Vol. 30 -The One Thing People Should Remember About Money
In this conversation, we talk about money being a tool. We discuss:
What you focus on grows
Setting goals for your goals
Budgeting apps to help you in setting goals
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TRANSCRIPT:
Naseema McElroy: [00:00:00] Welcome back Nurses on Fire. We are joined again with our beautiful certified financial planner. Leisa Peterson. Hey Leisa.
Leisa Peterson: [00:00:10] Hey there.
Naseema McElroy: [00:00:13] And today I just wanted to talk about like, what is the one thing people should really remember when it comes to money?
Leisa Peterson: [00:00:24] First of all, money is a tool. But the other piece that I think people don't always think about is the fact that what we pay attention to in life grows, this applies to our relationships.
This applies to our money. This applies to our. Body and I mean, hopefully grows, I'll say with our body like grows stronger. We don't, I don't think we needed to grow bigger. Like, no, that's not the point, but with money on the other hand, it's amazing because I remember way back and I shared this with you before, but not necessarily in this context, it was about setting goals and.
Saying, this is what I want. And then checking my net worth statement on a pretty frequent basis to say, am I actually moving the needle? Am I getting there there? And just that attention, two things, intention and attention I'm day gather to allow us to. Make more of it. Save more of it, invest more of it.
But if we're not paying attention, most of the time it doesn't do what we most want.
Naseema McElroy: [00:01:41] That's funny. And it just clicked for me just now. I mean like that's the whole reason why my platform is called financially intentional because it wasn't that I made more money or that I like did anything drastic to.
Get the money. I have the money successes or the financial gains that I have. It's just that I started paying attention and I was being intentional with my money. And then I just created a plan around it. So oftentimes what I hear people say is, you know, Oh, when I make more or when this thing happens or when I get this job, or when I'm in this relationship, then I can do those things.
But it's really like being with who you are right now in that moment and focusing on what you can do in that moment to change things and focus on that. And, I have a mentor that likes to say, be, do have, instead people like. Operate from a place of when I get something, then I'll have it. Instead of being the person that has it in the moment and operating like that.
And I think that's what focusing on it is. And, so I really liked that. I also, what sometimes like can aggravate people, or sometimes they'll push a button for some people is, when. You say a phrase like you can kind of tell where people's attention is, are what they're focused on by looking at their bank account.
Right.
Leisa Peterson: [00:03:20] Totally. Really. It's so amazing to me because. I think that I am working on some business coaching stuff. And there is absolutely no question in my mind that the more we pay attention to cash flow management in our businesses. The more likely we are to have success and we can apply this for our business or for our personal life.
That even something as simple as this, let's say we have a goal of making sure $10,000 on a monthly basis in our business. And if we're not paying attention to the expenses, we won't know the bottom line and what what's coming through. If we don't pay attention to how much we've brought in, again, we won't know if we're going to hit the target, but.
If every single week we had to check in and we have the 10,000. So that means on average, we should be making about $2,500 a week in order to achieve that objective. But if we get to the 15th day of the month and we've got a thousand dollars versus $5,000 we're and we're willing to look at it and own it, It's like, well, okay.
I've made a commitment to actually achieving that $10,000. So what am I going to do today to get that money coming in between now and the end of the month? And if you don't have a target, there's a really good chance as a business owner. You're not gonna check distantly, get to those numbers, but if you're paying attention, It's amazing.
The human mind will be like, Oh, I need to call that person. I need to follow up on keep collecting that money. That person owes me or whatever it is, we take care of it. And we can do the same exact thing in our personal life.
Naseema McElroy: [00:05:03] Yes. You're speaking directly to my heart. That's as good as I am with my personal expenses, my business expenses, but it is definitely like something that.
You can totally get your head, like put your head down and get bogged down with work in the doing of things and not really paying attention. So I don't want people to feel like they're doing something wrong. It's just that we get caught up in the day to day, our day to day actions. And that's outside of business just day to day life you get so bogged down with it.
It's like at the end of the day, if you don't set time and like, I actually really plan on focusing on those things. It's going to get away from you over and over and over again until before, you know, time passes and you haven't taken action, all the things that you really want to take action on. Not because you didn't intend to, but just because you weren't intentional about it.
So I really love that, Lisa. So yes, the money is what you focus on, like, and what you focus on is what grows, what you focus on. Growth.
Leisa Peterson: [00:06:12] I love it.
Naseema McElroy: [00:06:14] Yes. And so, I think like for people just in their personal lives, like what would you just recommend them do? Like right now to turn that around, to shift their focus on what their goals are.
Leisa Peterson: [00:06:29] So I, I'm sure you talk about this on a regular basis, but yeah, something like why NAB, you need a budget.com or some kind of tracking tools. So people use men, they use quick, you know, Quicken, they use lots of different apps, but. You can even do it on a spreadsheet. It's just have something that allows you to track what's happening.
And, the other piece is, yeah. I mean, what do you normally recommend a SEMA? Cause that's, what's coming to my mind.
Naseema McElroy: [00:07:02] It's creating a plan. So for years and years, I thought, yeah, because like I was using meth and I was tracking my transactions that I kind of had an understanding of where my money was going and what was happening with my money, but it wasn't until I kind of shifted and created a plan, a plan in that dance for my money, and then told my many where to go in advance and then was able to measure the success of that, that I saw.
Like real financial gains. And so I think like tracking is one thing and keeping up with your numbers, but like shifting that relationship and telling your money, like, this is where I wanted to go. Like you said, in the beginning, like if you have that goal of making $10,000 a month, then you knowing, okay, this is our goal.
This is what we have to hit. And I think that that's a component that's often missing in people's financial plans. So yeah.
Leisa Peterson: [00:07:55] Yeah. And why navs sets you up pretty well, to be able to do that, like they're one example where you can designate that money and you can see where things are going and how you're saving and all kinds of different tools that allow you to, I think they're building off of this envelope system, but this idea that, and it's, it's taken it's, it's going to yep.
Hide in a certain way. And you're already deciding those things ahead of time. I'm how much are you going to pay off in debt? How much you're going to save, how much you're going to contribute to your savings account for your vacations. So and so forth.
Naseema McElroy: [00:08:29] Yeah, I think why NAB is an incredible tool. And I know so many people who use it.
I never actually used it, but I have spoken to the. Crap founder and the creator of it. I actually use a tool, a Dave Ramsey tool called the dollar, which is zero based budget. It's a little bit simpler than why not, why NAB has the same functionality as that. But, it's, it's a little bit more advanced, but do whatever works for you?
So I'm not, I'm not like dogmatic when it comes to like the kind of tool that you have to use. I'm always a person that's going to say, do what works for you, but. You have to do it with intentionality. So I think that's the most important thing. Yeah. Yeah.
Leisa Peterson: [00:09:11] Yes. Thank you.
Naseema McElroy: [00:09:14] All right, Lisa, I think that, that was great.
And I think that it just, again, it's one of those things that we kinda know, but. We have to remind ourselves often, like, what are the things that we can do just right now? And even I needed that reminder actually. So thank you so much for that.
Hey there I’m Naseema
My dream is for everyone to know that financial independence is attainable with a little intentionality. Learn how I can help you finally break the cycle of living paycheck to paycheck.
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