As my daughter embarks on a new chapter of her life, I find myself reflecting on the important lessons I want to share with her. Surprisingly, I've realized these nuggets of wisdom are not just applicable to life changes, but also to our financial journeys.
Join me, as we explore how to leverage opportunities for growth and change that come with new beginnings, the value of setting realistic goals, and the importance of embracing change with an open mind. We'll also discuss how we can learn from our past and reaching out for support when we need it.
Whether you're just starting off, considering a fresh start, or adjusting to a significant life change, this episode is packed with actionable insights to guide you. Together, we'll navigate these new financial landscapes and transitions, and remember, as your money coach, my goal is to support and guide you every step of the way. So, let's embark on this journey together.
Join the The Financial Moment community on: Instagram Facebook Website Email: info@thefinancialmoment.com
Grab this FREE guide with 10 easy tips to keep your budget on track!
As my daughter embarks on a new chapter of her life, I find myself reflecting on the important lessons I want to share with her. Surprisingly, I've realized these nuggets of wisdom are not just applicable to life changes, but also to our financial journeys.
Join me, as we explore how to leverage opportunities for growth and change that come with new beginnings, the value of setting realistic goals, and the importance of embracing change with an open mind. We'll also discuss how we can learn from our past and reaching out for support when we need it.
Whether you're just starting off, considering a fresh start, or adjusting to a significant life change, this episode is packed with actionable insights to guide you. Together, we'll navigate these new financial landscapes and transitions, and remember, as your money coach, my goal is to support and guide you every step of the way. So, let's embark on this journey together.
Join the The Financial Moment community on: Instagram Facebook Website Email: info@thefinancialmoment.com
Grab this FREE guide with 10 easy tips to keep your budget on track!
My name is Carolyn. Welcome to the Saving for Your First Home podcast. I am the CEO of the Financial Moment. We offer money coaching for those who are ready and willing to make financial changes in their lives. For the most of us, there comes a point in time where we think to ourselves it would be really nice to own property, but it sometimes can feel like a pipe dream and not very easily obtainable. So I created this podcast to give you all the information and tools you need to take the steps forward toward home ownership. Take it from me my husband and I started our lives together, working part-time jobs with a young child. Fast forward, through many hiccups and failures, we stepped our feet into our very first home. For us it was a pile of dirt, but eventually our family home was built on that dirt. Now we are in the midst of growing our investment property portfolio. I created the savings for your first home podcast to give you easy, actionable tools for you to do the same. If you have that same gut feeling that I did and want to create a life for yourself and your growing family, but don't know where to start, you are in the right place. Let's do this. Hello everyone, welcome back to the Saving for Your First Home podcast.
Speaker 1:
I'm Carolyn, your money coach, so it's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. I have to say This is my daughter's final year of high school, and so there was a lot going on between prom, then exams, then graduation It's just been a lot. But as I have got to watch my daughter evolve because it seems like in the last year of high school they kind of change into this mature young adult I guess they're approaching understanding that it's a new phase of life coming And as I've watched her kind of progress and say goodbye to the things that are going to be ending, i realized myself that new beginnings are scary, and so I want to impart some knowledge and give advice to my daughter as she kind of branches out into this new phase of life. And as I was thinking about it, some of the lessons that I want to teach her are so relevant to our own financial journey. So I thought I'd share with all of you the conversations that I plan to have with my daughter over the next few months.
Speaker 1:
So, first up, what is a new beginning? The way I see it is, it's an opportunity for growth and change. Like who doesn't want a fresh start? It's like a clean light. All the errors of the past are wiped away and you have a new opportunity to do things different and change and grow. So it can be a new year that's starting out, this fresh start. It can be a new job, it can be a new relationship. It can be simply just waking up for a new, fresh day and embarking on what is going to be super exciting and full of possibilities.
Speaker 1:
So what to think about when we're heading into a new beginning? Most of my coaching clients will know the answer to this, but the very first thing that I talk about is setting goals. You really want to determine what it is that you're trying to achieve and then set clear and realistic goals that are going to give you direction and motivation for this new phase of your life. Now, i've talked about this on the podcast before, but smart goals are a great way to break down the barriers that you're down how exactly to develop a goal And actually, i do have an episode that I created on my YouTube channel about how to create a smart goal, so if you click on the link in the show notes, it'll hedge you there and you can listen to that episode. It is really easy to break down and I actually have tools that can help you to formulate your goals, so that's really important when you're starting out a new beginning.
Speaker 1:
Now, the next thing that I thought about was embracing change, because with every new beginning, things are not going to be the exactly the same as they were before. So with that, change can be thrilling and challenging. You need to be open-minded and adaptable, willing to embrace the unknown and learn from your new experiences. Now I feel like a lot of us are kind of experts at this, because the last couple of years have brought on so much change. It's changing technology, changing the way we work, changing to our incomes, changing to our expenses. There's been a lot of change, good or bad, but as long as we're open-minded and willing to adapt, change doesn't have to be so scary. I remember in one of my previous roles I was implementing a new accounting type system in an organization And the prior system that the staff were using was probably being used for over 20 years. So change was very difficult for them And I even remember someone in tears saying I can't learn this. It's too much for me. And it wasn't until they finally understood how the new system was working And they became the biggest advocates of the new product. It was amazing to see the transformation, because all they needed to do was realize that they are doing the same things, but just in a different way, and so that's what I mean about embracing change.
Speaker 1:
My hope is that you're taking this information that this podcast brings you and you're implementing that in a new way which leads into reflecting and learning from the past. It's important to use and take the opportunity to reflect on our past experiences, both the successes and the failures. These are all good lessons and valuable insights that are going to help us to make better decisions and take positive steps to move forward. I can't tell you the countless number of times that I have fallen down financially and then just had to pick myself back up and start over again. But isn't there a saying that says the failures make you stronger? I hope that that's the case. These failures sometimes it's hard to stomach, but the lessons and the insight that they give it really provides a foundation for what you're going to do moving forward.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so the next point I'm going to try and emphasize with my daughter is to seek support Now, just to give you a little bit of background. She can be a little bit indecisive And so we decided that we would take her to visit the universities, just so she understood where she was applying to. So we went to at least 10 different universities and we went on the tours and we saw all the buildings and the places where she would be staying, just so that she had all the information so she can make an educated decision. But the common theme on all of those tours was that you need to reach out for the support that's going to assist you. So, whether that be tutoring, whether that be guidance for clubs that you're interested in all the different resources that these universities have to provide, every single one of them said it is so important to seek out the support that you need. I guess, coming from high school, when you have guidance and your parents are really close by to try to help you make the right decisions, you don't really have to seek support, because support's just gonna be there. But as you become an adult, you really have to advocate for yourself. You need to reach out to your family and your friends when you're struggling And you need to find some mentors that can provide guidance and support during a transitional period of time. So having a support system is so important and it really can help you stay motivated and provide just a different perspective.
Speaker 1:
Now this next point is something that I think is super important but we kind of neglect, especially in times when we are stressed, and that is focusing on self-care. Now, self-care is not just going to the spa, as much as I love to do that But prioritizing self-care really means taking care of your physical and your mental wellbeing. Now I love to work out. I can't tell you I just I really enjoy the act of actually exercising and doing different things, but do I do it on a regular basis? No, i struggle with this all the time and it's about being consistent. So, even though I love it, i will get so involved in work or the busyness of life and that will take me away from something that I truly enjoy doing, and I'm sure most of you will agree that when you're actually exercising and the feeling that you have afterwards is amazing, it takes away all of the stress, and so I don't know what it is, but I'm still going to continue to battle with that.
Speaker 1:
But taking care of your physical and mental wellbeing is really important on a journey, when you're starting a new beginning, because it helps your brain to think better. It can positively impact the way you adapt and thrive in new situations. It's just giving you more confidence, and there are a ton of studies out there that actually show the direct correlation between eating healthy and stress. A lot of people are stress eaters right, they will eat things like chocolate or salty foods when they're under stress, but, conversely, if you eat healthy, you actually can think better. You have clarity of mind. So I really don't know why our bodies do this to ourselves. But we need to really focus on physical and mental wellbeing, and so our bodies are primed to intake any new change that comes along.
Speaker 1:
Once you've taken care of the physical and mental wellbeing, we also have to make sure that we have a positive mindset. Now this involves embracing optimism, and sometimes this is difficult for a lot of people. There are so many people that are pessimists, and I'm sure you know somebody that is like this right. So it's like rewiring our brain to develop a positive mindset, because if we believe that we can navigate through change, then optimism can really fuel our motivation. It can give us resilience and it gives us the ability to seize new opportunities. I feel like a parent. Sometimes we are optimists for our children because we can see the potential. We see the opportunities that they can't really see in front of themselves. And if we take that perspective and apply it to ourselves, we are probably blocking opportunities because we are just not optimistic about the future And sometimes our financial position can really taint our vision.
Speaker 1:
This is when we need somebody from the outside to say you know what you can do. This, it is possible, and that is why I'm trying to build this community that we encourage one another to make changes, to build a new, better financial future. So once all of that is in place, we are ready to take action. A new beginning actually means that we put one foot in front of the other and we start to break down those goals into actionable steps and making progress towards them. And then we all know that we have to embrace this journey. New beginnings are not just a point in time, they are a process and it really doesn't provide for instant transformation. It's a journey and we have to celebrate the small little victories along the way and be patient with yourself.
Speaker 1:
So in a financial journey towards saving for a home. It comes with a lot of ups and downs because, number one, the down payment these days is astronomical based on the housing prices that we're in. The interest rates are high. So all these obstacles that people feel are barriers to actually achieving their goal can often put them off and take them off route. But there are definitely ways to be able to purchase your home. If you haven't listened to episode number 43, it was an interview with a first time home buyer Listen to her journey, listen to the things that she went through, the obstacles and how her goal came to fruition. It is possible that you attain your financial goals, but you have to understand that it's a journey and it's not something that's going to happen overnight. And then you have to remain flexible, right, because life, like a new beginning, takes unexpected turns And we need to stay flexible and be willing to adjust our plans. Now talk about being flexible.
Speaker 1:
When my husband and I were first married, we had planned to go on a honeymoon and it was to Antigua. We had paid for the resort, the flights, everything was set. We got married The next day. I think we were leaving on the Monday, and so we got a call on the Sunday that Antigua had just been hit with a major hurricane. It wiped out the entire resort that we were going to And we were totally shocked. I mean, we probably should have done more research to understand that September has a high probability of hurricanes, but we had no idea that this was going to happen. And talk about being flexible, so it took time for them to refund the money, because we needed the money to book something else and all of the Caribbean was kind of not an option, and so we really didn't have much of a honeymoon. We just kind of went up north and that was it. But five years later we did go on our very first cruise, and so that was exciting.
Speaker 1:
So you know what it's just a hurt, a note about. You can plan and plan and plan, but sometimes life is just gonna throw you for a turn. So just kinda go with the flow. And my last thought on the new beginning is to appreciate the moment that you're in, and a lot of people call it practicing gratitude, but it really is just about appreciating everything that you've accomplished, everything that's in your life that brings you joy and fulfillment, and this is what is going to push you and catapult you forward into your new beginning.
Speaker 1:
So I'm excited for my daughter's new step in life, but I'm also excited for your new financial journey, and if I can help you in any way, then please feel free to reach out to me And I will continue to give you as much information and tools to help you along this journey, because I believe that you can create a better financial future for you and your family. So remember that a new beginning is really just an invitation for you to grow, for you to explore and to shape your future. So embrace it with a positive mindset, some determination and the willingness to adapt. I hope you have a great week and we will see you next Thursday. Thank you for listening. We are committed to helping you place your very first steps into your new home. See you next time.