A Budget System That Makes You the Money Expert of Your Life

0:00Here's the thing, your financial advisor might understand markets, but you understand your life. You know what you value, what you want, and what it'll take to get there. Before anyone else can guide your investments, you've got to be clear on your own money foundation. And that starts with knowing where your money is going and what you want to work toward. Inside this episode, I am sharing with you three tips that will help you be the expert of your money. Welcome to the Wealthy After 40 podcast, the show for Gen X women and couples who are ready to ditch financial stress and feel confident about retirement.

0:42I'm your host, Daylene Higgins, financial and retirement coach, helping Gen Xers master their money and create a personalized retirement plan so they can stop spinning their wheels and step boldly into their dream retirement. If you're feeling behind, don't worry. Continue listening to this podcast, as well as be sure to grab your free guide, 5 Must Do Steps to Start Retirement Planning Now at elevatefinances.us backslash must do. And remember, let's make retirement possible together. Welcome to the episode. I'm excited to help you understand why you are the expert of your money. and I will be sharing three tips on how to become the expert if you're not feeling quite so sure.

1:34You may have heard somebody say, I need a financial advisor, or another person says, oh yes, my financial advisor says to do X, Y, and Z. Advisors are great for wealth growth and investment strategy, which I am not an expert in, but if you don't have savings, that savings stream to invest, you first need to create that. I always say, if you need a savings stream to fund your financial advisor, you need a financial coach first. And if you want to grow that savings, again, that's your financial advisor. But being able to get the money there without overhauling or wrecking your current lifestyle, your current living, what you want, or over-saving with them, there's a lot of ways to view that.

2:28So really, it's coming down to who you are, what you want, and how much is that going to take. So I had been working with a client for several sessions when all of a sudden she says, in one of the sessions, she says, I realized I don't need to be a financial advisor to understand my money. And I said, wow, what a great realization and glad I could be a part of her gaining that confidence to help her know she was capable of doing all of these things. And now I'm here to share with you and help you gain that same confidence. Now, advisors are valuable. I have one. I did not get one until I actually retired.

3:13But I want you to understand you are the expert of your money and your life. You have a leg up on any financial professional you work with. Yes, me as well, because you know what your biggest desires are better than they do. They're going to be like, well, you just need this much money. But what if you don't have a solid understanding of what you want? That is very, very important. Having a solid understanding of what you want, what you can achieve and what it will take to get there is all in your hands and are the things that you need to understand before engaging a financial advisor. Why? Because it's crucial that you understand where your money is going so that when your advisor says you need to save X amount of money, you know if you have that or not.

4:11You shouldn't just be signing up to send them an amount that they determine is crucial for you. Now, you're right, but I need that. Yes, but if you don't have your foundational systems in place, this is going to put you upended. You're going to, you know, maybe have more debt than you need because planning for emergencies, there's no longer an option. You might not be enjoying your lifestyle. What if you have a job loss? You know, lots of things. So having your foundational systems in place is crucial. And it's also crucial to know what your desire is for your investments to fund in the future.

4:53What I mean by that is, what is your retirement lifestyle going to be? What are you hoping that this money will create? And understanding that and knowing that helps them get a better tune on the dollar amount, right? If we need only half of what we're living on, or if we need more than what we are currently living on, there's a whole lot to really kind of put into place. But you know what you want. So when I retired, I had a type of account that if I left it there, I could access it at any point. So my other, my 401s, I ended up rolling into an IRA with a financial advisor. He knew about this other account, but when I did that, I earmarked it for the need of, I knew I would be moving in the future and it would support us in that move.

5:52Now I didn't have it specialized like exactly these steps, but it was allotted to the fact of when we move, this money is there and it's going to cover, you know, any gaps or any, you know, extra stuff we want or need, whatever it is that is there. So I left it there. And as we moved, and as you know, I didn't know if we were going to need it to cover closing costs or anything like that, because, you know, we were really close on the market. I reached out to my financial advisor, I said, Hey, do you have a high yield savings account that I can move this money into and hold it there just now. He says, but you need to grow it.

6:30And I said, no, that is the money you're working with. This money is earmarked for this. And it's great on his part to remind me that there is growth and I need to be considerate of that. But as the individual and overseer of money, so I'm trying to relay that to you, earmarking your accounts for different things is also crucial, also crucial. So you definitely need to know what to do when, because they're in the mode of you've just got to keep growing, you've just got to keep growing, but what, at what point are you going to be able to relish in this wealth you've grown? And understanding these foundational things will help you have a better discussion with them.

7:18You will be able to help them help you make best financial decisions. And you know, they want to help you continue to grow your money because that is how they make their money. And that's their main focus. And not saying they're not good at their job, they need to make a living too, that's great. But it's still my money, I still get an earmarked, I still understand what I am trying to achieve, and we're a partnership in this. And that is how you need to have that foundationally to be able to talk with them about that. I worked with an amazing couple and they came to me seeking support and knowing how much they needed or how much they were living on every month.

8:06They were posed this question by their financial advisor. How much are you living on every month? And she being busy with career, raising kids. She's like, I just kind of let it go by the wayside. She's like, I need your help. I helped them get a daily money system in place, which includes budgeting and tracking, you know, making sure all of the things are flowing together so that they could work better with their financial advisor. So they could, you know, really dial into that number and give him that answer. We also devised a dual growth system for savings to make sure that they were prepared on the home front, not just for long term.

8:48They had already done that. They were five years away from retirement, but number one, didn't know how much they were living on. And number two, the other gap I saw was this savings, which you hear me talk about for emergencies, sinking funds, all of those things. So helping them create the flow, in 90 days, they were able to save$11 ,000 for these funds. And 10 months later, she sent me this wonderful email. So I'm going to read it to you. 10 months after we had our first session with you, we find ourselves in an amazing place with our finances. We have all of our big yearly payments set aside, buckets for travel, medical, gifts, home, home repairs, car, etc.

9:34They're filling up quickly. We are pleased with the method you educated us on to help us organize and feel at ease and confidence with where our money is going. We are no longer holding our breath with pressure about our future finances, but taking deep cleansing breaths. Each month, we gain more confidence. So I just say, if you are looking for help are similar results as my clients. Schedule a free Clarity Connection call and let's begin exploring that process. You can schedule that call at elevatefinances.us backslash connection. The link is also down in the show notes. Let's start exploring what that would look like for you.

10:23You know, my clients were amazing as well as the one who had that aha moment about, oh man, I can do this. All right, so three tips for what you need to do to become your expert of your money, and especially what you need to do prior to seeking out a financial advisor. If you already have one, no worries. Still think about these three and make sure that you've done them, you understand them, maybe have a better conversation with him, her in the future. So number one, it is crucial that you know your financial goals, which yes, is going to include retirement, but it's also what it's including now.

11:04And also know your retirement vision. What is that lifestyle? What do you want to be doing? What is it going to take? And understanding those wholeheartedly is like, I want to be able to do these two things before I retire. And in retirement, I want to do these five things. Get clear. Get clear, lay those out, and then you make them work. You make them work. Tip number two, it's time to stop avoiding the budget. You need to create a budget, just like my clients I just told you about realized, and understand how much you have available to save with your financial advisor, right? To be able to put into investments so that you're not overspending by saving, but also that budget will tell you how much you are spending.

11:59Then you can answer to your financial advisor, I need this much every month. Because then you're aware of your lifestyle, what you love, what you're keeping, what you need, this amount. I need this amount and being very solid on that. Number three, make sure you have a solid emergency fund and sets of sinking funds. You've got to have liquid cash at your fingertips, which is what those items are. Not everything needs to be invested for your future. You will derail progress if you don't have that set into place. Not having this is really financial, being financially fragile. You know, even creating a small amount first is going to help you have some more stability.

12:53And that is your goal. That is your goal. So I invite you to schedule your Clarity Connection call, and let's chat about your retirement vision and goals, and the challenges you feel are standing in your way. Maybe you're not clear about what your goals really are, maybe what your vision is, and you want somebody to talk you through them. That's the perfect place to do that. And you can book that call at elevatefinances.us backslash connection, and let's chat and let's find a solution and get you headed to retirement. So to summarize this episode, you are the expert of your money. You know what your heart desires.

13:36You know what you want your hard-earned money to do for you. Starting with those three things before you venture out or before your next visit with your financial advisor, know your financial goals and retirement vision. Get clear on those and they can change. They can change. So if it's been a while since you've done that, make sure you do it again. Number two, create a budget. Knowing how much you have available for savings, right? Savings, and that goes to tip three. So you're going to be separating that savings between investments and emergency fund and sinking funds. But also that budget was going to help you know how much you are spending every month and how much you need in retirement every month.

14:22It gives you a better regulator of this is my lifestyle. this is what I want it to be in retirement, or this is what I want to add. That budget helps you define all of those things. And again, that savings amount to begin building up your financial stability through your emergency funds and sinking funds, because having cash on hand throughout life is crucial, is crucial. And yeah. So I hope this episode has been helpful. I hope you understand you are the expert. You get to drive the, you know, the boat, the bus, the whatever, as you bring on your financial team to support you in being able to achieve that.

15:09So make sure you do those three things, determine what your next best step is, and we'll see you in the next episode.

15:20Thank you for spending this time with me. If you're not already following the show, be sure to hit subscribe so you don't miss what's coming next. And I'd love to stay connected with you between episodes. So come join me inside my Facebook community, Retirement Ready Hub for Gen Xers. It's where we're having real conversations about money, sharing wins, working through challenges and building a clear path toward retirement. And remember, retirement isn't just a dream, it's a plan and you get to make it possible.