Personal Finance QuickStart Guide

The Simplified Beginner's Guide to Eliminating Financial Stress, Building Wealth, and Achieving Financial Freedom

Morgen Rochard CFA, CFP, RLP

• Publisher: ClydeBank Media LLC
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781945051586
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Finance

THE ULTIMATE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR FINANCES

INCLUDES FILLABLE SIMPLIFIED BUDGET SPREADSHEET AND OTHER ESSENTIAL DIGITAL ASSETS

Are you tired of feeling stressed out and overwhelmed when you think about your finances?Have you gotten frustrated with personal finance advice from "experts" that doesn't feel like it speaks to your unique financial situation?No matter where you are in your financial journey Personal Finance QuickStart Guide covers everything you need to know to make a positive financial change in your life.At a time when 80% of US workers live paycheck to paycheck and as many as 40% of Americans can't afford a surprise $400 expense it has never been more important to take control of your financial wellbeing.In Personal Finance QuickStart Guide author, financial coach, and financial advisor Morgen B. Rochard CFA, CFP®, RLP® pulls back the personal finance curtain to present personal finance wisdom that is so simple anyone can start putting it to use today.Morgen has distilled a career's worth of experience in the financial world into an uncommonly helpful guide to the common money problems we all face. Filled with personal stories told in her straightforward and candid style, this book is the missing ingredient for anyone who wants to take control of their finances and live their most fulfilled life.It doesn't matter where you are on your financial journey, how much experience you have, or how much money you have in the bank—you can make the financial changes needed to build the fulfilling life you deserve with the time-tested and proven personal finance wisdom enclosed in this book. Personal Finance QuickStart Guide Is Perfect For:

• Earners in their 20's or 30's who are planning for a secure financial future
• People in their 40's, 50's, and beyond 65 who need to get their finances in order
• Working professionals who are thinking about retirement
• Anyone looking to make a financial change in their life and build wealth

Personal Finance QuickStart Guide Covers:

• How to think about money and craft your own positive money mindset
• Repairing your credit score to increase your buying power and provide more freedom in your life
• The difference between good and bad debt and how to pay down and manage debt
• Financial goal setting with actionable steps to accomplish your goals
• How to prepare for retirement and secure your own financially independent future

Personal Finance QuickStart Guide Will Teach You:

• How to build a positive money mindset, analyze your own money habits, and secure your own financial freedom for good times and bad
• How to effectively manage and pay down debt, the difference between good and bad debt, and how to raise your credit score (and keep it high)
• The best way to prepare for major life events like home buying, weddings, and sending kids off to college
• Yes, you need to invest—how to put your money to work for you without assuming a mountain of risk or learning complicated charts
• How to prepare for retirement the smart way, what to do if you come into money, how to reduce your tax burden and more—your entire personal finance journey is in these pages!

QuickStart Guides are books for beginners, written by experts. *LIFETIME ACCESS TO FREE PERSONAL FINANCE DIGITAL ASSETS*

• Easy to use Simplified Budget Spreadsheet
• 1 Page Personal Finance Plan
• Effective Goal Setting Workbook
• Additional visual aids, infographics and more!

PART I

FINDING AND SECURING YOUR FREEDOM

| 1 |

Believe

Chapter Overview

• Separating Thoughts from Facts
• Money Scripts
• Goals and Motivators

If a leader does not believe, he or she will not take the risks required to overcome the inevitable challenges necessary to win.

– Jocko Willink

I believe in heaven and hell. I’ve seen it in my financial planning practice. Many who ask me for financial help are living in their own version of financial hell. As humans, we often create our own prisons and live within the walls.

Have you ever thought about what financial hell looks like for you? I once worked with a truly financially stressed couple, Molly and Richard. On the outside, they appeared to be a well-off family. Richard ran his own real estate business and Molly worked for a consulting firm. They had two absolutely darling children. Richard was bubbly and friendly, always ready with a lighthearted joke. Molly had a warm smile and was the kind of person who would bring you small gifts just to brighten your day.

At our first meeting, Molly brought me a hand-crocheted hat for my son. The magnanimous, jovial nature of this couple belied their very difficult financial predicament. Molly confessed to being anxious, scared, and angry about their finances. She told me through tears, “We have been living on the edge of our means for a long time. We’d occasionally take on some credit card debt but nothing we felt we couldn’t repay. We both have student loans. We have a large mortgage. We like doing nice things for our children. Our daughter, Hannah, takes weekly ballet lessons. Our son, Henry, is obsessed with jiujitsu and competes in tournaments all over the East Coast. I tried to start my own consulting business a few years ago. We knew it would take a few years to get it running. At the time, Richard’s business was booming. It seemed like a great time for me to go out on my own. We started living on one income. Our expenses didn’t change much. We essentially kept the same spending habits. We were kind of operating under the assumption that I’d eventually make enough money to stave off any budding financial issues. Richard handled all the finances, I’m not as good at it. We didn’t communicate much about it. I really felt like everything was fine.

“And then, Richard’s business had a hard year. It was the same year that my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. My mother felt completely overwhelmed, and Richard and I wanted to help pay for my dad’s home care. All throughout this time Richard continued to pay the bills and shelter me from the reality of our finances. I know he meant well. He knew I was already distressed about my dad, and he didn’t want me to also have to worry about money. Had I known the details of our predicament, then I probably would have gone back to work.”

Then it was time to hear from Richard: “The first thing we fell behind on was our taxes. As a business owner I would, under normal circumstances, pay my taxes in quarterly installments. But as our situation worsened I found myself using that money to pay the bills that were piling up. At the same time I began using our credit cards a lot more. Before long we’d burned through all of our liquid assets. We still had the equity in our home, but otherwise we were bust. When I finally told Molly, she was furious. She couldn’t believe that I had shielded her from the reality of our financial situation for so long. She took the first available position at a consulting firm. However, I know she felt like it was too late. I just thought I could fix it all, but now we’re paying 20 to 30 percent interest on our credit cards, and we owe the IRS a lot of money. We couldn’t bring ourselves to share the financial news with our kids, so we’ve been hiding it. The kids are doing all their after-school activities as usual and asking for money. And it’s flying out the door. We really don’t know what to do.”

There’s a saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Rome didn’t fall in a day, either. It took Molly and Richard a couple of years to end up living in financial hell. Each day, the decisions...