Love and money are the two things that keep people up at night and ruin the next day, moods and your interactions with others. Being able to tackle one of the two should be able to put millions of people back to sleep and improve the health of the nation. Being able to put your money on “autopilot” and know while you sleep, your money situation will get better. Here are five steps to count sheep instead of your debts!
1. Dream about how you want your money situation to be in the future –in great detail. Would you wake up rested with zero debt in 5, 10, 25 years? How much do you want to make and what will be your ultimate job? How much do you want in passive income or assets? Do you have rental properties, stocks, small business, cyber currencies, or a mix? Write it all down and get excited about your financial future.
2. Next, grab some morning joe and sit down with your money. Use your bank’s financial planning tool or mint.com to see how much you make, spend, owe and have, etc. ANYTHING that doesn’t contribute to step 1 and your overall sleep above has to be cut. People generally can find loads of savings to allocate to your preferred money future.
3. Try and consolidate all of your debts at the lowest interest rates and start paying them off. Call your bank and have all of you payments come off of your account automatically. Don’t only make the minimum payments but concentrate your payments to pay off the smallest loans and credit card debts first. It’ll give you a quick feeling of success and will encourage you to keep it up until all your debt is gone. Think how amazing it’ll feel!
4. Now take 10% of your income and invest it. If you can’t afford the 10% because of your debt repayments, get a side hustle to hit that amount. It’s crucial that you contribute each month and have it automatically buy an investment. Talk to a financial advisor to find a robo-adviser like acorns.com or others to take money from your account each month and invest over the long run. Some robo-advisors have a “round-up” feature that will make your $4.50 coffee and add .50 and invest it for you. So as you spend, you also invest without even noticing it. If you refer friends, you get top-ups too with some advisors. If we spend 1/3 of our lives in bed, we might as well have our investments growing while we sleep!
5. Before you go to bed, write in a money journal and see how your finances are progressing. At first, it’ll be more of a nightmare to look at your debts and small assets BUT remember that everyone needs to start somewhere and every night you write in your journal about your daily success it gets you closer to your ideal money situation! Update your goals and financial dreams to keep you motivated and to stay on track.
On one beautiful morning in 5, 10, 25 years, all your debts will be gone, and you’ll have a nice nest egg. Think how deliciously sweet your pancakes will be at that time! Plus knowing that you have a plan will allow you to get enough sleep, so you will look amazing to enjoy your financially free future. Your journey will allow you to grab your teddy and roll over to the cool pillow knowing your money is on autopilot like a cloud racing across the sky.