Happy New Year. This is the first episode for 2025. My goodness. I actually been pretty good writing 2025 when I had to write the date. But I did slip once and write 2024 so nearly not quite there yet. Um, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
It's one of those times of year. It's really, it feels like a time warp where life continue. Well time continues, life kind of continues but life also stops for a lot of industries and for a. And it's a time hopefully for gathering family, uh, and friends. Not always a happy time for a lot of people.
Like I've, I've spoken to a few this year who chose to spend Christmas on their own because they didn't want all of the drama that went with the big family gatherings. But um, for others it's a nice opportunity to get their families together. So it's, it's um, depends on, on what you have going on.
I know mine this year was probably a little bit quieter than usual which is actually really nice. Got to, to spend time with some close friends and really like take in the, the interaction as well. Not just rushing around getting food ready and you know, making sure everybody has a drink and all the, all the sort of, you know, rushy things.
And then New Year's was, was very quiet. Normally uh, we're out on our sailboat over New Year's but this year we decided to stay home. We went for a shorter trip um, than usual partly because last year's was still fresh in our minds and it wasn't an overly relaxing one.
Um, and also because the weather was so unpredictable, it looked like it was going to and storm and then it didn't and then anyway so we were, I was asleep on the couch by 10:30 on New Year's Eve, um, so was my daughter. We attempted to see it in, then my husband woke us up just before.
So anyway that's. So here we are 2025. It's a good opportunity even though technically from a financial year perspective in Australia at least it's halfway through the year. Uh, it feels like a natural point at which to do some reassessment, to do some planning, to do some reflection and to re establish our priorities.
So I also like to call it the wellness check in which is what today's episode is about. Doing a financial wellness check in. So you can do other wellness check ins as well for your actual like health, um, friendships, relationships, all of that. But today we're going to focus on the financial side.
So first of all, one of the things that I Learned out of 2024 is the. I mean, I do teach this, but I also experienced this as well last year is the importance of Clari. So the three things that we're going to cover today, clarity kind of underpins a lot of them.
So the first one is goals and how to set financial goals. The second one is then how to categorize your, uh, your spending and then how to budget more simply, um, without feeling like you're being constrained or that it's all too overwhelming. So having clarity around your money and your life, what you want, the lifestyle that you want, really is important because without that, it makes planning very much random.
And I hear that analogy a lot about throwing spaghetti against the wall. Um, and in some things in business, it's test and measure. So you kind of have to, in a way, like try things and see what works and what doesn't work. Um, but when it comes to your lifestyle, it is a little bit like that as well.
But you need to have some idea of where you're going so that when you need to make a decision, you can. Rather than just staying stuck in this inertia of, I don't know what to do, so I'm going to do Nothing. And then five years passes, and then 10 years pass, and then you're like, oh, I really wish I'd done that five years ago.
And then you still don't do anything because you're like, I don't know what to do. So another five years pass. And, um, I'm not immune to this either. I've experienced this as well. I even made. Because I do this process myself, and I did this over the, sort of the break after New Year's.
And I'm looking at going, huh, huh. How is it that I've never put money aside for this? I wish I'd done that about five years ago. Um, but it's better late than never. So I'm going to do it now and I can start to see the trajectory now. I just have to save a bit more into that account for the, this thing.
And then, um, in five years I'll have this, uh, and when I need it, I'll have that. Um, or it could be earlier than five years. So it's, um, it's an interesting exercise to do. So firstly, we'll look at goal setting and how to actually do this. So just as an example, um, one of the things that I do is I put money aside for travel.
It's my. It's My fun fund. Uh, if you've listened to anything that I've, I've done, I talk a lot about the importance of having a fun fund. For me it's travel, so I may as well just call it that. And this year we'll go back to see my father in law in Europe.
And then there's some, obviously this, airfares and insurance and costs and everything associated with that. So I have a target for that because I've done it before, I kind of know what it is. Although the Australian dollar against the Euro is crap, even more so than it was when we went last.
Um, so I'm going to have to up the budget a bit because we've also got inflation to take into account on top of the foreign exchange, you know, debacle. So that's, that's one thing. But then it's not just that that I'm saving for. I want to be able to do other little mini trips.
Like for instance, I'm taking my daughter away for a couple nights before the school holiday start of finish. Sorry. And then school starts and during the Easter break is when my mom and my daughter and I will have our annual girls trip. And there might be something else towards the end of the year, I'm not sure yet.
My, my cousin turns 50 and I'd really love to be able to uh, to go visit her or do something with her. So I need to, I need to budget for all of those things as well. And that's just this calendar year. Then there'll be more things for next year.
So I need to kind of keep a rolling budget going for those sorts of things. So I have sort of a rough idea of the value or the amount for that if you don't have a specific thing to, to save for. But you know you're going to need money for like school fees or um, you know, that you might have sort of unwell or elderly parents overseas and you're going to have to go visit them at some point.
So you need to have money set aside for that, come up with a figure. And if you can't, then just literally just Google, um, the price of an airfare and then double it or triple it and then make that your figure. So maybe it's seven and a half or $10,000 and then you put that as a goal to save for that particular bank account or that fund.
And then what do you need to then working backwards and say, for instance, you might want that money in a year, two years, whatever time frame you think you need then m work backwards and go, okay, well if I need, if I want to have that amount in there in that period of time, what do I need to save every month now in order to achie that?
So that's one goal. Another goal could be around the thing, the amount of income that you want to generate in your business or in your life in general. Do you need to sell stuff? Do you need to start a side hustle? Do you need to add to your product suite?
Do you need to up your prices? Do you need to market more? Do you need to network more? A lot of these things, like for me, a lot of what I've um, expanded on the program that I offer in relation to setting up financial systems for my clients. And so I, because I've seen how what's been working over the last year and I've decided to expand on that.
So I am now going to be doing more networking. So I've been looking for different groups, I've been signing up for events and I'll start to see how that goes. So that's, that's me putting a plan into action to help me achieve a financial goal that I have. And I'd love to be able to help more women in uh, business understand how to do sort of financial organization and financial systems and all of that.
So I'd like to do more speaking as well so I can, I can influence or impact more women in one go. So that's, and that's why I created the podcast as well. Because I want to be able to have a voice, to be able to share a lot of these things, to try and demystify it and make it simpler and easier to understand and do.
And even if you don't do it, you at least know who to go to to get the information and who can help you actually implement things too. Because it is a lot to be able to do. Like I've, I've hired coaches, I hire people to do things for me because I don't have the time, the skills or the knowledge to do it all.
You know, I, so that's, that's where we need to sort of be clear on what we want in order to be able to ask the right people too. So there's some, there's just an idea of some of the goals that you can have. Like do you have health goals even as well?
I know this is a financial wellness check in, but your health also impacts your productivity. Um, so something that a goal I've set myself, which is health slash productivity slash financial wellness goal because they, they all interact because we're, you know, we're human beings and where a lot of our elements are interconnected is to go to bed no later than 11pm Which I know sounds quite late, but uh, trust me, it's better than my bedtime.
Recently I'm going to bed way too late, getting up too late, feeling drowsy and just not kind of getting into the energy that I normally have. So I, that's, that's what I marked as my limit. I didn't quite make it last night, I was 11:30. But I did get up earlier, felt more energized, went for a bike ride.
So it's a little bit better. So I'm trying to make 11pm that that goal and then I will. My ideal would be 10:30. Um, but I know that's a little bit harder to go straight from 12 till 10:30. So I'm, I'm incrementally bringing it there. So that's where having your goals and then having your habits and your actions match to help.
So you know, for instance one of the reason, one of the things is not to, for me to eat too late because if I do, I know I don't go to bed earlier because I feel heavy. So having a lighter dinner, having it earlier and that will encourage me to go to bed.
So if I'm starting to feel a bit hungry at about 10:30, I'll be like okay, I'm not going to eat, I'm m going to go to bed because that's where I want my bedtime to actually be. So that's, that's where you know, I've got some habits and things that I want to help support the goals that I've got and the finance and the productivity and the actions I need to take in order to achieve the financial goals.
So there's, there's things like that then uh, when it comes to actually. Managing your money. Categorization is essential from my perspective. And by categorization I mean look at, if you look at your money as a whole, and I use the money pie concept because I, I like, I like circles, I like symmetry.
Um, the buckets don't really work very much for me and the way my brain works. So if visualization wise this works better for you, then go for it. You can take them the money pie concept as well. So I always imagine my pie and that's 100%. And then look at.
Okay, well what do I need to carve it up into in order to achieve what I want? So like I've already said I have a fun fund or travel in this case. Uh, I have a buffer fund that sits there. I've reached the goal I wanted to. So now I just let the interest build every month on that and it just, it'll tick away.
I have a secondary goal. So I had a primary goal which I've achieved. I have a secondary goal. Occasionally I'll chuck stuff in there just to boost it along a bit. Um, until I'll reach my secondary goal and I don't know, then I might have a tertiary Riga. We'll see.
Um, so that's, that's those two. I have a fund for my daughter, so paying like her current school fees, all the activities during term, during holidays. There's always so many, so many costs for things as well. So I have a fund specifically for her. I do have a longer term investment fund for her as well.
But I don't want to tap into that for just like day to day, like year on year things. That's, I've got bigger plans for her for that. Um, so I have that. Uh, what else do I have? I've got, oof. I've got just a general spending account. If we needed a car, I used to have a car fund.
Oh, and an investment fund. How could I forget that one? So I've got a fund that I saved into to put money aside for investing and then I actually invest it. So but I put it aside first and then once I've kind of got over the end of month and I go and go, okay, this is what I'm going to buy this month.
And I buy ETFs and I buy one one month, another one another month. So I have like four that I buy. So every four months I will buy one of them. Um, it. So it's on a rotation. So that's, that's how I categorize it. So it then Makes it really easy when it comes to budgeting, which is the third thing I wanted to talk about because I get a lot of questions around how do I stay consistent?
How do I keep to my budget when you are like, I literally just went out and did a little bit of grocery, um, shopping at some, um, European food stores or wog food stores as, as we love to, to you know, lovingly call it. Um, and I'm going there.
I'm like, oh yeah, I don't really need that right now. Um, I've still got enough in the cupboard or you know, it, it will be more special if I wait a little bit longer because I want to make sure that I meet my, my budget for this month in order to put this amount aside for either travel or my daughter or investing or whatever happens to be.
It makes it a lot more motivating to be able to stick to a budget when you've got a purpose behind it. It's not about lack, it's not about doing without. Although sometimes we do need to compromise depending on what our goals are and how quickly we need to achieve them.
Um, but it's about being clear on the purpose for that money and where would it be best spent? Is it best spent here or here right now? If that can wait, then save it, invest it there. They're sort of my priorities because, I mean, and that's not to say we do not go without things like it's, it's, it's about prioritizing at the given moment.
And that said, we don't eat out a whole lot. Um, I cook quite a bit, but I love cooking, so that helps. And I also prefer cooking food rather than eating out and either being disappointed or it's expensive or whatever it happens to be. I actually, um, I just really like it.
I love picnics and I don't really drink a whole lot and I'm a water drinker as well, so. And I'm vegetarian, so vegetarian food is usually pretty, a lot less expensive anyhow. So it's um, it's. You do, you do have to work in what works with you and your lifestyle and your, your wants and needs too, without feeling like you're depriving yourself too often.
Sometimes there's a, like everything in seasons in life. Sometimes there's a time to pull the purse strings in a bit and other times it's time to loosen them a little within the, the boundaries of those categories that you have. Um, and that's where it allows you to do that without busting out and just spending big because you have no real purpose or idea of what you actually want it for.
It's even like saving for a house. I see this a lot as well. And they're like, oh, I need to save for a house. It's like, okay, uh, well, how much do you need and by when? So how much do you need to save in order to get there?
Just arbitrarily saving for a house, it's really hard because it, it's a target that never feels like you're going to achieve. So it has to be something a bit more specific. And this is where those smart goals I, you know, there's a lot of jargon around this sort of stuff, but these are actually, it's a good acronym to have something that's a bit more specific, measurable, have a time frame around it, um, have a reason for it as well.
Like, and what kind of home do you want? How much are you actually saving for? Is that part clear? Um, and admittedly, the way the housing market has been over the last few years, it's been quite dynamic, so that that guidepost will probably shift a little bit depending on what's going on with interest rates, et cetera.
Um, but you need to have some idea. And just because you have a goal and an idea doesn't mean it can't change. This is the other thing too. We feel like we've, we've boxed ourselves into these categories even. And I've, like I said, I just added another category. I change categories.
You know, we have the car, so I don't need to save for a car right now, so I can move that over there. You know, I'm. But instead of shuffling every single dollar, I'm shuffling pie slices around. And it just makes it a lot easier to manage at the end of the month.
And I'm like, okay, budget more or less within range. Can do all of the, you know, the, um, transferring that I need to do. If I can't, then I need to go back and look at why. But if not, if, if I can do it easily, then I don't need to delve into the, you know, into my spending that month so I don't go micromanaging it every single month.
You have a bit of a feel for that sort of thing anyway. If you've been managing your own, you know, money for a while, you'll have a feel of whether or not you've overspent or not. Um, so that's, that's where budgeting and categorizing then leads into your budgeting. And it makes that whole process so much easier.
It's not about, you know, oh, uh, I see these budgeting apps because I review and I look and I test a lot of them as well. And there's a few that are manual where you actually have to, like, enter your data. I was like, I couldn't think of anything worse.
Having to write down every single expense that I've made and put it into an app. I was like, no, thank you. Um, and I use cash quite a bit as well, so I would have to actually manually do it if I was to use an app. Whereas at the moment I look at kind of my overarching bank balances, um, because that gives me indication of what I've got left.
So if I look at what I've got, I'm like, oh, uh, it's a little bit less, uh, than I was hoping for. Then I'll go back and go, what did I buy? And they'll be like, oh, okay. The insurance came in and it was higher than it was supposed to be.
So. Right. I know where that's gone. You could go like completely old school and do what a friend of mine does, which is take out. I think she takes like $200 for a week and everything has to come out of that. Food, entertainment, transport, whatever comes out of that, it's that 200.
And I'm like, okay, that's pretty hardcore. Um, but it works for her. I probably, I'm, I'm not. I don't do terribly well with too many restrictions and boundary. So my, my systems need to be a little bit more flexible. Um, but that's me. So you have to figure out what works best for you.
But here are some. These are some guideposts to help you. So first of all, I spoke about setting goals and how to set those goals, um, and look at which ones interact with each other. And so do you need to go to bed earlier in order to have more energy, in order to network, in order to make more money, in order to be able to categorize more money and have more left over at the end of the month?
Some of those cascade. Do you need to have a certain amount of money by a certain period of time? Um, are you looking at a school for your child that's going to cost a certain amount of money every year and you want to kind of at least have that first year's, like, have each year saved up ahead of time so you don't have to go into debt for it.
That Sort of thing that's there some financial goals to really, um, to get your teeth into. And then secondly was to categorize. And if there's big chunks of money, like is it school fees or a car or a holiday or an emergency or whatever it happens to be, create pie slices, um, to cover those.
And they also have to align with the financial goals to make sure that enough is going in there to actually reach that financial goal. And then finally the budgeting, which is that, uh, kind of monitoring side of it. So it's, it's the, uh, more micro aspect where you look at, okay, well, how am I going day to day, week on week, month on month to actually then meet the category?
Am I constantly put pulling money from one, you know, pie slice to another just to make ends meet? Am I like borrowing to pay? That's not the idea of it either. Uh, it's got to be for those purposes. Otherwise you need to reassess the whole money pie. And then ultimately, is this helping me achieve the goals that I want and the lifestyle that I want, which is underpinning everything, which is also linked to my values.
So hopefully you can see how everything kind of comes together and if you break it down, hopefully bit by bit, and then you go back up again, and I'm a very much a big picture down to the detail, back up to the big picture. And it kind of is a little bit of an up and down, uh, iteration process, especially until you start to get to the groove.
After a while, once it becomes a bit more routine, it's kind of like, what do I need to do now? It's all just kind of ticking along, um, which then gives you the opportunity to optimize. I won't go into that today because I don't want to overwhelm you even more than I probably already have.
Um, but once you get it ticking along, then you can even make it better. So if you want to do that and you want to set it up, even have it call me for a chat. I offer a free, um, clarity chat where we can go through where you're at and um, what you might need to do next.
Um, and if you want me to help you set up your systems, I can happily do that as well because that's, that's my, that's my jam. I love doing that. I know it sounds geeky, but I do. So with that, have a wonderful first couple of weeks of 2025, and I will talk to you again next.
Have a wonderful week.
