Kathy’s Bloom and Flourish Model
- Peaceful Base
- Physical Health
- Positivity Spiral
- Flow/Accomplishment/Meaning
- Positive Relationships
- Spiritual Connectedness
- Financial Stability
Finance is not my area of expertise, and I won’t be making any investment recommendations. The key piece of this pillar is to live within your means so that you don’t spend emotional energy on worrying about money and bills.
I know, that’s easier said than done. Housing costs alone are enough to make a person crazy! Someone making $16 an hour and working full-time makes $2,560 a month before taxes. No one can live on their own without a roommate or help on that much money.
My first suggestion is to create a useful mindset around money. It’s a tool. We sometimes give it a lot of emotional power and think of money as the enemy. There are lots of resources out there to help you change your feelings about money. My parents fought about money all the time, and as a result, I had terribly negative feelings about money for much of my life. That mindset did not serve me. It is a subject that I still don’t embrace, but I’m better about it than I used to be. Once you have a healthy emotional relationship with money, it’s easier to realize that you control it, not the other way around.
Second, wave around the Magic Wand of Destiny and use a budget to gain control. Take a hard look and what comes in and what goes out. Then, make intentional choices based on what’s most important to you.
Third, get creative. The tiny house movement is a great example of people thinking outside the box. I’m a fan of Tiny House Nation, a show about people building customized tiny houses to live in. The most common reason that people give for going tiny is financial freedom. They want to own a home and still have enough money to travel – and eat!
My final suggestion is hard-won wisdom: stay self-sufficient by keeping your hand in the workforce and creating a credit history. Creating a credit history isn’t too difficult. Even when I was a stay-at-home mom, I put the utilities in my name and had a credit card. Those two things helped me to create a good credit history. I didn’t do as well at maintaining a career.
I always believed that I would easily jump back into the workforce after staying home with my children. Times change, and so did our economy. In my late 50s, I am faced with the stark realization that I am not fully self-sufficient. It’s maddening and frustrating.
Keep in mind that we don’t need a ton of money to have financial stability. The goal is to minimize our worry and stress around money so that we can truly bloom and flourish in all areas of our lives. I’m not stressed about money — just taking positive action toward more financial stability. I am thinking that I might like living in a tiny house!
For a little bit of fun leadership development, join 53 (Two-Minute) Leadership Challenges at KathyStoddardTorrey.com.
Want to go further with your professional development? Check out the courses offered at PositiveEffectLeadership.com.
If you are interested in taking your career to the next level quickly, contact me for a sample coaching session at KSTorrey@tapferconsulting.com.