The importance of money management

Poverty truly is a state of mind and even the richest of us, people with high-earning potential, still find themselves broke. I remember when the NBA had their lock-out, there were NBA players that were applying to jobs at Home Depot. Why would somebody making millions of dollars a year have to find a job at Home Depot to make ends meet? It boggles the mind but it happens and it happens a lot more than we realize. What I've come to understand and what I've come to learn is that it's not about the money or how much money you make. It's really about you manage your money. And a lot of that money management, believe it or not, comes from our self beliefs. So what we believe in ourselves, what we've been taught about money and how we discipline ourselves around money, really seem to be the culprits. So first, I'll talk a little bit about our beliefs. Often times we have beliefs that we are not good enough; we're not worthy; we have to prove something to people; sometimes we end up feeling, especially high-earners, they feel that they are a fake and they're gonna be found out so they spend buckets and buckets of money trying to impress people, trying to get people to believe that they're good enough. And the truth is the world already believes you're good enough. That belief is only in you, not in the people around you. So changing that belief system is key and really working on self-worth and really working on loving the person that you are and accepting the person that you are. Those beliefs start to change and you'll find that you won't have to spend the money on very big items to make yourself or to make other people feel better about you. The second area is around what we've been taught with money. So, we haven't really been given a good education, most of us, on how to save or how to invest or how to manage our money. One of the tips and tricks that I use for myself is when I know that money is coming in, the first thing I do is just separate it out. Separate it out into separate accounts so I know ten percent of my money is going to charity. I know that another 15% of my money is going to savings. I know that 5% is going to the children's education. So as soon as your money comes in, start separating it out. I know exactly what my expenses are and what I have to pay and when I have to pay them. It's really important to manage your money. Lastly, is that piece around education. Educating yourself around money is key that helps to change some of the beliefs that you have. It'll start to help you with self-esteem because you now have better control. It's a vicious cycle. You get the money, you mismanage the money, you feel bad. Self-esteem starts to come down. But the better you educate yourself around money, the better choices you start to make. And once you make those better choices, then you start to feel better about yourself. And when you feel better about yourself, you start making better choices. So, it becomes a positive reinforcement cycle for yourself. There are wonderful courses that you can take as things aren't very inexpensive. Dave Ramsey has a wonderful series that he does to educate people about money. Very very important. And lastly, be patient with yourself. Getting into financial problems, having low self-esteem, those things didn't happen overnight. So restoring your self-esteem, restoring the love for yourself, understanding how to manage your money is gonna take time and you're gonna make mistakes but be patient with yourself and know that overtime, you are going to get to exactly where you need to be.