Why and What

What and why

     In dealing with people and their finances I not only teach them what to do with their money, but we have to understand why they got to this place financially. Everyone usually starts out thinking that they are broke because they don’t make enough or that one certain circumstance caused them to get behind and stay there.  Some times this is true, but not always.  If a person can add and subtract they have the head knowledge to know when to stop spending.  If financial problems were just a math issue we would never spend more than we have.  Personal finance is more behavior than head knowledge.  There is usually a behavioral reason as to why we spend more than we make other than just not paying attention or bad luck. Although paying attention is part of it, we also may be trying to cover up an inward problem or a possible addiction.  We try to treat the problem with spending money to make us feel good.   Financial problems show up, a lot of the times, just a symptom of the real problem. Our financial problems can point to the real issue when we unpack everything.  Bankruptcy attorneys tell us that filing bankruptcy will solve our problems.  Bankruptcy just treats the symptoms and never changes the spending habits we have developed that cause the problems.     Once you determine why you are having financial problems, and why you want to get out, you can determine what to do to fix the problem.  Money, or the lack of it, can get your emotions in high gear.  We are created to use our mind as well as our emotions to get our finances under control.  It takes head knowledge and emotional passion to change your life to go in the direction you want it to go.  Can you imagine your life being debt free and having 3-6 months of living expenses in an emergency savings account?  If this sounds good to you, start to change your life by finding out- why you are where you are at financially,- and why you need to change.  These answers will tell you what you need to do. Let me know if I can help you with your plan! 

     Let me know if I can help!

Tim West

Go West Coaching 6-30-13

Building a life or building a prison.

Building a life or building a prison

    I have always heard if you want total security, food, clothing, and shelter that prison is the best place to find these things. You will never have to worry missing out on these things in prison.  You will get them daily.   Our default mode in life is usually “play it safe” for ourselves and our families. In football they call it the prevent defense. It usually keeps teams from winning.   We always have that dream of what we want and we compare it with the reality of where we are at in our lives.  When reality does not measure up with our dreams we get discouraged at where we are at in life.  We may be comfortable but it is not quiet our dream so we get settled where we are at and determine to keep that status. The longer we stay the same in life and put off our dreams and desires, the more valuable settling where we are at gets.    We listen to ourselves and others and in the name of responsible and reasonable and we determine that chasing a dream is foolish.   Once this thought settles in, we protect what we do have and say this is great and we build the walls around that to keep us in and set up a prison we were not intended for.  We will choose to do things that keep the status quo whether we realize it or not. We do this all to keep everything the same and strengthen the walls of our custom built prison.   If this is not your dream then begin to act on where God is moving you. He is usually moving you to help people in His name and He gives us dreams and desires for direction.  Remember we are here to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.  It hard to have true joy in prison, I would think.  Watch out who you associate with also because a lot of people don’t want you to succeed and be happy.   If you hang out with people who limp you will eventually develop a limp yourself.  You may ask “what if I fail?” You will, but don’t make failure permanent.  Failure is life’s way of adjusting your path and getting you back on track.  And remember it will not happen as quickly as you like.  It’s all part of the adventure.  So begin to act and open the cell door also feel free to mess up, because you will. If you don’t mess up you are not doing something right!  So dream, enjoy, and remember to build a life not a prison.

     Let me know if I can help!

Tim West

Go West Coaching 6-20-13

Saving just start somewhere

Saving – just start somewhere

 We don’t save like we use to for many different reasons. Here are a few statistics to help show where we are as a nation: 38% of American adults have an emergency fund. 41% save something regularly, $ 35,000 is the average amount saved for retirement in America. Out of people who do save for retirement only 18% feel they have enough saved when they do retire.  Now I can try to make you feel bad and list all of the other countries that do better at savings than us, or tell you how the generations past always saved better than we save.  Or I can fill you with fear, doom and gloom to scare you into saving more, but you can watch the news or go online and get that.  I don’t want to beat people up, it never works, I just want you to start somewhere so you don’t have to depend on someone else when you need money. We will all have financial emergencies in our life; saving helps us have a plan for them.  I have had one for the last three months and figured out I need to save more! (I am not perfect; I hope I don’t try to sound like I am.)  Let’s identify what keeps us in America from saving more besides being taxed more.  The more we make the more we spend. The first thing we think when we make more money in America is what can I buy next?  We are endlessly advertised to by T.V., radio, internet, magazines, billboards, mail, cars wrapped with ads, clothes, and everything else.  All of the advertisements tend to make us feel like we are lacking something and their product will fill that void and we spend our hard earned money on the product.  Once we have it we will find out that that thing is not the thing to fix our lives and make us happy forever and we look for something else to buy to fill that void. We can stay in this cycle for decades and spend what we could have saved and retire or enjoy life more. Basically we turn these things into idols, and an idol is something we look to, to bring us joy and satisfaction. We make it an ultimate thing. Be careful that we do not make an idol with money also. Money is a tool, not a god.  Enjoy your stuff don’t look for it you make you eternally happy.  Another problem is that we are in a microwave society, we want it and we want it now.  We are used to getting what we want instantly from, cooking to information.  If there is something we don’t know we Google it with our phones.  How many of you remember waiting for an hour or two while one of your brothers or sisters was on the phone!?  I was the younger one and had the joy of bothering my sister while she was on the phone.  A whole generation will miss out because everyone has a phone now! So, don’t panic they make more than one of the things you want and you will have time to buy it!  The next reason we spend and don’t save is because we want to keep up with everyone else buying stuff.  We are always trying to impress people we may never see again, or don’t even like.   Also, it is easier to spend more when we do not use cash.  I myself can keep hitting the “add” to cart button while online shopping and not realize how full the cart is when checking out on Amazon! Use cash when possible and set an amount in your budget when you are shopping.  Lastly don’t get to the point where you think you are too far gone that you say, what is the use of keeping up with what you spend, there is no hope, just enjoy life. Usually there is a lot more life left when we think this way and guess what, it requires money!  Don’t give up hope.  There is always hope because you can start doing things differently with a plan for your money.  Not everyone can save 10-20% with their each pay check.  Don’t panic, start somewhere whether it is $5 a week or a $100 a week.  Get in the habit of paying yourself first before paying others and budget some blow money so you can buy some stuff for fun! 

     Let me know if I can help!

Tim West

Go West Coaching 6-9-13