5/3/2014 Financial Freedom: How To Manage Your Financial Life
http://liveboldandbloom.com/04/money/financial-freedom 1/5
home self-confidence relationships self-improvement coaching about barrie start here
Financial Freedom: How To Be CFO OfYour Own LifeBy Bar r ie Dav e np o r t Fo llo w Me On Tw it te r He r e
I admit I don’t enjoy managing money.
I get no thrill from scrutinizing my investments, analyzing the stock market, and
pondering ways to make my money work for me. I definitely don’t enjoy paying bills,
creating spreadsheets, and tracking expenses.
Money has always felt abstract to me. The majority of it sits somewhere in a bank,
and the numbers go up and down based on computerized transactions I don’t see.
Cash in hand is a different matter, but I don’t keep gobs of it hanging around.
Knowing my own limitations and how I wish to spend my time, I’ve hired someone to
help me with this — one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
When I was in my twenties and got my first credit card, I remember how dangerous
that little sucker was for me. All I had to do was present it when I wanted something,
and magically that something was in my possession. I had a painful awakening when
the bill arrived. The thrill of spending was quickly overshadowed by the angst of
mounting debt and interest.
Free 46 Page eBook + 5 Guides.
Join 20,071 readers
Enter your name and email below.
Name:
Email:
DOWNLOAD NOW >>>
5/3/2014 Financial Freedom: How To Manage Your Financial Life
http://liveboldandbloom.com/04/money/financial-freedom 2/5
I learned my lesson (mostly) and tried to keep credit card spending at a minimum.
However, there were plenty of times early in married life when we tried to keep up
with the Joneses, lived beyond our means, and paid only the minimum amounts on
our cards in order to buy things we didn’t need or pay off other bills.
Although I didn’t come from wealth, I had a strange sense of financial entitlement
back in the day. Perhaps it related to the culture of the 1980′s and early ’90s with
the focus on accumulation and the appearance of having it all. We prioritized having
nice things and a big house over experiences and saving. And we also thought our
children needed every expensive lesson and extracurricular under the sun.
I believed, as most of my peers did at the time, that happiness in life was tied to
accumulation and the appearance of wealth. It took a while to learn you can’t sustain
the immediate thrill of spending, and that the pain of debt tends to hang around for a
very long time. As long as it takes to pay it off.
Nowadays, my definition of financial freedom has shifted. I want to shed material
things so I don’t have to maintain or care for them. I want a smaller house that
doesn’t require as much upkeep and expense. My spending priorities relate to
building my business and saving for travel, an important experiential goal for me.
And although I don’t like managing money, I want it managed well so it can grow for
my eventual retirement.
At midlife, I’ve finally found financial freedom
and became CFO of my own life.
I’ve learned to manage my finances in my personal life as though I were running my
business. Being an entrepreneur, I find the two are inextricably linked anyway. And
more importantly, I have a purpose for my financial goals related to making an
impact on the world by helping others, experiencing and exploring as much of this
beautiful planet as I possibly can, and continuing to learn and grow for the rest of my
life.
J.D. Roth, founder of the award-winning personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly, and
creator of the personal finance course by the same name, advises having a purpose is
a powerful foundation for your financial freedom.
“Most personal finance advice skips this important step. The financial gurus will tell
you how to scrimp and save, but they somehow forget to mention the why. When you
have a why, you can bear with almost any how because you understand that when
you opt to save for the future instead of spending on today, you’re not making a
sacrifice. You’re choosing to buy your future freedom,” says J.D.
Financial freedom begins with defining your “why” — the reasons you want to handle
your money wisely and proactively. But once you define that why, then what?
According to J.D. Roth, becoming the CFO of your own life requires a particular state
of mind. He reminds, “Instead of assuming you’re a victim of circumstance, I assume
that you are the master of your own fate. Sure, you’re a part of the overall economy
and subject to both lucky and unlucky breaks, but ultimately you’re in charge.
Your circumstances may not be your fault, but they’re your responsibility. You are
the Chief Financial Officer of your own life.”
If the idea of taking personal responsibility for your financial freedom and becoming
Live Bold and Bloom
6,088 people like Live Bold and Bloom.
Facebook social plugin
Like
most popular
25 Inspiring Self-Confidence
Quotes
50 Things You Can Do To
Improve Your Self-Esteem
36 Ways to Be Irresistibly
Attractive
20 Things Confident People Never
Do
99 Ways To Feel Good About
Yourself Right Now
Relationship Questions To Ask
For an Intimate Relationship
How Introverts Might Rule The
World
Fear Of Intimacy
How To Be Beautiful
5/3/2014 Financial Freedom: How To Manage Your Financial Life
http://liveboldandbloom.com/04/money/financial-freedom 3/5
your own CFO appeals to you, here are the first three steps J.D. suggests you follow
in order to get started:
Step 1: Create a personal mission statement
A mission statement helps you define that purpose we talked about earlier. This
mission statement will keep you motivated when times get tough as you work on
paying off debt, managing your money, and saving. It also keeps you on track with
the specific plans you create to reach your goals.
Every business has a mission outside of simply making money. According to Jerry
Porras and Jim Collins, authors of the book Built To Last, “Visionary companies
pursue a cluster of objectives of which making money is only one—and not
necessarily the primary one.Yes, they seek profits, but they’re equally guided by a
core ideology—core values and sense of purpose beyond just making money.”
As you develop your personal mission statement, be sure to keep it simple. Begin
with a narrow focus, and then broaden it later as you gain more clarity. Your
statement should be no more than a single paragraph — or shorter.
As you write it, be completely honest with yourself. Your statement should be unique
to you, your values and your experience. Don’t try to imitate somebody else. Don’t
think about what you’re “supposed” to do, but what you want to do. Make your
mission a reflection of who you are and what you want to achieve in life.
Step 2: Set clear goals
Your mission statement defines your purpose, and your goals reinforce that purpose
by keeping you focused on what’s important.They organize your actions and give
them meaning.
Once you clarify your mission, the next step is to outline specific, attainable goals that
serve as milestones along the path to financial freedom. You’ll want to set short-
term, intermediate, long-term, and on-going goals related to your lifestyle, family,
and business.
Many of these goals should be SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable,
relevant, and timed), although they all don’t have to fit this criteria. As long as they
are motivating and important to you and your purpose, they are worth including in
your plans.
Keep your mission statement in front of you as you outline your goals. Create a
category for short-term, long-term, etc., and begin writing down all of the goals that
come to mind. Again, you can refine these over time as you work toward them.
Step 3: Develop an action plan
You personal financial action plan should be viewed as the business plan for your life.
It provides the specific roadmap and schedule for achieving your goals and actualizing
your purpose.
One of the best ways to begin with your action plan is by looking at each goal and
setting a completion date. Put those dates firmly on your calendar, and then begin
working backward. What do you need to do in order to meet those deadlines? What
advertise here
5/3/2014 Financial Freedom: How To Manage Your Financial Life
http://liveboldandbloom.com/04/money/financial-freedom 4/5
Leave a Comment
actions do you need to take and when do those actions need to be handled?
Write down all of these steps and plot them on your calendar. You might also keep a
master “to do” list of all of the actions you must take in a given month or quarter.
This allows you to re-prioritize when necessary and have a birds-eye view of
everything on your plate.
Your definition of financial freedom may be different from mine, but whatever it is, it
does require personal responsibility, a purpose, and a plan. Begin to view your life
with the same serious intention as you would your business. Become your own CFO
and recreate your financial future.
If you need guidance, support, and detailed instructions (as I would) on becoming
your own CFO and building your wealth, I highly recommend J.D. Roth’s
comprehensive and easy-to-follow course, Get Rich Slowly, to show you the way.
It’s easy-on-the-budget and offers both an immediate download of course materials,
as well as a full year’s worth of weekly lessons. Amazing stuff!
Click the banner below to learn more:
photo credit: Lara Cores
Tagged With: finances, financial freedom, personal finance
Speak Your Mind
Name *
Email *
Website
Post Comment
5/3/2014 Financial Freedom: How To Manage Your Financial Life
http://liveboldandbloom.com/04/money/financial-freedom 5/5
about
Support
Advertise
About
Guest Posting
resources
Your Type
Affiliates
Passion Course
Archives
Free Starter Kit
coaching
Blog Coaching
Career Coaching
Coachability Test
shop
Shop
Books and Stuff
Bold Life Videos
connect
Contact Me
© 2014 Bloom Life & Blog Coaching | Contact | Archives | Advertise |
