You may already know your numbers (what you spend, give and save), but maybe you have never truly looked at your relationship with money: what you think, feel and say about it. No one ever talks about his or her relationship with money, but it directly affects the quality of our lives and it can determine our financial success or failure. Before starting on the numbers, together we walk through a process to discover the real truth about money: what they think, feel and say about money. I look at how money affects relationships with God and with others. It is equally important, and perhaps even more important, to delve deeper and look at my clients' relationship with money. I have, however, discovered that managing cash flow by way of a good spending plan is only one part of the formula for financial success.
PRAYERS FOR FINANCES HOW TO
I know how to create a successful spending plan and I love to teach people how to manage their cash flow. I have now been teaching people about managing money for more than 20 years. Ultimately, that experience prepared me to become a Financial Health Coach. At 15 years old, I learned to use money as a tool and I decided that there was no time to be emotional about it. I took on the responsibility of pooling our two paychecks and the child support check to pay the bills. Within a few weeks, Mom had a job as a receptionist and I soon got a job working the night shift at UPS. I also took her to a vocational school and signed her up for an evening class to learn to type. I stayed home from school for the next few days and took my mother to the unemployment office to look at listings for job openings.
The electricity was turned back on later that afternoon. I knew this wouldn't be the last time I'd have to make financial decisions in our house. I slid my learner's permit across the counter to the teller and asked her to add my name to the account. There was enough in the checking account for the deposit, with only a few dollars to spare. I buckled my 5–year–old brother in the backseat of our car and drove my mother to the bank. Like my mother, I was also completely unprepared and didn't know how to handle money however, I knew that we needed the electricity turned back on. I now faced the stark reality of how unprepared my mother was for us to live on our own. My father had always taken care of everything regarding finances. She then confessed she didn't think she had the money to turn it back on and did not actually even know how much money was in our bank account. She told me that my father had taken his name off the account at the power company, and because she had never earned credit, the electricity had been turned off earlier that day. I called for my mom, and she came into the kitchen. I looked up at the still lightless bulb and then back at the light switch. A couple weeks later, I walked into the kitchen and flipped on the light switch. Everything changed when I was a freshman in high school and my mother divorced my father. I attended private school, we always had food on the table, and our lights were always on. I am the sixth of seven children from a family that never experienced abundance, yet our bills were always paid, and we always had enough. I didn't pay attention to money until I was 15, when I was forced to take notice.