Take a step – Time to take control of your wealth even when you have little.

You may be feeling in a rut in relation to your wealth. You may be so annoyed with lockdowns and covid that you feel that everything is out of your hands and there is nothing that you can do.  But that’s not the case.   Take a step this week – any step and believe me you will start to feel  more in control.   So let’s recap on some of the steps you could be taking this week even if you have no additional income

1. MINDSET – use this time to look at and improve your relationship with wealth.  Is it healthy or is it hurting you? Do you feel you will always struggle or do you think things will get better or that you can earn enough?   Simply spending ten minutes thinking about your mindset, is a step in the right direction so give yourself a pat on the back.
2. BUDGET – even if you have been out of work for 12 months, a budget can still help you.   Calculate your incomings – all income or revenue you are receiving at the moment.  Then collate all your outgoings together on a piece of paper or excel file. That’s a step in the right direction already.  If your outgoings are greater than your income, examine your expenses and see if there is anything you can cut. Or perhaps there is an extra source of income you could think about or work on
3. ANALYSE – your spending – start tracking your spending over the next few weeks. If you have already tracked it, spend some time to see where you are allocating it and where you can cut down.   For example do you pay your credit card on time? Could you cut down on smoking if you smoke? Could you cut out some of your subscriptions be that magazines, gyms or TV?
4. SET GOALS   If times are tough, set a short term goal to see where you might be able to save. Set a medium term goal of achieving a certain level of income once this pandemic is over. Set a long term goal to educate yourself in investments but start that education now
5. EMERGENCY FUND – if you have sufficient income, set up an emergency fund for that rainy day – start at 3 months income and work it up to 12 months if you can.   This emergency fund is essential in time of crisis, like the crisis we are in now.  It also allows you the freedom to not panic when unexpected things happen.
6. PENSION – if you have one, make sure you are contributing to it especially in relation to employer/employee matching .   If you don’t have one, do some research and set one up for when you have the income to invest in it.
7. EDUCATE – it will cost you nothing to start to read the business headlines on the internet or listen to the financial news.  Why not take a look at your country’s index like the S&P in the US or the FTSE in the UK.  Track it every day and follow it as it rises and falls.  Look at the days headlines to see how they are impacting the index you are following.
8. PROGRESS – Any progress is good.  You don’t have to do any of the above perfectly, you just have to take that first step

Take any of these steps today and then pat yourself on the back.

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