Everyone hopefully has “that friend.” You know, the one that crazy shit always happens around when you’re with them. This episode is inspired by an experience I had with “that friend” I’m going to share it with you and then talk about Financial No-No maps. My friend and I went to Los Angeles for about 5 days of fun. We booked a super cute hostel downtown and got fast to work designing our travel schedule. We arrived and realized immediately when our Super Shuttle was driving through Skid Row that maybe, just maybe we had planned…badly.
Arriving at our hostel, we were relieved to see that it was actually as cute as we thought it was and was thankfully about 5 blocks away from Skid Row. No matter, we were going to rally. We decided to grab a cup of coffee at the coffee shop next door and then go for some Californian adventures. The barista had a massive amount of tattoos, ear plugs and was super easy going.
He reminded us of home. Then, he shared why. “You’re from Colorado? Dude, my uncle is the mayor of Nederland.” For those of you not in the know Nederland is a sort of hills has eyes sort of place known for a festival called “Frozen Dead Guys Days” where they celebrate a frozen grandpa in a tuff shed. Realizing where we came from he, our barista was rightfully concerned about our safety and proceeded to unfold a map and grab a pen. “I’m going to tell you where you should avoid.” Then, he started marking over and over again “No, no, no” He created our Los Angeles No, No Map. ”
If you accidentally drive into this area-no.” That was the first of many adventures during that week including an armed standoff that we disrupted when our bus driver stopped beside it. That clarity of where not to go sometimes is the best framework to work with in many situations that we find ourselves in. In this episode I’m going to share some thoughts on designing a financial no-no map so that you avoid being led accidentally astray when making money choices.
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When I first purchased my home, I was so excited about it. I also discovered that there were so many aspects to homeownership that I didn’t know about. How often I would have to do home maintenance, how tiring yard work would be and the moments when I thought that maybe I should have purchased a property outside of an HOA. There was another homeownership experience that I was fascinated by which was the refinance process.
As a first time homeowner, I didn’t completely understand the process and why it was a useful financial tool that so many homeowners embraced.
Fortunately there is a resource to help educate homeowners going through the refinance process. Refily is a lender comparison tool that helps homeowners find lenders to help them refinance their mortgage. Refily helps homeowners see and compare different lenders and estimated fees and rates before saying “yes” to their future home loan.
What I really love about Refily’s Comparison tool is the following: transparency, ease of use and accessibility. If you’re looking to refinance your home loan, Refily is the tool I recommend to help you with the lender comparison process and I am proud to partner with Refily to share the comparison tool.
Related Episodes
- The Brand Building Lab: Creating Your Financial No No Map for Your Online Business
Show Notes
- Let’s be super clear, your financial No-No map is not to be used to punish yourself for spending however you would like to spend. Instead, the financial no-no map is created to flesh out the financial decisions that you will say yes or no to.
- Also, your financial no-no map helps to create non-negotiable boundaries that you don’t even have to think about in the moment-because you’ve already set that boundary.
- Also there’s no right or wrong with your Financial No-No map, it’s all about creating systems that help you make financial decisions that make you happy, nurture your money and don’t put you at risk.
- By the way, I’m doing two versions of this episode. One here on Michelle is Money Hungry for personal finances and the other on my Brand Building Lab podcast. That episode will share all the things I’m saying “no” to in my business. If you’re an online entrepreneur planning for the upcoming year, definitely give that episode a listen.
- What does my financial no-no map look like for the upcoming year? I thought I would share a few examples:
- No to spending that makes me feel ethically uncomfortable. By this what I mean is I won’t spend my money at or in a place or space that mistreats others for whatever reason.
- No more underearning, this is an interesting one because underearning is an issue that I’ve had to really work on because I low-key have felt some guilt or have been conflicted about earning more. This month I’m earning the most I’ve ever earned in one month and I have to actively work on how this makes me feel, who I disclose the amount to and how these earnings make other people in my life feel as well.
- No to not having a big enough savings. Savings is an area that I sometimes struggle with. Remember, I told you that I’m not a financial expert and still make financial mistakes. After 2020 my goal is to save a year’s worth of expenses.
- No to spending on random things vs. experiences-I just don’t need a whole bunch of random stuff.
- No to spending at national chains vs. local businesses whenever possible
- No to spending money on bad food (I don’t eat fast food. Never liked it never will. Saves me a lot of time and money and diarrhea)
- What do I say “yes” to now that I have my Financial No-No map fleshed out?
- Yes, to local products and goods whenever possible.
- Yes, to using my carshare program that helps me save money and be kind to the earth at the same time.
- Yes, to delicious, good quality food. How do I make this happen? Maybe I will go during happy hour or check a restaurant’s website before going. And, instead of going to restaurants weekly, perhaps I go a couple of times a month.
- Yes, to optimizing my trip spend by going to bougie hostels and using Frontier.
- Yes, to using Mint Mobile.
- Basically, your financial No-No map gives you clarity around what you can and cannot tolerate as you make decisions with your money.
- For some folks that means paying $1,000 for a cell phone. We use cell phones all day long and in the event we’re lost or in danger it’s also a safety device. I’m still team Android but I totally understand why folks buy an expensive cell phone. I bought a $1600 MacBook Air and paid cash this summer. I use that thing all day long and will have it for probably the next 5 or 6 years.
- Maybe this means buying that new car instead of used because you’ve decided that you’ll fee safer even though people talk about the devaluation of a car once it drives off the lot.
- At the same time that you’re saying know, you’re gaining clarity on what you’ll say “yes” to in your life. While doing this you will also create some talking points that will help you share your boundaries when people pushback at what you say “no” to. The goal is to get to the point where you feel so damn confident and comfortable about your “no” and yesses that people won’t be able to sway or shame you into doing what they want because of peer pressure or their views of social norms related to money.
- Your “yes” should not harm you financially, same with your “nos”
- Want to travel business class? Fine, it can’t harm your financial bottom line.
- Want to go to Aspen for a ski trip? Ok, can’t go or return broke.
- Want truffle salt? It’s so damn yummy. Get the truffle salt. You just can’t go broke doing what you want.
- How do I make this work?
- Budget for what you want
- Focus on timing sales always happen
- Reimagine how you gain access to what you want. I side-hustled for a lot of the things that I wanted.
- Optimize your spending. The holiday season is great for getting bonus cash when making purchases or buying gift certificates. In fact, my phone broke recently, I found a new one that was on sale. Went to Best Buy and it was cheaper than the online listed price. I’ve also found retailers giving bonus cash towards gift-card purchases.
- Understand that this is flexible. Revisit your boundaries if you feel like things have gotten out of hand.
- I would love to hear what’s on YOUR financial No-No list and what you say “yes” to. If you’re an online content creator, go to The Brand Building Lab to listen to my financial No-No list. It may surprise you. Link is included in the show notes to this episode.
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