Personal Finance Counseling Session 1

Following is an excerpt from a counseling session i had with a client. You may catch a few gems which you could use in your financial plan.

PERSONAL FINANCE COUNSELLING: SESSION 1 

1)      Thank God everyday because you have an income. This means you have something to enable you learn how to budget and also how to prioritize expenses.

2)      Pay Yourself First. Before you consider paying for anything with your income, set aside some money for yourself every month. The recommended amount is 10% i.e. 10% X 10,000 = 1,000. Start with something, however small.

If you do this starting in January, on X-mas day you will be smiling all the way to the shopping mall knowing you can blast 12,000/= if you needed to.

3)      Understand how you are spending your time and money. I suggest you make 2 types of analysis.

Expenditure Budget A. List your expenses into 2 categories; FIXED and VARIABLE. Fixed includes transport 2,000/= etc. Variable includes food, clothing, church offering, entertainment etc. 

 If you think creatively, you can cut the variable by almost half. For example, entertain yourself in ways that don't need your cash outlay, eat at home instead of restaurants, recycle old clothes that people forgot you had etc. Click here for more tips. How much can you save each month by being creative? ………………………./=

Expenditure Budget B. List your monthly expenses into 3 categories; Savings/Investments, Personal Development and Consumables. Start with savings/investments. This is the amount you pay yourself first and other amounts you set aside to buy land, a house, start a business etc. Personal development is expenditure related to self improvement e.g. education, finance books, motivational seminars etc By default, anything else that is not considered savings, investment or personal development should fall into consumables category.

What % of your expenditure is savings/investments?    .............%

What % of your expenditure is personal development? .............%

What % of your expenditure is consumable?                 .............%

How many hours in a week do you spend on enquiring or learning about savings/investments?    .............%

How many hours in a week do you spend on personal development?    .............%

How many hours in a week do you spend on leisure/entertainment?       ............%

 4)      What is your desired income level? 


What kind of lifestyle would you like, irrespective of how much you are earning right now? 

For example: I would like to pay myself 10,000/= per month, spend 15,000/= on investments, spend 3,000/= on personal development, live in a four bedroom house renting for 20,000/=, driving a car costing 500,000/= whose monthly expenditure is 10,000/=, spend 8,000/= on food and entertainment, spend 2,000/= on church and donations, spend 2,000/= on communication and 5,000/= on other expenses. Total expenses are 75,000/=. Hence the desired income level is 75,000/= X 1.3 = 97,500/= after taxes. 

This exercise does 2 basic things. One- It creates a goal and it opens your mind to desire to a better lifestyle and your adrenaline starts flowing. You are now ready to make a sacrifice or work harder or smarter to reach your desired income level. Two – If you think about the desired income and the lifestyle it will afford you and if you can imagine and dream about how happy you will be, you set in motion a process in which the world will start to bring you opportunities that will lead to your desire. 

Here is an exercise for you to do every morning for the next 30 days and let us see if you will receive at least one miracle. Pray your normal prayers and be at peace with God, everyone and everything. Then say, "I would like to earn …….per month or better." (Insert your desired income level in the ……..). Then imagine yourself living the kind of lifestyle the desired income will afford, e.g., see yourself relaxing with a smile in the plush living room of your beautiful home watching a 50-inch plasma TV, then driving in your sleek red sports bmw then flying first class on vacation with your significant other etc. etc. then wake up and go about your business as usual. 

However, keep your ears and eyes open. Fate, God and/or The Source will start giving you cues. For example someone will introduce you to someone senior in their company. This is a cue for you to start a small rapport with that person and ask for a meeting. It doesn't matter that this person is not in HR. She could be a sister to the HR Manager of Citizens Bank. Or you may have some time on your hands and a friend tells you she is going to drop a message at XYZ office. This is a cue to follow the person. This may be the place where your application for double your pay is awaited. This may be the job you need now that will later catapult you to the 100K target. 

 Tell me what has happened in your life after the 30-day experiment.  

 5)      Be inspired. Read autobiographies of great people. It is so easy to do this on the internet for free. I normally use  www.wikipedia.com because they have short summaries but at the library you can borrow Cds and books for free. Read quotes by famous people on www.brainyquotes.com

 6)      Be educated on personal finance. If you click on the following link you will see some basic books that I have recommended on my website www.MyMoneyTips.Weebly.com/ten.html

7)      Pursue your purpose with passion. I would like to believe that your life has a bigger purpose in this world than just going to work 8-5. Start thinking about this now. The way to start is to consider the 3 or so things that make you feel excited when you accomplish them. These are the 3 or so things that would bring real happiness in your life if you did them instead of going to work 8-5. List them down. In later sessions we will figure out how to live your desired lifestyle while accomplishing your higher purpose. 
 

Quote: Find your purpose and you will never work a day in your life.

Quote: Nothing really is work - unless you would rather be doing something else. 

Please send in your homework to Q 2,3,4 within 48 hours. Update me weekly on how you are doing on Q5,6,7. Even if it's nothing, let me know you did nothing. No explanation is required. 

 Best wishes. Reply to [email protected]