The More You Know

How often do you feel inspired about your money?  Truly inspired?  Have you ever felt that way?  I suppose that I'm one of the lucky few that generally do feel inspired about my money and planning the next series of financial moves in my life. Now what's funny is that I just finished having a conversation with the real estate professional that is helping my partner and me through a real estate transaction.  At this juncture in the process, I feel anything but inspired.  Real estate transactions in NYC have their own set of steps that can be very different from the ones in more traditional markets, and we happen to be at a point in the process that involves a lot of moving parts.  There are so many different moving parts at this particular stage that it leaves me feeling a little nervous.  When I stop to think about what makes me feel that way, it often boils down to the unknown.  When I either don't understand something or don't entirely know what to expect, I experience those lower emotions which are much closer to overwhelm than they are to inspiration.  Now to be clear, our real estate professional is fabulous.  She clarifies things frequently, and in the process, I am able to climb the emotional scale to a significantly better place. The contrast I'm experiencing when measuring my typical experience of feeling inspired about my money against the up-and-down feelings at varying stages of this homebuying process has lead me to a realization.  It's much easier to feel inspired about things you understand.  

I only really experience these lower emotions when there are a lot of things going on, and a number of them feel a little unclear to me.  If I feel as though I understand and my steps are extremely clear, it's much easier for me to feel inspired even if there are a lot of things going on at once. Financial nervousness doesn't come up for me often honestly. I believe this is because I've spent so many years educating myself on as many financial tools, concepts, and strategies as possible. So, there aren't many times I find myself in a position where I don't already know how something works.

So, this leads me to a question.  Are there any areas within your financial life where you often experience lower emotions? Now ask yourself, "Do I feel like I really, genuinely understand those particular areas of my financial life?"  It's okay to admit to ourselves when there are things we do not understand.  In fact, that might be the first step to moving up the emotional scale and securing our financial future.  When we begin to know what we don't know, we can take the steps appropriate to get really clear so as to move forward in the direction of that which we truly want.

This past week, I conducted two free workshops called "Supersize Your Retirement."  My workshop is geared toward teachers that work in the city.  My goal is to provide some education around the various retirement savings opportunities that are available to us.  This came to me because years ago I learned that in addition to a tax-deferred annuity (which I knew about), we had access to 401ks and 457s (both Roth and Traditional) through the city.  There really wasn't anything that I had seen advertising that fact.  So, I myself hadn't even been taking advantage of these opportunities.  Once I learned that they existed, I got really excited.  I could get really excited because I actually understood the magnitude of what that meant for me and my future.  I understood that the word "Roth" was a really big deal because it meant that I could save a lot of money on future taxes.  I understood that a 457 was a huge opportunity because I knew that it would give me the opportunity to save even more in a tax advantage account.  Are you seeing the theme here?  I knew these things...

What about the thousands of teachers that hadn't even heard about these opportunities?  Inspired Action is one of the most critical components of my process with Law of Attraction and personal finance, but how can you get inspired about things that you don't know anything about?  I made it a bit of a mission of mine to educate as many of the teachers as would listen to me about these opportunities and created a workshop that at least gives a decent overview of what these things even are and some of the attributes of these financial products.  I genuinely want other people to experience the same level of inspiration where personal finance is concerned that I experience more often than not.  Evaluating my own recent experience with overwhelm and uncertainty has reinforced a couple of things for me.  First, we absolutely must take the opportunity to educate ourselves about how some of these things work because the more we know, the more we have to get inspired about.  The more we understand, the less room for overwhelm to set in.  Secondly, I have realized the value of surrounding yourself with professionals that have a bit more knowledge than you do in certain areas.  Our real estate team is composed of people that all know a bit more than us, and spend the time teaching us and breaking things down so that we are able to make the best choices for ourselves.  Every time I have low feelings and reach out to one of them for a clarifying conversation, I walk away feeling better and able to take inspired action in the direction of that which I want.  When I think about how much I appreciate these professionals filling that role for my partner and me within the context of this transaction we're working on, I also think about how much I enjoy being that person for others.  Watching my coaching clients grown in their understanding of personal finance and coming to a place of inspired action is one of the most rewarding experiences for me.  I really enjoy being a part of that journey.

If you are one of the many people out there that experiences low feelings when a certain part of your financial life comes into focus, consider asking yourself if you need to learn more?  Are you having low feelings because you don't understand how something works?  Maybe you don't understand what to do?  If this sounds like you, there are a number of things you can do to help this flow in a better feeling direction for yourself:  Look for free workshops like the one that I just offered. A lot of people in the personal finance space offer different kinds of workshops and talks.  If you take a workshop with someone and resonate with them, see if they write articles on a blog or elsewhere that you can access to continue your education.  If they offer coaching or classes, and you're ready to take a deeper dive, maybe you should consider it.  It'll probably be worth the time and money if it helps you to secure your own financial future. If you literally don't know where to go for talks on financial topics, some smaller banks and credit unions offer workshops for their clientele (and many are free).  You can also find tons of personal finance writers in magazines and on social media.  You're bound to find someone you gel with. There's no one size fits all answer to building your knowledge and confidence, but there are opportunities out there, and very likely you will be able to find some that fit with your learning styles and preferences.  The more you know, the more you have to get inspired about, which will ultimately lead to a higher rate of success.