Goals / Taking Action Archives

07Feb 2022 by Elizabeth No Comments

6 Ways Friendship Affects Your Money

Love, friends, and money. What’s the connection? This month (since it’s Valentine’s Day, after all), we are talking about relationships, connection, and money. First up, friendships and social connection. How do they impact your money? How Friendship Affects Your Money Yes, your friendships have a direct impact on your finances. Here are six ways your friendships affect your money. 1. Friends Influence Your Spending Choices Keeping up with the Jones’ is a real phenomenon. If your friends are all spending a lot of money, buying larger houses, fancier cars, or enrolling kids in private school, it will cause you to think you should do the same. If your friends’ spending is making you uncomfortable with your own spending choices, it may be time to get some new friends. 2. Friends…

31Jan 2022 by Elizabeth No Comments

15 Lifelong Habits That Will Make You Rich

Goals / Taking Action

How do you get rich? It’s about forming good daily habits with money, but it’s also about things you only do once in a while. Habits That Will Make You Rich These habits will make you rich. However, if you can’t do them all, don’t worry. Start with the ones you can do, then add others on as your financial health improves. 1. Spend Less than You Earn If you spend more than you earn, you are never going to get rich. Make spending less than you earn a habit for life. 2. Earn Your Employer 401k/403b Match If your employer offered you a raise, would you turn it down? Of course not! So if your employer matches your contributions to your 401k/403b or another retirement account, you want to…

19Jan 2022 by Elizabeth 2 Comments

15 Best Money Habits You Should Do Every Day

Goals / Taking Action

Are you ready to improve your finances with little things you can do every day that will make a big difference? Start with our ultimate guide on how to form good habits, and then start doing at least six to eight of these daily money habits to improve your finances every single day. Top Daily Money Habits Implementing these money habits can help you start earning and saving more money. Here are the top habits to try today! 1. Cook Dining out really puts a dent in your wallet. Cooking delicious, healthy foods every day will add up to thousands of dollars in savings over the course of a year. 2. Avoid Processed Foods & Drinks Processed foods hit your finances in two ways. First, in the short run, they…

17Jan 2022 by Elizabeth 1 Comment

The Ultimate Guide to Forming Good Habits: 19 Proven Ways to Develop Habits that Stick

Goals / Taking Action

I’ve read a lot of books on habits, ranging from “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg, to “Better Than Before” by Gretchen Rubin, to “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, to “Tiny Habits” by BJ Fogg. I’ve also listened to numerous podcasts on the subject (my favorite being a recent one from Dr. Andrew Huberman). Not only have I learned a lot about habits, I’ve practiced them. I’ve built up numerous good habits in recent years that have allowed me to become fitter than I’ve ever been, richer than I’ve ever been, and happier than I’ve ever been. So what is the secret to building good habits? I’ve got a few. Based on what I’ve read, listened to, and practiced, here is my top advice about how to form good…

08Dec 2021 by Elizabeth No Comments

3 Reasons to Make Resolutions in December Rather than January

Goals / Taking Action

For the past few years, I have focused my December on what I call “Make Ready December.” My framework for being my most productive self is to prepare, work, and recover. I use December as a month of preparations. Preparing is a form of resolution-making. While most people set their resolutions in January, I find December to be a better month. Why You Should Make Resolutions in December Here are the top three reasons why you should make resolutions today. 1. It’s a More Realistic and Less Optimistic Time of Year I always find December to be one of the busiest times of the year. Between finalizing work goals, hitting up holiday parties, and buying and wrapping presents, we need to find time to actually enjoy the lights, the snow, and the…

08Sep 2021 by Elizabeth No Comments

7 Things Every Woman Needs to Know about Spending Her Money

Goals / Taking Action

I always think of September as a second fresh start to the year. With kids heading back to school, there is something in the air that exudes a restart. After Labor Day is a great time to reflect on the year so far and determine what you still want to accomplish. For anything that has gotten off track, it’s a good time to start anew. In the spirit of back to school, back to basics, we are running a “What Every Woman Needs To Know About Money” series this month. To start off, we will cover what every woman needs to know about spending money. Things Women Should Know About Spending We all spend money. How you spend your money is mostly up to you, and we will get to…

05May 2021 by Elizabeth No Comments

5 Ways Exercise Will Help You Grow Rich

Goals / Taking Action

May is fitness month at Women’s Money. Why? First, because this site is about helping you fund your freedom. If you’re sick, tired all the time, or not healthy, you aren’t going to be able to enjoy the life you worked so hard to earn. More importantly, because I believe that the more fit you are, the richer you will be. How Exercise Benefits Your Finances Here are five ways exercise will help you grow rich. 1. Studies Prove that Fitness Is Correlated to Higher Earnings A study published in 2012 found that those who exercise regularly earn 9% more on average than those who don’t. Think of what nearly 10% more earnings could do to quicken your pace (no pun intended) towards financial freedom. 2. Exercise Saves Money on Health…

10Mar 2021 by Elizabeth No Comments

How to Map Your Own Path

Goals / Taking Action

If you haven’t yet downloaded the Women’s Money Fund Your Freedom Toolkit, now is your chance. The toolkit provides a complete plan to help you achieve the freedom you want. One of my favorite pages in the toolkit is the Map Your Future worksheet. This worksheet is designed to be a printable page that you can post on your wall and help you reach your goal. To help you get started, I’ve asked Sam to share her page. What does freedom look like to Sam? It’s taking a year-long sabbatical. Here is her Roadmap to Taking a Year Off: Now I’ll help you create yours. General Guidance The way to read the road map is that the top row is who you are now, the bottom row is who you will be…

13Jan 2021 by Elizabeth No Comments

How to Find Fulfillment at Work

Goals / Taking Action

Across the board, research on happiness and fulfillment reveals the critical importance of feeling like you are making an impact. Does your work matter? To feel fulfilled and find happiness at work, you need to be able to answer this question with a “yes.” How to Find Fulfillment at Work Depending on your role and where you work, it may be hard to feel like your work makes a difference. Thankfully, there are two easy solutions for this. 1. Ask yourself three questions. Angela Duckworth’s Grit details three questions to ask yourself to increase your satisfaction in your job. First, how does the work you’re already doing contribute to society? Let's say you work in marketing for a healthcare company and your goal is to sell more of a particular type…

04Jan 2021 by Elizabeth No Comments

Why You Should Use the New Year to Set a Money Resolution

Goals / Taking Action

It’s a New Year. It’s a Monday. It’s the beginning of the month. All of these are reasons to embrace a fresh start for your finances and your future. But is this a good approach? And if so, why? It turns out there is enormous power in starting something new on a fresh turn of the calendar page. In Dan Pink’s book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Pink writes about “temporal landmarks.” Temporal landmarks are key dates or points of time in the calendar. These can include a new year, a holiday, or a birthday. They prompt us to reflect on the old and the new. Think about your most recent birthday. Didn’t you reflect on how quickly or slowly the year had gone? About what you did…