Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of Money with Alpha. Well, we're a a couple of weeks into the new year, and it's, it's been a, it's been an interesting start to the year I have to say. It feels a little bumpier than I kind of thought it might. I don't know. But I guess considering if you're, you know, you're looking at how the, the Chinese calendar and new years are coming, we're, we're exiting out of sort of a quite a tumultuous year, that the Year of the Snake, and, and moving into, to this Year of the Horse. And not just the horse, but the Fire Horse, which I hadn't heard of before, so I was, I was going, "Oh, wow. Okay." You know? I don't fully understand it, but I understand the concept of, like, the energy and kind of like that galloping movement kind of thing, and if you're not moving then you're, you're, you're gonna be holding onto the, the tail of the horse as it drags you along. So trying to astride the horse, at least, is, is probably a good way to, to be or aim to be. So with that in mind, and knowing that at this time of year a lot of us are setting, you know, these resolutions which ... I don't know. I've, I've never been much of a New Year's resolutions person myself but I do see the value in a certain level of reset and recalibration, and just review I suppose. That, that's what I, I tend to do in, in January more so. I do a little bit in December, to plan things for the year, especially events and timings and, and holidays and, and trips and conferences and all of that. But in January is when I actually do my financial review. And it's interesting to me that it's already been a year since the last one. It doesn't feel like that long. And I've got, I'm actually doing a bit of an overhaul at the moment. I've got, like, lists upon lists to remember 'cause I, you know, last year my, my father passed away, and because I was managing his finances, I'm having to sort of try and resolve and tie up a lot of that. I am going to do a separate episode on that because I, don't like swearing but it's been a complete, like, shit-show, basically the whole business of dying. And I say business deliberately because there's so much that comes at you when you're at your most emotionally vulnerable that I ... yeah. So that's just a, I'm going to turn that into a separate episode, 'cause the purpose of today's episode is to talk about making micro-changes instead of resolutions. So have a look at what's been going on for you for the last year. And I'm going to touch on some of the more sort of mental side of, of money and how it appears in your world, as well as the actual practicalities of managing your money, 'cause I feel like the two cannot be separated. We cannot make changes to anything in our lives until we figure out what the underlying cause is of what's happening right now. We don't often tend to question the things that are working well, so I encourage you to do both. Have a look at what has been working for you, and you may have already started to incrementally make some changes throughout 2025. Just go back and look at the ones that you have changed, and the things that have worked, and look at why they worked, and how your identity as a person is evolving when it comes to managing money. I know I've, I've had a, a bit of an identity shift myself in the last even six months, when I look at what I've been doing, how things have been going, and what did I want to continue doing versus what did I want to change? And it reinforced to me that I am on the track that I want to be on, and it is heading the direction. So I've, I've launched my ... well, launching I should say, I'm in beta testing at the moment my new app which is ... I've been using it myself as a tester the primary tester, and I was like, "Ooh, okay, yeah, I'm liking, I'm liking what I'm seeing here and it's giving me a little bit more clarity granular but visual at the same time, of how things are going so that I don't have to micromanage it so much. The app is doing that for me, and it's just giving me that kind of overarching view. And once everything's sort of humming the way I want it to, then it will be able to tick along, and I can just basically watch it happen. I don't actually have to invest a lot of time and effort to to manage it. I then can just sit at, at like more of a CEO level and manage my own finances at that level, rather than being the little micromanager beaver that I've been in the past, because I've been in the spreadsheets. And same with my clients. So I want us to get out of those weeds and actually have that holistic view that allows us to make better decisions, more informed decisions. More aligned, intentional behavior. And then what will come more to the forefront is looking at the stories, the beliefs and the habits. So the micro-changes that I'm talking about are things like, you know, how often do you actually look at your money? Is it perceived to be too difficult, too time-consuming? If that's the case, then you're gonna wanna check out Prosperous, which is my, my app once it's fully released, because it will take all of that argument or that excuse away. It'll make it very pretty, very visual, and in a way that you don't have to go, "Oh, it's too time-consuming," because it will literally just be a dashboard on the front telling you how you're going. And you're like, "Oh, okay. That's great. Cool." Or This is maybe not how quickly I wanna get where I wanna go, so what changes do I need to make?" And I'm just gonna, you know, adjust a few things and go, "Okay, well if I can do that, that'll get me there. Sweet. Let's go." So the the the decisions and the information will be at that level. It won't be a, "Oh, I've gotta, I've gotta run the numbers." You don't need to run the numbers anymore 'cause the app will do that for you. You can just run some scenarios to go, "Okay, well, if I could find myself an extra $100 a month, what would I do with it, and what impact would it have?" So that's, that's going to be the powerful part of that. But in the process of doing that, it'll have to look at, okay, what are the, what is the identity shift that has to happen with me in order to allow this level of up-leveling into my world, into my finances? And as a business owner, you can also-... have your business linked in more closely with your personal finances so you can actually optimize the salary, the amount that you're paying yourself and go, "Okay, well, this is what I want to achieve personally. Can my business actually sustain that? If not, what do I need to do?" And then you can go look at your business more holistically. You can work with a business coach more effectively. You can start to understand which one of your products or services are the most profitable and then how... So you, you, you start to become more of the CEO level manager of your life rather than the worker bee. So it just, it just changes things. So your identity's gonna have to shift with that too. So what beliefs do you have around money? 'Cause once you've got the information and the time and the visibility is no longer your excuse, then how... And I use the word excuse with love because we're all there and we can all do it. I mean, there's so many things that I can put off and, you know, I... You know, my, my bathrooms can be super duper clean because I'm procrastinating about something and then I'm like, "What's going on here?" So what, what sort of beliefs do you have around your ability to manage money? And if you can pinpoint that a bit more then you can go, "Okay, well if it's out of a lack of knowledge in relation to investing, then I need to go find out more about the investing space and have a look what the different options are. And do I need someone to help me do it or do I want to do it myself and I just need the knowledge and the platforms?" 'Cause there's so many platforms out there now that make investing easier. Micro investing share investing, ETFs have changed the game dramatically. Do you want to buy an investment property? What, what... Do you wanna buy gold? Do you wanna, you know, trade Bitcoin? You know, just whatever it happens to be for you. So that's, that's very much the, the level of decision. So then the beliefs become more about how you can bridge the gap from where you are now to where you want to be. Then the habits also become, "Okay, do I pay my bills on time? Am I getting a bill and putting it aside because I don't wanna know what's in there?" And let me tell you, if that's the case, then that is probably gonna you know, the, the app is probably gonna give you a little bit more visibility on, on what the amounts actually are. But it can just become a... Even if you have the money there to pay for it, it could just be a habit that you just put your bill aside rather than actually, sort of... And that, that's not to say you pay it right away. Like, I literally have a bill in front of me right now that I've been hanging onto for a few weeks because I, I wanted to pay it in January when it's due. I didn't want to take money out of my savings account to pay it because the cash flow, I get paid bonus interest in December if I didn't take the money out. So I wanted to do it in January. So that's a choice. That's not a, "I'm avoiding paying the bill." The energy for that is different and I was like, "I'm feeling a little bit more in control, a bit more savvy that I can do this, that I'm managing my cash flow in the best possible way so that I can get the bonus interest and that will actually help me towards paying for the, the bill as well." So it's those kinds of habits and changes, and then the energy that goes with that becomes different. You're no longer paying a bill out of, "Ugh, I've got to pay a bill," to, "Cool, I'm doing this in a way where I have the money sitting there. I know that's what it's earmarked for and I'm choosing to pay it closer to the the payment date rather than paying it early just 'cause I just want to either get it out of the way or I'm avoiding it and I end up paying it late, and a late payment fee because I'm just avoiding it." So there's an energy shift that starts to happen there. So we're looking at the beliefs that you have around money, and then the stories you're telling yourself as a result, and make some slight changes. And the stories, the important part here really is languaging. What languaging are you using? It's you know, I, I, I talk through this with my, my daughter, and even my mom often enough as well when she's like, "Oh, don't forget to tell me to do blah." Or rather than going, "Remember to remind me," so I'm focusing on the remembering rather than the forgetting because our brains don't know the difference. They don't care. They just remember the word. And that's the word that we focus on, or our brains will focus on. So, "Remember to do blah," or talking about, you know, "Oh, I'm not good at blah." It's like, "I am getting better. I am improving." So it's that toward language rather than that, "Oh, And even the energy is different. If I'm improving, I'm working towards getting better at something, your energy is already kind of moving forwards. Like even I sit up straighter and my whole body kind of moves forwards where there, whereas I kind of slump backwards and go, "Oh, I'm not good at blah." And it's just, it, it's the way our, our minds and our bodies work together. And that energy will impact your beliefs, your stories, and your habits as well. So important to, to keep note of that. You don't have to sort of analyze everything and be, you know, super critical of yourself. It's just creating a certain level of awareness of the languaging that you're using because if... Also, if you're a parent around kids, they're gonna be picking up on your languaging and they are going to copycat you. The times I hear my daughter say a phrase and I was going, "Oh my gosh," and I realize, "That's me. I've been saying that a lot and now she's doing it." And even facial expressions. So watch your kids because they, they're gonna be a mirror. back at you, for the things that you're saying and doing. And then start to look at, you know, what time you're making for money as well. And I've, and I'm, I'm guilty of this as well. It's like, "Oh, I don't have the time," and dah, dah, dah. You know? You can make the time for the things that are important. Make a list. I, literally I have, I have reminders in my phone I have Post-it notes, and I have a diary with my to-do list for the week.I've got it in a a number of places, but then I get to cross things off or tick things, depending on the method of the actual device itself but it feels really good. But it's also clear then. I was like, "Okay, I've got..." If I, as soon as I think of something, even if it's a, a list for the for the farmer's market. This morning, I was like, "Oh, I have to remember to put, you know, sweet potato on there." So I quickly put a note in my phone, and then I, I'm going, "Okay, my, my brain's free to think of something else now because I know that's captured, and it will remind me at the time I've asked it to." So use the tools. If you need to use Trello, for example, I use Trello to manage Christmas. For presents, for food for decorations even, like all sorts of things. Any kind of reminders and you can set a reminder. So use the technology available to help you with things like this. Block out time in your calendar, but you've actually got to stick to it then. It's not like you block the time out and then you see this blank space in your calendar and you're like, "Oh, I really need to do something else, so I'm just gonna do... I'm just gonna hijack that time." No. You've got to actually see this as a commitment you've made to yourself and do it. So maybe the thing then is to start with 30 minutes. Don't overestimate what you can get done or underestimate what you can get done in the time that you've given yourself. Just give yourself maybe one task, 30 minutes to get one task done, and then that feeling of satisfaction creates its own momentum, and that in itself creates confidence, which allows you to then move forward onto the next thing. So it's just these little, little steps, baby steps to get you going. And even if it's just setting up a micro-investing account and automating $10 a month going into it. If that's it, and I mean, if you can't see me, I'm doing inverted commas, that's huge because when I added $10 a month automatically to my micro-investing account, it, like, supercharged my progression in that and my returns. I don't it's, it's incredible, and I look at the, the, the performance chart that's on my app. It's like, "Wow." And I actually had a client ask me the other day whether I thought micro-investing was a good idea, and I was like, "Well, for me, I do it." I actually have two... yes, two separate micro-investing accounts, and in one of them a sub-account for my daughter. And it's, it's amazing. Like, I've got almost $11,000 in one of them, about nearly $3,000 in another one, and then my daughter's account's now about $900. So these, this is money that collectively, what am I up to? Just over you know, 15, nearly $15,000 all up that I wouldn't have had otherwise. So don't underestimate the power of micro. Micro-changes, micro-investing, micro-actions, just the little things make the biggest differences. So that is my message for you for today, is pay attention to the micro. Whether it's the languaging, the habits, the stories, the beliefs you have, the identity that you have, the time that you're spending on things, start to, to implement some micro-changes in your life and build that confidence, and also that commitment to yourself that you've actually done something, 'cause it's a lot easier to chip away at the micro-things, and we've, we can have plans for the big stuff. And yeah, big is great, but you get there by the micro-steps. So with that, I'll let you go do some planning and to start taking action on some of your micro-changes to get you started and moving in the momentum that you want for 2026, and I'll catch you next week.
