In six days from now my family and I will usher in the Jewish New Year. In our tradition, we mark the occasion with special, sweet foods like cranberry chicken and apples dipped in honey plus heartfelt prayers to the A-lmighty to remember us with kindness and blessings in the New Year.
So I guess it makes sense that Mary Poppins popped into my head this morning with her delightful song “Just a Spoonful of Sugar.”
Everything goes down better with a little bit of sweetener!
So I’m giving you a Sweet Pill to Swallow – 3 Spoons of Honey for your Money:
1. What did you accomplish with your money last year? If you’re like most folks you probably hoped to do a lot more. But real life and lack of time sort of got in the way.
Never mind.
Let’s focus on the positive.
What did you yes get done?
Did you review your investment accounts? Cancel a credit card (I did!)? Negotiate your cell phone fees? Write a will? Contribute to charity?
Celebrate your achievements!
Melanie was planning on starting her retirement savings last year. But two flights back home following the passing of two different grandparents really set her back. Not to mention the income she lost as a solopreneur who didn’t work for a few weeks.
Rather than being down in the dumps, Melanie’s choosing to celebrate staying debt free. And during the coming year we’ll focus on building up her Safety Net Savings AND funding her pension plan.
2. Set ONE money goal. Since we need money for just about everything in life, and we want to grow it and protect it, it tends to show up a lot on our To Do Lists. But too many choices can lead to overwhelm, anxiety and STUCK.
So for today, just choose ONE.
It can be the most urgent or the most important item. Or it can be the smallest little baby step-of-a-money task.
It can be downloading my free ebook: 7 Steps to Creating Financially Sane Jewish Holidays
Which is great for holiday planning even if you don’t celebrate the Jewish holidays.
It doesn’t matter. Just choose.
And remember, I’m biased.
If you really don’t know what to do, write down everything on a piece of paper and play eenie, meenie, minie, moe.
And as my kids say: whatever comes out, comes out.
That’s your immediate money focus.
For today.
3. Take action NOW. Not next week, not after the holidays. Today. I want you to start building money momentum. I want you to kick start your financial life.
Today, I received this email from Joe: “I have fallen way behind in entries [tracking my spending] and need to start again.”
Way. To. Go!
Get back on that horsey and ride.
And while I was writing this blog post, I took a dose of my own medicine and sent a quick email to someone on my financial support team. We met in early August. In early September I sent a kindly email reminder for information. Just now I sent this email:
I would like to tie this up. Or maybe it’s not going to work for you and I should look around for someone else to handle my business?
And guess what? Six (!) minutes later I received a reply that it will be taken care of. Asap.
YES!
As we prepare to close the doors on the Jewish year 5776 and walk into 5777, imagine where you can be in one year from now if you add a little sweetener to your financial life and start taking action:
- More savings
- Less debt
- Higher income
- Financial paper work in order
- Retirement plans maximized
- Insurances sorted
- Wills written
- Beneficiaries updated
- Delicious, joyful spending on things you really and truly want to create a Sweeter Life.
So grab a cup of tea, add a spoon of honey and let’s go!
Sending you dear blessings for a healthy, prosperous and sweet New Year,
Debbie
P.S. Do you already know what you need to get done but are having trouble getting started? I help people like you get their financial lives in order and build a healthy, confident relationship with their wealth. Reach out for support.
