Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of Money with Alpha. I'm going to bust another Money Myth this week. So this is Myth Number 3. The first one was about the fact that money is complex and overwhelming, which it doesn't have to be. The second one is that you are too old or it's too late to invest, which is also not necessarily true. And the third myth which I'm going to bust today is that you "have no time to get your money sorted". Now, time is one of the interesting things in our lives. Like, we always feel like we're short of time, that there's never enough time to do anything, we're so busy, et cetera. But I want to challenge us on that one. It's a little bit like when we say we don't have enough money for things. I have seen so many instances where people will find the money for the most incredible things . and they will buy the most bizarre things as well. So I've... Even to the point where, just as one case in point, when when my grandmother passed and we were getting rid of some of her things, there was this stuffed baby crocodile that had stared at me my entire childhood and completely freaked me out, because it it used to sit... I actually couldn't sit in one of the chairs in the dining room, because this thing was, would've been right behind me. So thankfully, my mother sat there, but then I had to stare at it, 'cause it was then in front of me on the other side of the table. Anyway, that that thing went for $200 and this was about 15 years ago. I was amazed. So the... It's amazing what, what can happen when we, when we really want something. Time is the same thing with money. So I'm gonna go through why I think this is a myth and how you can bust it. Because if that's what's holding you back, or one of the things holding you back from getting your money sorted, it doesn't have to be, either. So the five things... 'Cause I like my lists and it's a little bit easier to structure it when there's sort of the, the mental clutter. So let's compartmentalize it into five steps. Firstly is beliefs and stories. The second one is clarity. That's not my first one this time, which is, you know, a bit of a change, changing up. The third one is visibility. The fourth one is having a system, and the fifth one is flexibility. So I'm gonna go through each one of those and explain why, what I mean by them, and why I think they are what will bust the myth that you don't have time to sort out your money. So the first one are beliefs and stories. This holds a lot of us back in so many ways, holding us back from being able to do most things in our lives, being able to get fit lose weight, eat better. And it'll trip us up so many different times. I literally... There was a, a, a lady that I met recently who grew up in what is essentially second world country and had come here, and there's, there's a lot of beliefs around money. Because money was very much used as a form of blackmail in the country that she came from. There was, there was a lot of corruption. So, money was really something that wasn't seen as a good thing. It wasn't a... It was where power was wielded in a way to control others. And so that's what she grew up seeing. Comes to a country like Australia where that's not necessarily the case, at least not, you know, the majority of things that we see and had sort of worked her way up, got educated, and was working in a pretty good job with a pretty decent salary and finally bought herself a car that was, you know... It was a European car. It was expensive. She'd like, she'd kind of made it, in a way. She had so many problems with this car, to the point where just recently, there was an accident and the car's been written off. So as, as she was telling me all of this, I, in my mind, I'm there going, "I think there's more going on here." And it's not to say that she willed the accident to happen or that she, you know, deliberately bought a lemon. But it's really, really interesting how there are certain patterns in our lives that keep us where we would be unless we questioned that the patterns are happening. And I know that sounds quite like what we call woo-woo these days, but it is amazing how often I see this. So if there are patterns repeating in your life and you're... And part of those patterns is avoiding or procrastinating when it comes to looking at your numbers tracking your money, even seeing your money, and visibility is one of the steps I'm gonna talk about, then look at the beliefs that you have around money. Do you believe that money is evil? You may not believe it, but you may have heard it when you were younger and that belief kind of sits there. And it might not even really be a belief, because if you don't really truly believe it, there could be a story underlying that. And even, even though beliefs are more powerful, the story itself is still holding you back, because there's, there's this, like, repetition that's going on. Because stories are something that we, we like to repeat. You know, they become part of our narrative our vernacular, all of that, and they, they are things that kind of help us identify us as who we are. Because this is has happened, this is who I am. I used to hear this a lot from my father. "Oh, well, that's just who I am." And I was like, "Well, yes, but you're in control of that." To which he would just look at me blankly. He, he didn't... He, he wasn't on that personal development path, and it was a little bit too confronting sometimes to actually have that kind of reflected back as probably, especially from his daughter. So but it's an important thing for us to do, even if you have to look at yourself in the mirror and go, "You know what? This is happening. You know, is this what I really want? Is this who I really want to be? Is this the life I want to experience?" And depending on what point you are in your life and where you are with, with family and young children, 'cause it makes it a little bit harder when you've got little, little kids, 'cause you're very much in survival mode . But when they start to get a little bit older, a little less dependent on you 24/7 and you get some time to yourself, it's a really good exercise to sit down. I do this as well. I'm literally... I, I read books like this all the time. I listen to podcasts. I go to conferences. I go to seminars.Um, and I'm reading a book at the moment that's talking about this too, and I was like, "I think I, there's a few beliefs I need to revisit too." Because we're like onions, as humans. We peel a layer down and there's more layers And that's great because it means we're multifaceted. We've got lots of personality, there's lots of experiences there, which is wonderful. It gives us our color, and our and our flavor. But at the same time, it adds a layer of complexity too. So we have to chip away at this little by little. So start to write down what your beliefs are in relation to money specifically. If other things come up too, then that's great because then you'll be releasing other things. And it's when your body is ready to release. I've been doing some sort of trapped emotion release work recently from a book. And I, I see a kinesiologist, because a lot of it is energy that's kind of trapped there. And sometimes there's things more in the subconscious that we need to deal with. And when, when I'm asking you to write down your beliefs, a lot of that's coming from your conscious mind, so we need to, like, tap into the unconscious or subconscious. And quite often you're gonna do that if you're going into, like, meditative states. Just even stillness can help you get there. Sometimes you need extra practitioners to help you really delve into that. But to start with, just start to write some things down. Just journal, write it down. Let anything about money just, like, fall out of you on the page. If you don't want to write it down like, talk into your phone or something, something that you can hear and play it back. Writing is better though, because then you can actually see it. And then sometimes you'll be like, "Whoa." Like, even recently when I've been doing some of this releasing work, I'm going, "Wow, I didn't really realize the impact that had on me. I have it as a memory in my mind, but I can, I can now feel where it's stored itself in my body as an emotion, as energy, and I so want to get rid of that now because it's not serving me." So then the releasing process happens, and then you feel lighter for a little while, and then there'll be other stuff that comes up, because like I said, we're like onion. So the beliefs and stories one is, is really, really important. Really, really powerful, especially to question why you're procrastinating. Why are you avoiding? Why are you finding everything else possible to do rather than look at your money? Trust me, if you wanna clean the fridge or the oven overlooking your money, then you're definitely procrastinating . So that's, that's number one. Number two is clarity. So clarity I usually have as number one, but sometimes it's hard to get clear unless we have identified those beliefs and stories and really, really called them out and challenged ourselves on them. Because then, then we can start to get clearer 'cause it's, it's a really interesting phenomena, especially, like, I'm now in my mid-40s. And I had somebody ask me the other day, it's like, "So what, what actually, what makes you happy, like, what lights you up?" And they're going, "Huh, that is actually a really good question." I couldn't immediately... I could say the things that I enjoy to do, I enjoy doing. Like, I love reading, I love being outside, going with bush walks, spending time with my family, swimming. Like, I do, I enjoy doing, the, the sort of doing things. But what do I enjoy being and doing at the same time too, but what, what really lights me up? And it took me a moment to really think about it, and I hadn't really been able to answer it. And then I was talking to another friend who's going through a bit of an existential crisis as well and he's like, "Well, you always light up when you talk about travel." I was like Yes, interestingly enough, that's what I wanted to do when I was a teenager. I wanted to travel the world." And my cousin had this great idea that I could be a National Geographic photographer And and that constantly comes back to me. Not that I want to be that now, but that was, that was where I was at when I was a teenager, which is why when I started uni I studied international business, 'cause I was like, "Oh, it's international, it means I can travel." It didn't really mean that. But that's where my headspace was, and I thought, "I really do light up." Just, like, the idea of travel, coming up with the places, booking the places, waiting for the trips, going on the trips, enjoying talking about them, cataloging the photos. Like, there's so many things in that. All of that lights me up. Coming back from our recent trip, which was a little bit tarnished because my, my father passed away while we were away, so it, it had a very different feeling. Still going through the photos when we got back, it was, it felt nice. It was, it was rekindling the, the happy memories from, from the trip, and I'm one of those odd people, I guess. I don't know if that's odd or not, but I, I love downloading all the photos, naming all the files, cataloging them into folders so that I can find them better later. And it also is like a reliving of the trip as well, because I do it kind of in chronological order 'cause it's the places that we've gone and that's how I catalog them. But it's all of that. And I thought, "Ooh, so how do I build that more into my, into my world?" When I was in my 20s and I worked for an airline, I was traveling somewhere, like almost... at least every month. Like, flying somewhere. You know, I'd be flying all over Australia. I think the only place I didn't get to, or places, like of the main sort of cities, were Darwin and Perth 'cause, well, they just didn't... kind of the flight times didn't really suit for, for a weekend away. But I was going everywhere else, even Tasmania. I'd take three-day, four-day weekends, and I would travel down there 'cause I love it down in, in Tassie. And yeah, so I was like, "Wow, I need to..." And of course, when you... we've got young children. Like, my daughter's ten now, so she's able to come on these adventures with me. So, you know, we just did a four-day trip down to Sydney recently. I used the excuse of a, of a conference, which was great because I got to see that or got to got to go to that as well. But I really enjoy it. So, having that clarity of what do you want in your life, and then what does your money need to fund as part of that? And what beliefs do you have around the money part, as well as the ability to do the thing that you want to do in your life? So this is where the beliefs and stories, you start to work on those, the clarity piece really shines through. And then it also shines a light on where else in your life those beliefs and stories are holding you back. So that's where, you know, you build... you have your beliefs and your story, start to identify those. And then from that, you start to get clarity around what kind of life you want, what lights you up. You. No one else, just you. And then third is visibility. And I'm talking specifically around money here, 'cause until you get to see where your money is and you know where it is, it's really hard to figure out what to, A, do with it, B, where the gaps are, and see where it's going that you may not want it to go that you can do better. Like, you can, you can be a little bit more efficient with it. So again, and I... these are like the, the, the low-hanging fruits, the things like the streaming services, your insurances eating out, even groceries for a certain extent. Like, look in your pantry, in your fridge, and your freezer. And I'm pretty sure that if you didn't go shopping for two to three weeks, you'd probably still survive okay. You might need some fresh produce, but other than that, like I've, I've been trying to do that. I've been trying to, like, eat through the freezer and eat through the pantry. And there's stuff in there, I was like, "I don't even know why I bought this. I don't even really like pasta." Like, why do I have three packets of pasta in the in the pantry? Some of it's gluten-free, which is okay, 'cause that I can eat. But the other ones, I don't really eat anyway. So, I think I bought it for my daughter or my husband as, like, easy meals, and they don't really... it's not their go-to either. So, it's one of those things where... See where things are going. Once you can see it, it's easier to do something about it. Until... It's a bit like awareness. When we've got some sort of a problem, if we're not aware of it, we can't do anything about it. So if we, you know... even just awareness or visibility over the... And it's the good things as well, because you're like, "Wow, I've actually..." Like, if you, if you start to put all of your things together, like all of your different bank accounts, if you've got some investment funds. Like, I've got a couple of micro-investing accounts and my super fund, so I've, I've had to put it into a spreadsheet, 'cause I like my spreadsheets. And then when I got to see it, and I had in my mind, I was like, "I want to get to this goal of investments outside of super." And in my mind, I was, I was you know, a, a little way away from it. When I actually started to put it all together, I was like, "I was actually only five grand away." I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I'm actually closer than I thought I was," because I didn't have visibility on it. I thought I was behind. Well, I was still a little bit behind my goal, but... and you know what? I smashed that goal, like, really easily, because I'd suddenly now realized that I was actually closer to it than I thought. I just had this arbitrary so now that number's got to increase, because, like, well, I've already hit that one. So now I need to up my game and increase it, because this is what I want to achieve. But as soon as... but unless I had that clarity and the visibility, the two couldn't come together and I couldn't actually see where I was and how close I was. Or it could have been how far away I was as well. It could have gone the other way. But then I at least had something to work towards. And then I'd be like, "Okay, now I'm really, really focused, I'm going to do this. No, I'm not going to buy lunch out that day, because I want to make sure that I'm saving for this." I try and do no-pay days, which sounds weird, but it's... I like things to either have alliteration or rhyme, where I don't spend any money on any given day. And even today, I was like, "Ooh, I could have... I could make this a no-pay day." Then I realized, "Oh, it's the farmer's market and I need, I need some a a couple of pieces of grocery." Like coriander. At the moment, it doesn't grow in this climate, so I need to buy it, 'cause I can't grow it. In winter, I grow it. Kale. I've got kale in the garden. It's being eaten by caterpillars, but still, I've got enough to eat. So there's some things that I can do, like, "Okay, well, I don't need to even go to the farmer's market, because I've got stuff my garden, 'cause I want to have my no-pay day." But I still had to break that today. So that's, that's where, like, I set myself these little challenges to, to try and kind of... And it doesn't feel like lack either. It comes from a place of, "Oh, I'm aiming towards something, not away from something," which is a really important distinction when it comes to anything, including money. So then the next one is having a system. So I'll just recap. So we've done beliefs and stories, clarity over the lifestyle you want, visibility over where your money actually is, and how that's gonna link to your lifestyle, and then system. Having a system when it comes to money is really, really important, because it just... it... like, literally the headspace it takes to conceptualize how everything's gonna fit together and how you're going to get to some arbitrary goal that you're not clear on, unless you become clear, it's, it's a lot. And the idea of budgeting? Oh my goodness, that, that whole word just, like, makes me shudder. I don't I'm a money person and I don't like the word budget. I tend to... I use the word cash flow instead, or money management.Which is essentially the same thing, but it's managing your money. It's not necessarily this micro-budgeting kind of concept. So, I sit down at the beginning of every year and I bucket my budget. I literally go, "Okay, well, these are the key things that I want to achieve for this year. I want to make sure I've got money set aside for all these, these main things." Based on what I'm paying myself each month, what needs to go into each of those accounts? And so, when the month comes around and I'm doing all my monthly money consolidation, I literally just put money in those accounts. And then whenever the bills or whatever comes, and I'm keeping on top of, you know, the spending side of things because it's just kind of most things are dated. Like, that's the standard. We, we're pretty routine-driven beings, us humans. So unless something really out of the ordinary happens, mostly we don't really need to micromanage our money. But you then just do the buckets, and put, I put my money in those accounts which have the names associated to them based on my money pie. If you want to know more about that, I did a podcast episode probably about seven episodes ago called My Money about my money pie framework. And, and that just works so simply. So that system is my money pie framework, and it's literally, for my personal life, it's five bank accounts, and I just chuck money in there. So whenever I get at the beginning of term the bill for my daughter's school fees or her gymnastics or her circus or whatever other activity she's doing, it, I go to the, the account that's got her name on it, and I take the money from it and I pay it. And whenever, like holidays, yay, flights, money out of the fun account goes to flights. Like, it's, it's that simple. And then you don't feel guilty about spending money because you've got it set aside for those things. But you've got to get clear on what those things are. You've got to see the money, and then you've got to create the system. And once you create that system, it's more or less set and forget. I still review just to make sure that things like, for instance, if you think your car's going to need replacing, you can add a pie slice for car. Something else may need to go down a little bit in order to make room for that pie slice, but it'll still get done. Like, you'll still have the money there for it. You might just need to wait a little bit longer to either get the car or the other thing. So, and that's where the final step is flexibility. It is flexible. You can slice the pie however you want, and you can make it fit your lifestyle at any given time, fit the priorities that you have, your values at any given time. That is the beauty of making the time to put your money together, and that level of simplicity, which is, which was, you know, that complexity and overwhelm that I busted in myth one, this is why it can be simple. And if you overcome whatever procrastination and perceptive, perception, and fear that you have around getting your money sorted, the beliefs and the stories, then you can do it quite easily and seamlessly, and it's calm, and then you get freedom. You get choice. You can do the things you want to do how you want to do them, the way, where, how, when, all of it is at your fingertips then. So I'll just recap each one of those. So the first one was beliefs and stories, the most important one to start to really challenge and question and shine lights on. Then get clear on what it is that you want in your life for you. Ultimately, it has to be about you, and you, you have a partner, you have a family. You can consider them obviously as well, but you still need to make sure that you're nourishing who you are and who you want to be and become because we're constantly growing and evolving. The third one is visibility of your money. Know where it is, where it's going, what's happening with it. Make sure that it's aligned to your, to your vision and your values. And then four, have the system in place to be able to realize all those other things. And then your system by nature because it fits my money pie framework, it will be flexible, and it will give you the ability to flex and change as your priorities change in life, as your needs, as your, your vision grows, your desires, all of that. And that is what gives you that freedom and that peace around money. And then you'll realize it's really actually quite easy and, to be honest, quite boring after a while, which is a good thing. We want money to be a little bit boring because what you can do with it is not boring. That's exciting. And that's the part we want to focus on, not the other bit. We want to focus on the part of life that's exciting, and the money will help you do that and achieve it and be it and experience it. So with that, I will leave you to ponder, and I will catch you in next week's episode.
