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Your Income Needs a Roadmap · EARNED & UNBOUND™

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're giving your money a destination, it may not be the destination that you originally thought it was going toward.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe you thought all my money needs to go towards my lifestyle right now.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: That might be your default way of thinking.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: But when we plan for a life of abundance, some things may need to shift, or you're sacrificing future you at the expense of current you.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Earned and Unbound, the Black Abundance Circle podcast for people who have learned how to earn and are ready to become unbound from success that only looks good on paper.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Ashley Edwards.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Here we talk about turning income into ownership, options, and abundance and building a life that actually feels as good as it looks.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever looked at your salary on paper and thought, wait, I'm like, how much I should be able to do more with this?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have definitely had that thought, right?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right around the time that um your job does the final evaluation, and then they tell you your new comp and your bonus target and all those things, right?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'd be thinking, like, this is what I make, that's crazy, right?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you're thinking, but like, where is it though?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I've definitely had years where I've had those conversations, and so that is what we're talking about today, right?
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I should be able to do more with this, and the root of that kind of issue is that your money needs a roadmap.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so welcome back.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: My name's Ashley.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is Earned and Unbound.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is a Black Abundance Circle podcast for professionals who are earning, building, and ready to just be more intentional about turning their income into ownership, options, and a life of abundance.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Last time we talked about this gap between income and wealth, right?
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like the idea that you can have high income, but doesn't necessarily mean you're wealthy.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And the idea that there are high income earners who still don't have optionality, still don't have ownership, right?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have any of the things.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Today is about thinking about your money where it's going and designing a roadmap for that, okay?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that it can actually support your dream life.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if you really think about it, you don't ever go somewhere.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know about you, but I don't ever go somewhere without a roadmap or GPS of sorts, right?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't just hop in the car and start driving, and I'm like, all right, I'll get there, you know.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: But it's like, where are you going though?
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can literally go in any direction and get to wherever if you don't know exactly where you're going.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's the problem we're fixing.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: There's several steps to turning your income into an actual roadmap, okay?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So the first one is finding out where your money's been going in the first place.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: That is literally the first step.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I know a lot of people don't like to talk about this, they don't like certain trigger words like budget, you know, or they don't want to sit down and take that hard look at what their money is doing.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: But trust me, you definitely want to do this.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the very first step.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're thinking about where your money is going, you can literally pull your bank statements for this.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So you want to pull your checking account statement, pull your credit card statement, and just start looking through it and seeing, like, okay, what am I actually spending my money on so that you can understand where your money's headed?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because the thing about money is it's going to go somewhere, right?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's always in motion, it's always flowing, and the money will find a destination, okay?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're looking at your statements, your job is to figure out, well, wait, where is it going already?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, because it's going somewhere, and that may be your lifestyle, you know, it may be that you're spending a lot of money on living expenses, it may be your kids, it may be travel, it may be luxury items.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: When I first started looking at my money to see where it was going when I became a high-income earner, I did this exercise, and I realized that uh pretty much all of my discretionary income was going toward travel.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about like all of it.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's say hypothetically, I made$10,000 in a month.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It would be like$3,000 for living expenses,$7,000 for travel, literally.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I when I realized that, I said, oh wow, uh, okay, I really like to travel.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I learned that.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Then I was like, wait, is this actually the plan that I want for my money?
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, is this the right destination for my money?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I love to travel and I want that to be a big part of my life.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: But do I actually all of my discretionary income to be going towards that right now?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's the first question.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say right now, it gets to the second question.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: But before we close out this first one, I want you to take this away.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: The real thing to think about is your current money already has a destination.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want you to really understand this.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So even if you don't give your money a roadmap, it has a roadmap, right?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Your money has a destination.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the question is, is that roadmap that my money's following, is that actually taking me where I want to go?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, for the example of where I was, my money had a destination.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: The destination was all these travel providers, right?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was the airlines, it was the hotels, the Airbnbs, like my money's roadmap was leading me to other countries, right?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And other places.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Was that my plan for my future?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: No, right?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: But since I didn't give the money a destination, naturally it found a destination.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's what I want you to keep in mind.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you do not look at where your money is going, it's gonna be hard to redirect it, okay?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the first thing.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing here is deciding what season you're in, because money is dynamic, right?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's not always going to be the same, and once you set a roadmap or a destination, it doesn't mean that it's always gonna be that same roadmap, right?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because you may not always want to go to that same place, and so you have to decide, like given where you are right now, are you in a season of building?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Are you in a season of saving, right?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have a particular goal that you're working toward?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Are you in a season of expansion, right?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's the season that I'm in right now.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: This season is all about expansion, meaning putting systems in place so that I can increase my capacity and increase my flexibility and increase my options.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so my money is being directed accordingly.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: But you may be in a season of family planning, right?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: You may be like, look, I got triplets on the way, I need to redirect most of my discretionary income to their needs, right?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or their college fund or their whatever, right?
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to decide what season am I in right now?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: And is where my money is going, does it actually match the season that I'm in?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because you can choose where to direct your money, but it may not match where you're actually going, but you may have chosen it just based on what someone told you.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of this happening right now.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people will go on social media and they'll be watching a reel.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And in that reel, they said, Yeah, you need to put 30% of your money away in an emergency savings, and you need to put 5% in crypto, and you need to put 15% over here, and so they just without context, take that and they decide to apply it to their lives.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: But that person making that recommendation may be in a totally different season than you're in, right?
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so that doesn't actually apply to you.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so once you figure out what season you're in, you'll be able to determine what makes sense for your money right now, and what makes sense right now in this season may not make sense in the next season, right?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: People who are empty nesters, right, they're not putting money aside for their triplets, right?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: They are watching their kids leave the house and they like, oh shoot, suddenly I have all this time, I have all this extra money, I'm in a different season, right?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's a whole different vibe.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so the season is particular to you, right?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so a good roadmap for your money matches the season you're in and not just the season that you're trying to perform.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So this is another thing that I see.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: People want to look a certain way.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I personally know people who are very much invested in making it appear that they are in a season of expansion or wealth building or freedom or whatever or even abundance, but actually they're struggling, right?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: But they're invested in making it look like they're in a certain season.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I mean by performance.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be worried about what everybody else is doing, okay, and what it looks like on the outside, because none of that matters.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's about where you currently are and what you need to do, okay, and where your money needs to go.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Don't be worried about what they be doing, and just because it looks like they're doing something doesn't mean they're doing something.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Some people are just lying, okay?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Some people on the internet look like they are in a season of freedom and abundance and everything's going well, but they're broke and they're filming that video in somebody else's house and their account is overdrawn.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, listen, trust me, I live in Los Angeles, these things happen every day, okay?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I digress.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Once you figure out what season you're in and you are accepting of that season, then you can start to plan for that season and be in that season, create your roadmap for that season instead of performing some other season.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Third, you are going to give each dollar a destination before it starts driving.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know this may sound like a budget.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Look, I personally do not like budgets, all right.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, when I organize my money, I call it Ashley's luxury lifestyle, okay?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not a budget, it's not like a spreadsheet where I have like this is gonna go to this, this is gonna go to this.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's very container and rule-based, okay, and we'll get to that later.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: But your money does need a destination.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Remember what we talked about before.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't give it a destination, it will find a destination.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: If I leave it up to my own devices and do nothing, my money will find me in other countries, it will find me all over the place, right?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Saving, no, investing, no, traveling, yes.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but if I step in and say, hey, hey, hey, it's getting out of hand here, right?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to the money and be like, You're doing too much over there.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: We need to redirect you over here, then we can get somewhere.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm actually building towards the life that I want, right?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: So when you think about the destination for your money, think about the four categories that we talked about, right?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Your lifestyle, so your living expenses.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about protection, so protecting the money that you've earned.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know you got money, right?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: But what are you doing with it, right?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Are you growing it?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Are you protecting it?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about ownership, okay, and then we talked about expansion, so increasing your capacity, increasing your flexibility, your optionality.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so when you're giving your money a destination, think about those four different destinations.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it may not be the destination that you originally thought it was going toward.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe you thought, okay, all my money needs to go towards my lifestyle right now.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: That might be your default way of thinking.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: But when we plan for a life of abundance, some things may need to shift, right?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because you could have 90% of your income going towards lifestyle right now because you want to be perceived a certain way, or you want to look a certain way, or you're trying to keep up with the Joneses, but you're sacrificing current you at the expense of, or you're sacrificing future you at the expense of current you, right?
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to take care of both versions of ourselves, the present us and the future us.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you give each dollar a destination, you have to make sure that it's a destination you intentionally chose and not just the default, right?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: So my default was travel, but when I sit down and really think about wait, how if I play this out to the fullest, what does this look like?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: In all my 20s, if I let all my money go to travel, what does my 30s look like?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then in all my 30s, if I let all my money go to travel, what do my 40s look like?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: When do I own a home?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if all my money is going to travel indefinitely, when do I own a home?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to have a real estate portfolio.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: If all my money is going to travel, where does that come in?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: When does that happen?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the longer I wait, the harder it's gonna be, okay?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had to shift my mindset and be like, okay, I know that this feels good right now, like going to all these places, spending all this money on travel, flying first class, business class, whatever.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: But bro, I actually have a future plan that I need to start taking seriously.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had to start redirecting some of those funds, okay?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I said, hmm, I do want to keep some here in living, yes, right.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm talking about outside of your like basic needs, I'm talking about lifestyle, right?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, I want to keep some money and lifestyle, I want to be happy, I want to be comfortable, I want to have fun, but I had to like take a chunk and put it towards ownership, literally, and then take another chunk and be like, okay, and now I need to start protecting the things that I own.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's okay, I need to be realistic about my career.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do I want to be working forever?
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, you already know the answer to that.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, all right, I need to put some money towards expansion and optionality, all right.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, that is getting each dollar a destination before it starts driving.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: And when I say starts driving, I mean hits your bank account.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: When it hits your bank account, it's already driving, right?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: You need to already know where it's supposed to go before it gets there.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Four, okay, we're gonna build containers for the money, all right?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not just intentions and vibes.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now look, I used to be a vibe girly.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, look, you know, I don't need a budget, I don't need to write it down, I'll remember, and you know, it's gonna be what I need in the moment.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, girl, that'll work.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: It does not work.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: So now I have containers, right?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: The roadmap tells you where you're going, but it definitely needs to have containers.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so earlier, when I said, look, I have a luxury lifestyle plan and it has containers.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: It has literally so my plan is like in a uh landscape one pager, and it literally has buckets, so it'll say, This is what I can spend every week on simply salad.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I can spend every month on fluff and fold laundry service.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I can spend every month on blah blah blah blah, you know, things like that, or this is what I do with my excess income, this is my responsibility as it relates to tides, like so.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: There are little containers that I have for the money, but it's very personal, right?
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: However, all the containers help me still get to the destination, it's just that I have now subcategorized it to make it easier for me to implement.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if the roadmap doesn't have containers, I'm gonna tell you right now, it's just gonna be one big pile of money, and all the different things are gonna compete for attention, and you're not gonna know what to put where, and then the pressure of the moment might cause you to make a decision that you did not intend to make.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Example.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I in 2020, one of these years, went to a presentation for a timeshare.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: All right, now I went in there and I said, you know, I'm not gonna buy anything, I just want to hear them out.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm only here because I got this weekend promotion and it was in San Diego.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was feeling the vibes, whatever, whatever, right?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I'm not about to buy nothing because why would I buy a timeshare?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: What got up in there, I was listening, you know.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, okay, okay, I hear you, but I was ready, I was like, I'm gonna say no.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let me just tell you, I walked up out of there with a timeshare.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now I do not regret the timeshare.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Trust and believe.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I have overused the timeshare, okay, to the point where I've already used all of next year's points.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: So that's neither here nor there.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I just want you to know I walked in with no intention of getting a timeshare and definitely walked out with a timeshare, all right?
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, that money that was available for the timeshare had no destination, none.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because if it had a destination, it would have never found itself at a timeshare.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Two, it was not containerized, right?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lack of definition and intention behind that money because it shouldn't have just been loose out there all in the wild and getting caught up in a timeshare presentation.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so again, I do not regret it, but I'm just letting you know what can happen if your money is not properly organized and if it's not given a destination.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it will find a destination, all right.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Number five is gonna be to create rules, okay.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this is our last step for creating a roadmap.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the rules, and if you need, you can actually create games too.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll tell you what I do, but you want to create rules for your future income.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: This is where a lot of high earners get caught up, okay?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: They are not prepared when it's bonus season and the bonus hits, and it's just the it's it's the dopamine, it's like all the positive hormones flooding at once, right?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: When that money hits your account, you first of all, you knew that bonus was coming, okay?
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: You knew it was coming, but you failed to plan for it, all right.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know because I did it too, okay.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it's when the bonus hits, it's when that tax return hits, right?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it's more than you expected.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's when you had a client in your business or your side hustle, and you know, you sold them a super premium value product or or um service, and that that ACH hits your account, and it's just like that sudden burst of excitement, right?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Or you win a case.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like I remember I won some money from a lawsuit once, like, it's those unexpected large deposits of money that catch people off guard.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sadly, I've also seen people get money from people's deaths, right?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: People get a hundred or more thousand dollars from a life insurance policy because a family member died, like those big chunks of money that just find their way into your account, okay.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is where step five comes in having rules or games for these unexpected large sums of money.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: That means really just taking the time to think about the types of big sums of money you got in the past and ones you may get in the future, and just simply writing down the destination for those funds or even the container, you can get down to the container level.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let me give you an example.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Every year I know it's gonna be bonus season, and I may get a bonus at work, right?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: I even know down to the month because it's literally the same every year, right?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just how it is in my profession at a law firm, at an in-house role, like people get bonuses, and a lot of high earners get bonuses, okay.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, since I know the bonus is coming, why not be thinking ahead of time what I'm going to do with the bonus as it relates to the life I'm building?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so if I'm saying I want to eventually be able to leave my job, I want to have ownership, I want to have the flexibility to do what I want, I plan on having kids, etc.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: etc.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: If I know these are my goals and I know I have a large sum of money coming, why not take some of that money in my mind or even on paper and allocate it towards certain things?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now I used to not do this, and what ended up happening is I would take my entire bonus and just go buy a house.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now you may think that's great.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: No, okay, no, that is not strategic given my situation, right?
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because what was happening is I had already been investing in real estate and I had accumulated debt, for instance.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I still have student loan debt, and so there were other things I could have done with that money, such as refill my property reserves for all the other properties I have, or you know, maybe pay down a little bit on my debt or add some to my emergency fund or diversify my investments, right?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why buy another house when I can put that money in a different investment vehicle, right?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: But no, I was just so excited and caught up in this, like this many doors, and you know, being a real estate investor and just the excitement of it all, I would just buy a house, okay?
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: All of it, okay.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Insane.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's because the money did not have a destination, you know, there was no roadmap for the money before it came, and so now I'm much more strategic, of course, about how I treat those unexpected funds.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: I literally think about where they're gonna go before they arrive.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I've heard the saying don't count the the dollar that's not in your account, or don't count the bird that's not in the hand, or whatever it is, but I'm not into all that, okay?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be counting it.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not I'm not saying I spend it, maybe that's actually the phrase don't spend the Money you don't have, or something like that.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, in my mind and on paper, I actually write down, I'm like, okay, this is probably the minimum I'm gonna get, this is probably the max.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: And what I do is I allocate based on the minimum.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll say, like, okay, let's say my bonus is$20,000.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Then I'll say, okay, I'm gonna put$2,000 aside for my timeshare HOA fee, which I know is gonna come up in November, right?
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that$2,000 is going in a high yield savings account so it can sit there and be ready when that fee is due.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh boom, okay, I have another$5,000 here.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: This property is probably gonna need a new roof soon.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: So let me put$5,000 in those reserves for that property so that I'm not caught off guard when it actually needs a new roof.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've allocated$7,000.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let me take, you know,$3,000.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: My advisor's been telling me that I need to put some money in crypto.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let me put this over here in this brokerage account and set up some automatic investments and do some dollar cost averaging with that$3,000.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like these are just examples, but that's what I'm saying.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like really thinking intentionally about what is coming up and where you're going, and then sending the money along its way accordingly, right?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's step number five.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: And the more money you make, actually, the more structure you need to have in place before the money comes.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because as we've said many times, more money doesn't necessarily solve money problems.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so whatever habits that you have now or whatever gaps are in the way that you're operating now are only going to be exacerbated when your income increases.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: So you may as well just set the structure up now, get things together right now while you have the information.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: So what I want you to do today is take 10 to 15 minutes, look at your bank and credit card statements.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's stress-inducing.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you got 10 credit cards, just pick one, the one that you use the most, okay?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Look at your credit card statement, look at your bank statement for the last statement period, and take note of how much or how many of those transactions were going towards living expenses or lifestyle, how many of those transactions were going towards ownership if that is your goal, which it probably is, otherwise you wouldn't be here.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: How much of that is going toward expansion?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: How much is going towards protection, right?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: You could even decide to pick different colors for each of those lifestyle, protection, expansion, and ownership, and just highlight your statements by color, and you can really easily see where things are going, okay?
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Just an idea.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I want you to do before I see you next time.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then I want you to ask yourself, ask yourself does the direction that your money is heading in actually match where you want to go?
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Based on what you noticed in those statements, is it going where you want it to go?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if not, we gotta get a new roadmap, okay?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: We switching it up, changing the roadmap because we headed east, but we was really trying to go west, all right?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna change it up.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for listening today.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to the Black Abundance Circle for making all this possible, and I look forward to seeing y'all in the next episode and talking more about your roadmap and your money plans and your life of abundance.