Are you afraid of money?
It’s not just the fact that taxes were due over a week ago and you haven’t gotten all your ducks in a row… It’s more that you don’t even know how many ducks you have and where they are! Do you worry about money and how much you have and if you will make it through the next month? This is not right and it absolutely should not be this way…
Well, According to Money Coaches Canada; The good news is that you’re not alone. Many people have a crippling fear of finances, and it’s no wonder:
Every time something catastrophic happened in life, one of the first thoughts you probably had was how you were going to pay for it. You might even have felt that devastating feeling: the sinking realization that you can’t afford the crisis at hand.
That can make you want to keep as much distance between you and your finances as possible.
There’s just one problem: That’s the wrong move.
This Fear Gets Better When You Face It
When you avoid your financial situation, it can only get worse. You can’t solve a problem if you don’t understand what the problem is in the first place.
The closer you look at your money, the more you’ll realize it’s not a terrifying force that’s out to crush you, controlling your life. Money behaves in very predictable ways. It can be managed and understood. It’s not a monster with a mind of its own; it’s more like a household pet.
Here are 3 Steps to take provided by Money Coaches Canada:
Step #1: No Judgment
Wherever you are is where you are. It’s likely that one of the reasons you’re so afraid of money is that you’re embarrassed or ashamed about where you think you might be right now. You might be in a less-than-ideal place, and you think that’s a dirty little secret you should hide. You feel that people are going to be judgmental.
Here’s the truth: No one needs to know about your financial situation but you.
You can keep this information entirely to yourself and never tell a soul.
You’ll still know where you are, money-wise, whether you tell others or not. And when you know where you are, you can start to move forward to where you want to be.
Step #2: Know the Truth (the Whole Truth)
It’s tempting to guess at how much debt you have and call it a day. It’s close enough, right?
If you do this, the problem is that you’ll always know that the number is maybe not quite what you thought it was. You’ll worry that it’s worse than you thought. You’ll still be hiding from the truth.
We want to face that fear, not run from it. That’s the only way to stop fearing money in the first place.
Start by writing down the number that’s in your checking and savings accounts right now. If you have investments, write down the totals in those accounts as well. If you own a house, include the equity you’ve paid on the house. Tally all of those numbers up into one big number.
These are your Assets.
Then go through and check the balance on all of your credit cards, and write those totals down in a separate column. Got a mortgage? A car loan? Student or personal loans? Put down those numbers as well, along with the interest rate you’re paying on each loan or debt.
Tally up those numbers. These are your Liabilities.
Now take a deep breath, and subtract your Liabilities from your Assets.
That’s where you are with your money right now.
Step #3: You Can Do This
The number you’ve arrived at may worry you. If you’ve been scared of looking at your finances for a long time, it’s very likely that where you are with your money is in the negative. It may even be a pretty sizeable negative number.
That’s okay.
That’s okay because now you know – and knowing where you are is always better than not knowing.
You have something to work with. You can turn that number from a negative into a positive. You can do this with your own attention and care and ingenuity. And you can do it for yourself – to make it possible for you to enjoy even more of the things you truly want in your life.
Money Coaches Canada has created the Money Map Coaching Program, and this special, interactive program is entirely dedicated to YOU and your financial success. You’ll learn about managing your money in a way that completely takes away all your fears and sets you on a confident path to success. Check out the program: Money Map Coaching Program! Do not miss out on the opportunity that will impact the rest of your life.