"So gather 'round and hear two tales of brave adventurers who went through 
the dark forest and battled the demons within." Doesn't that sound like the beginning of a great Halloween tale? Without quite so flowery a delivery, I want to tell two tales of such adventurers who made the perilous and courageous journey from money tricks to money treats.
Our first adventurers were hard-working East Coasters...a couple who had had three children, the youngest just finishing with college. They were in their fifties, and having just weathered the storm of child-raising and the costs of education for all three kids, their savings were meager and their debt was large.
When I first started working with them, I had not met them as we did our work by phone. In their case I later did meet them, though many of my clients I never meet face-to-face. They were confused about why they could make so much money and have so little to show for it. They didn't live a big life nor could figure out how to make it all work.
Does this sound familiar? Anyway, we started by anchoring into the numbers. Where was the money really going now? By getting the complete story we were able to earmark some areas where some less expensive options could be explored. They were running a monthly deficit of $2000/month when all was considered.
It was then that we encountered our first ogre. That beast roared, "But eating out is our only pleasure...we couldn't possibly do it for less. Life wouldn't feel worth living." Since I've encountered ogres before, I calmly faced this one and suggested that we're just experimenting with some new ideas.
Within a week, I got a call and the wife said to me, "You know this is fun. We're looking at how we can have virtually the same lifestyle for less or no money, and we've found some great options. I can't believe how we were throwing money away before." Phew, one ogre conquered.
This couple now has savings, has paid off their debt, and conquered a series of ogres and won. Ogres under bridges are nothing compared to the ogres that hide in our thinking about changing our behavior. This courageous couple had found the money treats.
Our second adventurous duo were West Coasters, and also made really good money. Their major money demon was that they were prone to making decisions about doing things without taking the money into account. So there was a weekend to Paris and a new car purchased before a bonus was actually paid. And that bonus was never paid. They had gotten used to the bonuses as a part of their income, and found out that bonuses are optional but they had already spent the money.
As the usual bonuses were significant amounts, they were also in debt (which the bonuses had usually eliminated). This ogre was particularly mean, because within this half-a-million annual income, they had little savings and significant debt.
Turning to the numbers, we were 
able to get a handle on the amount of the income that was actually pre-allocated to fixed monthly expenses and the pesky irregular expenses in their lifestyle choices. Corralling these expenses, it was clear what was actually available for flexible spending. And ogre number two arose: "We won't have enough for our trip to Europe for this year."
We talked about how determining a vacation amount prior to planning a trip would give them more confidence and security, than planning a trip and then scrambling to make it work financially. About a month or so later, I got a call from the husband, who said that they had decided to postpone Europe for another year because it would feel better to know the trip was pre-funded than to take a trip once more with the fear of the costs upon their return.
Are there ogres lurking under your financial bridges? Do they rear up in your conversations? Do they populate your nightmares? This is a great time of year to tame those ogres and find all the money treats that your hard work has earned. You can be the hero in your money story.
If you want to go on your own courageous money adventure and find that financial peace of mind you've been dreaming of, then email me to sign up for a free Strategy Session where we can explore your current situation, flesh out your objectives, identify your obstacles, and map out an ogre-free path to your personal money treats.
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| Happy Halloween! |
