153. How do I know when it's okay to spend?

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Transcript

Laura: 0:00

If you've ever stood in a store holding something in your hands thinking, should I buy this or is this irresponsible? This episode's for you?

0:09

hello, and welcome to the question of the day series here on Money and Career Mastery, where we tackle real questions from real people who are trying to make money, feel less chaotic and work feel more meaningful. Think of it like chatting with a friend. If your friend also happened to be a money coach. Okay, let's jump in to today's question.

Laura: 0:31

The question of the day today is, how do I know when it's okay to spend my money? Now this question isn't coming from anybody specific. It is coming from a general consensus of questions that I hear all the time. One of the things that's really crazy is that while I'm teaching people how to pay off debt, we get really intense and intentional and we start just going crazy, paying things off, and focusing on keeping our budget really tight. But then when we're out of debt, what do we do? We start having a hard time deciding is it okay to spend my money? So I wanna teach you today how to know when it is okay to spend your money. Spending. Doesn't have to feel scary, but it should feel clear. I love clarity. If you know anything about me, if you listen to any of my podcasts, the word clarity comes up in almost all of them. It is okay to spend when priorities, your plan, and your peace align. Yes, it is as if I'm a Southern Baptist preacher. I'm just gonna go with all the P words priorities, plan and peace. Okay? You need those three Ps in your life. The problem isn't the spending, it's spending without intention. If you were ever sitting here, going back and forth and around and round, you're like this box of Lucky Charms, I wanna buy it. Should I buy it? I, I, well, I don't know now. Does this fit with my. Does fit with my plan, doesn't really fit with my eating plan, but man, I'm hungry right now. So I think it would fit my priorities of feeding me. But actually it doesn't fit my priorities for, my actual health and nutrition align and that I'm probably, I'm gonna feel really good when I buy it right now, and I'm gonna feel really terrible about it when I get home with it and I eat it later. Do you understand how you can kind of talk yourself into things and talk yourself out of it? If you're asking whether or not you should buy the Lucky Charms, the question is why. Why would you want to buy Lucky Charms? Are you four? Do you need 4-year-old cereal? Maybe you have a 4-year-old and your 4-year-old would love to have the lucky charms. I, in fact, gave Lucky Charms to my 2-year-old. Today, we buy it maybe once a year. Just as a fun treat. They don't get it for breakfast because the last thing I need is for them to go off to school, sugared up, and then crash out, and then have the teacher call me and complain. No, no, thank you. We do have it. However, as a treat for the children that have finished all of their chores, all of their homework, and they eat all of their dinner, they can have cereal as a dessert. That's why Lucky Charms came to mind. So ask yourself these three questions before spending your money. This is gonna be goal goals for you right here, okay? You wanna ask yourself these three questions, and this is gonna tell you yes or no on whether or not to buy something. First question, is it aligned with my current financial goals, not somebody else's goals? Your goals. You and your spouse, if you have one, or you and your accountability partner should have listed out what your next financial goal is and what your ultimate financial goal is. If the purchase helps you reach your financial goals, then it's an excellent purchase. Go ahead and make it. This is probably easier to decide yes or no on when you're buying something big. Like your next car. It's easy to go with. Does this keep me outta debt? Does this keep me money in my emergency fund? Does this keep money in my home down payment fund? Like that's kind of the conversation that we had when we bought our car. Does this align with my current financial goals? If you go onto the car lot and they try to sell you a car that's more than the money that you have in your pocket and they say, well, we'll finance it, that does not align with your goals. No. The answer is no, but if you have the money to pay for it outright, then it does align with your financial goal. Next question is the spending based on values or emotions? I have one client that when she gets super stressed out, the first thing she does and she goes, she makes some purchases. She does not purchase them because she needs them. In fact, she buys things that she knows she does not need, and she gets upset with herself for buying them. Why does she buy those things to numb out? There's a numbing sensation that she receives when she makes those purchases. And in that instance, for her, her body is doing the right thing by telling her she needs to calm down, she needs to numb out. She's not doing it in the best way because she is spending based on her emotions and not based on her values. And it certainly doesn't help bring it to her financial goals. So she was at a no on both of those things, but her emotions overrode her decision making paradigm. That is one thing that we are working on. Is it aligned with my current financial goals? Is the spending based on my values or my emotions? And then three, will I regret not buying this in a week or will I forget about it tomorrow? This is the biggest one for my children. We are working very hard on impulse purchases. I want you to delay the impulse. Don't deny the joy. So my kids will go to the store and they're like, I really wanna buy this thing. I really wanna buy this thing. I really wanna buy this thing. I'm like, great. If you can still be thinking about it next week, we'll come back and get it. I make them wait a week. I don't want somebody to regret buying something. I would rather you regret not buying it, because you can always go back and get another one. Very few things are available in limited quantities. Very few and a lot of things that are in limited quantities. We'll have another sale next week. Don't worry about it. It's coming back. Okay? Asking yourself these questions will help you delay your impulse purchases without denying your joy. Bonus filter if you have families, if you have children, would I be proud to tell my kids this was part of our legacy? This one will hit you right in the fields. Legacy is a big thing for me. You know that. That's why I always focus on that when I'm making my decisions, especially my financial decisions, is this part of a legacy that I want to leave my kids? This is gonna help teach spinning values through transparency and not shame. We are going to keep things open in the sunlight so that they can see it spinning. Doesn't have to feel like guilt, but it should feel like clarity. Because you're not bad with money. You're just learning how to make it work for you. This month we are practicing intentional spending together, through my yes spend challenge. How I teach people about money is not just about restriction. It's not just about paying off debt. That's not the only thing I talk about. The reason we do things. It's about freedom. So I want you to come join us in the Facebook group. It is the Legacy Builders Network with Laura Sexton on Facebook. Say Yes to what really matters most. Join our yes spin challenge. It starts today, kickoff today, 9:00 AM today, 9:00 AM Pacific. If you are able to join us, we are absolutely thrilled to have you if you can't make it live. Watch the replay. The replay will be in the group for 30 days. You can join us at any time if you are listening to us. If you are coming to us from the future, we will have a different challenge in the Facebook group. So come on and join us. It's going to be absolutely amazing. So say yes to what really matters most to you. The link is down in the show notes. Until then, my friends, if you have a question for the question of the day series, please feel free to send it in. You can reach out to me hello@accelerateyourlegacy.com, and I will be happy to read all of those there. That's it for this week. My friends go out and make a difference.