my FREE 3-day savings challenge. Click here for more information.