Lesson
Welcome to Money Matters, part one of the Finance Your Detour program. In this lesson, we start talking about money and highlight the reasons that it is so important in our lives. We’ll cover the foundation, or “vehicle”, to successful personal finance. Through some basic examples, we’ll shed light on the true cost of debt and make the case for why you need to start saving money right away!
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Activities
The following activities will help you apply what we discussed in the Money Matters video lesson. Completing these worksheets will also help you when you get to the next step in the program.
There are 2 worksheets for you to complete. You can find them in the resources/downloads section below.
MONEY MATTERS WORKSHEET
Completing the Money Matters Worksheet will help you identify some beliefs and feelings you have towards money that maybe you had or hadn’t realized you carry with you. You might be surprised by what an impact acknowledging these beliefs and feelings will make on your journey to financial freedom.
After completing the worksheet independently, couples should share their responses with each other. It opens up a great discussion about money and begins the communication that is crucial for budgeting and managing finances as a couple.
For example, by completing this activity, Lindsay realized she had a lot of negative feelings towards money that she was bringing to table. She felt bad that her student loan debt was now Dan’s problem too. She was worried that budgeting and money talk would actually start money arguments, like pointing out how much each of us was spending and disagreeing on certain purchases. It was so important that we discussed these things ahead of time to clear the air and start with a clean slate.
At the bottom of the worksheet, you’ll find a space to write down your dream financial situation. Allow yourself to really dream here. But also be realistic (the chances of winning the lottery and never having to work another day of your life is pretty slim). You can even close your eyes and picture a scene from your life in the future, when you’ve achieved this dream. Maybe you are on vacation and are completely debt free so even though you took a few extra unpaid days off of work, you aren’t stressed about it. Visualize where you are and how you feel.
Or perhaps you are paying for your child’s education in cash because you started an aggressive savings strategy. Visualize dropping your child off for college and how proud you feel. You really, truly have to know what it is that you want and believe it is possible. So, as cheesy as it feels, take this worksheet seriously and revisit these dreams often, too.
FINANCIAL GOALS WORKSHEET
With everything in life, goals are important. But sometimes we set goals without giving them much thought and then never check in on how we are doing or find ways to hold ourselves accountable. Use the Financial Goals Worksheet to help you in setting financial goals for yourself and/or your family.
To help you start brainstorming goals, look back at the feelings you wrote down in the Money Matters worksheet. Center some of your goals around trying to eliminate any of those feelings that are negative. For example, if you are feeling anxious about your debt, then make that the focus of one or two of your goals. If you feel you and your partner view money differently, then create a goal about finding ways to see eye to eye and spend time communicating with one another to change that.
Be sure to choose goals that are easy to measure, and that you set realistic action steps for achieving them. An example of a good goal might be “set aside time each month to budget, look at my spending, and reflect/discuss on how I/we are doing” the timeline might be “1 hour every 2 weeks” and the action step could be “schedule budget meeting times in my/our calendar on the 1st day of every month”.
It might also help to set a few goals, then complete the rest of the program, then go back and set some more goals, as you learn more strategies and see the roadmap for financial freedom. If you need help with accountability, let us know. Or try to find another couple or individual to be accountability partners with.
Resources / Downloads
