Three Tips for Staying Positive About Your Financial Future

Even if you are a natural optimist, there may be times when your financial future will seem dim to you. The cause could be as dramatic as a job loss or a medical emergency that completely upends your financial plans.  It may be the sudden… Three Tips for Staying Positive About Your Financial Future as published on Women Who Money Even if you are a natural optimist, there may be times when your financial future will seem dim to you. The cause could be as dramatic as a job loss or a medical emergency that completely upends your financial plans.  It may be the sudden realization of a long-brewing problem — a career (and salary) that has stagnated or a debt load that only grows. Or it may be a persistent, gnawing feeling that while nothing is critically “wrong” per se, nothing is quite right either.  You’re just not feeling on track to meet your long-range goals. Whether a new-found issue or an old sore, your gaze into the crystal ball is met with fog. Let’s clear things up, shall we? Step One – Determining the Root Cause Our opening move is to answer the obvious question: “Why do you doubt your potential to achieve your financial goals?” But we need to get down to the root cause.  For example, if you have turned pessimistic because you lost your job or your business failed (and who wouldn’t be in that circumstance!), we need to understand why this happened.  Be honest with yourself and record your responses to the following questions:  Were you impacted by changes in the economy? If so, describe what changed. Did some circumstance unique to your business or industry turn south? If so, explain those situations. Were your own actions (or inaction) in any way complicit in the loss? If so, spell out what you did (or failed to do) that led to your current condition. If your financial prospects seem grim because you’re carrying what feels like an impossible debt load, let’s interrogate this further: Is this debt an artifact of a past decision or circumstance? Could this circumstance re-appear? Record what caused the situation and describe what conditions could cause a similar problem. Is the growing debt load symptomatic of an ongoing imbalance in your cash flow? Are you tracking expenses and budgeting? (Avoid these common budgeting mistakes) Have you clarified your needs vs. wants? List the circumstances that are leading to your cash flow problem. In each of the instances above, we need to understand at a granular level what problem we’re trying to solve before creating an action plan. While confronting missteps in your journey may be a painful exercise, your path forward will be much straighter with the time spent in self-reflection. Step Two – Setting Actionable Goals Staying with our examples above, let’s consider our next step: You need a goal…or rather, a few goals. It’s all about the process. If your grim outlook stems from a lost job or job stagnation, your “get out of your funk” plan is to articulate (in writing again, please!) the concrete steps that you will take next:  “I will update my resume by ____ (date).” “I will update my social media profile and make sure my online community knows I am looking for work by ____ (date).” “I will complete X number of ‘informational interviews’ to learn more about my intended dream job by ____ (date).” And so on. Reflect back to the “why” you asked and answered in Step One. Your actions need to respond to the root cause of your job loss or business failure.  Should “I will enroll in online training to increase my marketable skills.” be on your list? Maybe you should include a goal such as “I will attend an upcoming networking opportunity to grow my small business.” Key point: Note that these are all actions completely within your control.  Moving forward and taking control A crucial part of moving to a more positive mindset about your future is embracing your agency and focusing your actions on what you can control. If the problem is debt, your action plan starts here: Forgive yourself. Whatever you did or did not