Finding Financial Freedom - Tricks no one told me!
Okay… I need to begin with the fact that I am in NO WAY a financial advisor haha
However, in the last few weeks I have been praying more about financial freedom for Parker and I and what that would look like. Like many Americans, I have student loan debt that is crushing us and never really learned much about budgeting, investing and finances in general.
Recently I listed to a podcast by Rachel Hollis that I have been sharing with all my friends. It’s called “How Anyone Can Be Financially Free with David Bach” you can listen to it here.
I don’t know why it was this podcast, this moment, this time in my car driving to a coffee meeting that I finally “got it”. Something hit me to my core - that God wanted me to prosper and that I needed to learn more about how money works. As many of you know, about 80% of Parker and I’s income comes from support raising (thank you to ALL OUR SUPPORTERS!!!) and many people invest into us as full time missionaries in America as we teach people how to share the Gospel, make disciples and plant micro churches through Salt Churches.
The other 20% of our income comes from my business The Created which I launched in March this year. However, after listening to the podcast - I kept freaking out and saying “Woah, I didn’t know that!” and every time I made an excuse in my head as to WHY I couldn’t save money or invest (I know nothing about stocks, we have NO extra money, and I have NO extra time) I decided to stop making excuses and do some research.
Recently - I started making these 5 tiny adjustments in my life and it’s been GAME CHANGING :
On the podcast - David discusses setting money aside in small increments into an account that invests for you (more than a savings account). I decided to take $50 from our savings and set up a $5 a week reoccurring transfer and set up an account with Acorn. From my research - Acorn was the most user friendly and honestly the easiest to use. You can get $5 for free to try it out here. (*NOT SPONSORED)
This is a little snapshot of my Acorns account - which basically you set it + forget it as it makes $ for you.
2. After I texted ALL my friends about my new obsession with Acorn - my friend Mike made fun of me for investing the “millennial” way haha! Mike is a really smart guy so I asked him what he does and he said he uses E*Trade. So I quickly downloaded the E*Trade app and realizing I new NOTHING about stocks - I started to read some news. I found the (stock symbol??) haha for brands that I personally just liked and watched them over about a week. I then chose a low priced stock (So I could practice) and bought 5 shares. I will keep you posted on how it does!
UPDATE: Another friend told me about an incredible app called Robinhood - I downloaded it and it is WAY easier than E*Trade and you get a free stock for signing up!
3. This morning I had coffee with my friend Jamie (which is why I am actually writing this blog) and we kept talking about habits of people with a wealthy mindset. Parker mentioned to me that people that value money also value themselves and are typically pretty disciplined. Every wealthy person has a morning routine. So today, I set my alarm an hour earlier - sipped coffee, prayed, made my bed and prepared for my day. Do you have a morning routine?
4. The next tip is to LEARN from people that have created wealth for themselves. I started to set up meeting with people that knew how to budget money, make financial priorities and were Kingdom minded.
5. Last but not least - LIVING GENEROUSLY. I know this one sounds obvious but so many people don’t practice it. I truly believe that money is a stewardship responsibility and as we live generous lives - God can pour down more opportunities to give. About 4 years ago, I wrote a blog for Kindrid which you can find here. They asked me to write this post for them because this revelation on tithing and giving my money to God - SHOOK ME! It completely changed my life and took away anxiety surrounding money and helped me to live a lifestyle of risk and trust.