Recently, Petra Coach presented a webinar, “Personal Financial Fitness” with Former CPA and Certified Petra Coach David Pierce.

This information is applicable to team members of all roles and levels for best practices on managing and maximizing your personal finances.

You can find the full recording here.

The slide deck and tools mentioned in the session can also be downloaded HERE.

The below Illustrated Model is from The Vivid Ink Company. Kristin McLane and her team transform the spoken word into lasting and actionable works of art. Check them out on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or their website.

To augment the recording, we noted takeaways and tips from the presentation.

Top Takeaways

Money Statistics

Debt Facts

  • In 2019, Amex and Capital One spent $2.8B and $2.2B in
  • advertising, respectively
  • Annual income haul by Credit Card Co.’s – $170B plus
  • Average consumer debt is estimated at $40,000
  • 750,000 personal bankruptcies annually (2010 – 1.6 million)
  • 78% of American families live paycheck to paycheck
  • Debt Prison – Life Sentence for Many

As you get older, your debt gets larger

As you get more successful and earn more money, the more debt you accumulate.

The first thing you need to do is create a budget

With a budget, you’re the master of your money

Zero-Based Budgeting

  • Every Dollar has a Name – everything that comes in gets allocated somewhere in your budget – there are no excess funds that have no name
  • Protect the 4 Walls First – Your necessities, food, shelter, utilities and transportation
  • New budget every month – create your budget, look back on the last month and re-evaluate the budget – it will take about 3-6 months to create a really good budget – create a new budget every month
  • Credit Cards – Get rid of them! You won’t have any expenses you can’t meet with your current funds
  • Use Cash for all purchases – you will use a debit card and not a debt charge
  • Major expenses – save a little bit every month and when you have the money to pay for that expense, you will be able to pay for it in cash – This is to keep you out of debt prison
  • Sacrifice – Live within your own means and downsize what you can to create extra income and get out of debt

How to Create a Zero Based Budget

  • List all of your monthly income
  • Do the same thing for your expenses – look back about 6 months to create your monthly expenses
  • Think about annual and monthly items (ex: insurance might be quarterly)
  • Then allocate a monthly number for those expenses
  • Add up income, add up expenses, subtract those and that number needs to equal ZERO
  • If you have an excess amount leftover – either use it to pay off debt, or put it in a savings account

What If My Expenses Exceed My Income?

  • Be critical of every expense in your life and decide whether it is a need or a want
  • Find More Money
    • Side job
    • Garage sale

App Suggestion: Every Dollar (everydollar.com)

  • You link your checking accounts into the application and it brings all the transactions in
  • You just have to categorize them
  • Then it tracks them for you in real time

Emergency Funds

Create an Emergency Fund – Minimum $1,000

  • This will give you peace of mind and get you off your credit cards
  • When an emergency happens, use the funds, and then re-establish that fund
  • Once you’ve paid off all your debts (except mortgage), establish another reserve fund equal to 4-6 months of expenses

Debt

Get Out of Debt Prison

  • Step 1: You have to create more Income than Expenses
  • Step 2:  List all your debts (except mortgage) from Smallest to Largest
  • Step 3:  Pay only minimum payment on all debt except Smallest
  • Step 4:  Pay everything you can on Smallest Debt until Paid Off
  • Step 5:  Now Attack the Next Smallest Debt until Paid Off
  • Step 6:  Continue until All Debt is Repaid
  • Step 7:  Cut up Your Credit Cards – Cancel with Creditor

*Any new income or savings from expense reductions goes to payoff debt

Start small, then work towards bigger debts

The Debt Snowball Calculator

  • By starting with paying off the small income, you are able to pay more on another debt item and pay it off sooner than you would by paying just the monthly minimum

Insurance

The 7 Types of Insurance that Need to be a Part of Your Budget

  • Life Insurance
  • Disability Insurance
  • Health Insurance
  • Long-Term Care
  • Identity Theft Insurance
  • Homeowner’s Insurance
  • Automobile Insurance

What’s Next

Recommended Next Steps in this Order:

  • Save for Retirement – 15% of Income
  • Save for Your Children’s College – Do Your Best
  • Attack your Mortgage – Get Out of Jail
  • Live Like No Other – Enjoy Life and Give Like No Other

“Hold your possessions with a loose hand, so some of it falls through”

 

Like what you see? Register for our upcoming workshops & webinars today!