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Striking the balance between saving for your future without depriving yourself too much in the present can be difficult.
Financial and banking attorney + Yale grad Scarlett Cochran, JD, who has 217,000 YouTube Subscribers, in her new book, IT’S NOT ABOUT THE MONEY: A Proven Path to Building Wealth & Living a Rich Life You Deserve (Penguin Random House; Feb. 14, ’23) discusses 3 keys to create a money plan you actually enjoy sticking to.
3 Keys to Creating and Sticking to a Money Plan
- Start small to build the practice – e.g. save $50 a month to get into the habit and then build on it. Scoring those quick wins positively reinforces you to build on them. Consistency is more important than the actual dollar amount.
- Set meaningful savings goals – when we set savings goals that deeply matter to us (e.g. saving for college or retirement), it becomes easier to make the kinds of tradeoffs it takes to accomplish those goals because we know we’re basing decisions on the type of life we want to create for ourselves.
- Identify your valued spending – determine the spends that truly brings you joy in the present so you can sustain your motivation and enjoy your life. Depriving yourself too much today to fund your future can send you off the rails and lead to impulse buys that don’t make you happier and leave you with less money. By prioritizing both what matters now and later, intentionally choosing to spend on what brings you joy, you eradicate the impulse-spending that occurs when motivation is at its lowest.
Check out Scarlett’s recent interview on Good Morning America
Scarlett Cochran started off as a single teen mom living below the poverty line and went on to become an attorney, financial expert, and entrepreneur. In her career as a lawyer, she worked on behalf of everyday Americans at government agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (where she worked on fair lending and equity issues). Since launching One Big Happy Life, Cochran and her partner, Joseph, have touched the lives of millions. Good Morning America, Forbes, CNBC, Oprah and more have featured her.
