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Dealing With Financial Fear
By Miata Edoga of Abundance Bound, Inc
People generally fear anything to do with finances (unless, of course, they have won the lottery). In fact, this may be the number one thing that people AVOID. We can be very good at justifying why we really don’t need to concern ourselves with our financial state of being “right now”. These justifications include: “Something is going to happen really soon that will turn things around”, “My debt isn’t that bad”, “I’m still so young; I’ll start saving soon”, “I’ll deal with the bills later.” So what are the real reasons we don’t want to deal with our finances? There are four primary reasons for this avoidance and they tend to stem from what we have learned – or not learned – about finances and life as we were growing up. Each of these reasons are presented below, with a solution for how to make the necessary changes for your benefit. We are uncomfortable talking about money: Most of us simply aren’t raised to be truly comfortable with the topic of money. It is rarely freely spoken about. Many of us were taught us that it was rude or otherwise inappropriate to discuss money. Perhaps you grew up in a home in which your parents did not know how to manage finances. Of course, it was never appropriate to share what you were earning or how much things cost and if you had debt you certainly never told anyone. We are also never taught about money in school. A remarkably small number of students ever took classes on personal finance, debt management, investing, building residual income, setting financial goals, or any other topics that are so obviously critical in real, day-to-day life. Solution: Start talking honestly about money with people you trust. At Abundance Bound we encourage our clients to work with a friend who also wants to make financial changes, and commit to helping and supporting each other without any judgment. Start sharing what things cost – how else can we find the best deals and bargains? Be truthful about your financial struggles and even your debt. This will bring it out in the open so you can no longer pretend it doesn’t exist. Make a commitment to learning about money. Read books, take classes, get help creating a personal financial plan that will work for you regardless of how desperate your financial situation may seem. It is unfamiliar, so we feel like failures: It naturally follows that, if we were not taught about financial management as we grew up and may have even gotten the message that it was a taboo subject, it is going to feel very unfamiliar. And as everything that is new, it is going to be difficult at first. As trite as it may seem to remind you that you didn’t just jump on a bike and start riding, the same is going to be true when you start learning to handle your finances. There are going to be things you don’t understand. When you first start getting yourself financially organized, setting up filing systems and ways of tracking your income and expenses, it may take days, even weeks to get it all in place. “I’m not any good at this,” is a common decision we make, and quitting is not far behind. Solution: Recognize that money management is a game. This isn’t to imply that money management is not serious. Money impacts your life in meaningful ways. After all, we all need a roof over our heads, food to eat, and clothes to wear. But allow yourself the time to learn to play. Reward yourself for the small wins – the freshly organized filing cabinet, the new deposits you start making each month into an account for investments, the debt plan you have put in place... Almost before you know it, strong financial habits will become your new way of life and you won’t be able to go back. You wouldn’t be able to stand it! Fear – it’s out of our control: Particularly as artists, we are afraid of really looking at our financial situation because we don’t think there is anything we can actually do about it. We frequently live our lives waiting for someone else to give us a break, an opportunity, rather than believing that very much lies within our control. Solution: Recognize that this is just a story we’ve been telling ourselves and it simply isn’t true! Artists are some of the hardest working, most intelligent people in the world. We have to own that power and stop existing from a place of neediness. Find mentors. Surround yourself with people who are playing big games and join in – follow their lead. As long as we are willing to learn, to take some chances and think outside of the box, we can all find ways to significantly improve our finances. Time Management – we feel overwhelmed by the amount of work there is to do: Time management is also something many of us were never taught as we were growing up. We tend to think of managing our finances like it is one enormous job. “I don’t have time to deal with my finances.” We look at all of the work involved in getting and keeping our finances in order and we either say we’ll schedule the time in and never do or we just decide that we can’t fit it into our lives. After all, we don’t want to be distracted from our creative careers. Solution: Stop focusing so much on the big picture and start breaking down your financial goals into small, manageable pieces. You don’t have to get organized in one fell swoop. Sit down and make a list of what it is going to take – then attack the list in 15-30 minute segments of time. If you find yourself with a free afternoon to do financial work, great, but it isn’t necessary. Pick a financial topic that interests you or some aspect of your finances that you feel is a priority, take a book out from the library, and read a chapter a day – even half a chapter! Yes, you are going to have to decide that this is important enough to add into your life, but it doesn’t have to take over your whole life. Far from it! The truth is that handling your finances will actually create more time and more energy in your life – you just have to begin. It is often said that awareness of a situation is half the battle. After awareness follows acceptance, for only after we truly accept it within ourselves will we do anything about it. Ask yourself this – Am I willing to do whatever it takes to change my life? After all, you are the only one who can change it, for the better – or the worse. Choose the better. |
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