Money GYM
Money doesn’t grow on trees, but grows on intelligent minds.
Matshona Dhliwayo
Money does not grow on trees as many parents would say to their young children. As a child, I was often reminded that money doesn’t grow on trees when I made some requests.
Whatever is the history of this figurative speech or the fact that some people believe this statement to be a classic limiting belief passed on to children about spending and saving money, you would agree with me that we can and should grow our money.
GYM – Timeless Money Principles
I love playing with acronyms and would usually adopt them for affirmations and as reminders for strategies, I use often. GYM: Grow Your Money is one of those acronyms.
Over time, I had struggled with maintaining a steady weight under a certain range. My weight was a typical yo-yo. There were many factors at play here like Childbirth; age; season in the year, and state of mind. At some point, these became excuses and I decided to work with a fitness trainer. This meant I officially got a gym membership that I would be forced to actually use.
Naturally, I panicked when the full weight of what I had signed up for sank in so I had to find a safe anchor to keep calm and enjoy this process. As a finance junkie, money came to mind. Finding as many money analogies with the one-year fitness gym contract made things more interesting.
Money, like emotions, is something you must control to keep your life on the right track.
Natasha Munson
Money GYM VS Fitness Gym
| Fitness Gym | Money GYM |
|---|---|
| Fitness trainer checks in on your history – physical and medical | Check your money history over the past 3 – 12 months by downloading your bank and credit card statements and/or tracking your expenses and noting all your income sources |
| Fitness trainer requests your goals for the period of contract. What would you like to see at the end of the contract? | Write out your financial goals – short term, midterm, and long term. Your financial goals should include earning goals, savings goals, investment goals, and spending goals. Note that in this blog, paying off debt is included in your spending goals. |
| Fitness trainer takes your current measurement – weight, size, and sometimes a before picture | Create your financial dashboard using net worth and/or cashflow. Your net worth is made up of what you own minus what you owe. It is an indicator of your financial health. A strong net worth offers stability and reliability. It may however not be as flexible as cash because some of your assets are not liquid Cashflow is cash coming in minus cash going out. As they say, cash is king. One’s stress levels will go up if they are short of cash, so it’s important to have cash or access to cash |
| The trainer would do a quick fitness test | Your cashflow which is actual money flow is a quick money test. What’s your account and credit card balance right now? |
| The trainer develops a workout plan to meet your fitness goals over the contract period | Create a budget to help you meet your short term, midterm, and long term financial goals identified earlier |
| Fitness trainer takes regular measurements as you start working on the plan and adjusts the plan as needed to meet your goals | Track your income and expenses regularly comparing this with your budget and adjusting the budget regularly to meet financial goals |
| Measure progress consistently and regularly | Measure progress regularly and consistently by tracking goal progress and monitoring your dashboard |
How to grow your money now:
Here are some steps to help you with the GYM:
- Your money mindset – this is the first step to any meaningful money transformation and journey. Without a positive money mindset, many opportunities to build wealth will be short-lived. If someone is adamant that they cannot save any money even for legitimate reasons, chances are they will not save any money. Someone else saying they will save $5 a week, prompts them to find ways to save the money.
- Use your assets – I recognize that earning more money is not as simple as willing it. All is not lost. Your assets are a treasure. Assets are what you own like a car or house, your skills, and your strengths. These can be traded for money or other values. Expand your thinking around what earning more could look like, and you will be open to opportunities around and within you. You can start with doing a personal SWOT
- Pay yourself first – There’s a lot of material out there on saving money and the many benefits. The money equation as described in The Wealthy Barber Returns is Disposable Income= savings + consumption (spending). Zero savings is a clear path to financial disaster and stress
- Spend less than you earn – I am sure your parents told you this old-age wisdom. It’s very much like eating everything I like in massive doses, not exercising, and hoping to meet any weight loss goals.
- Invest in you – Watching the stock market and all those traders does seem intimidating. Not investing is a bad option. Investing in yourself and investing your money yields returns over time. Depending on many factors, the returns yielded may be large or small. If you do not invest at all, you are guaranteed zero returns. Markets fluctuate and it is important to recognize that the investment we are talking of here is not the same as your short-term savings. Educating oneself yields long-term results.
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest
Benjamin Franklin
Other Important Tips for a successful GYM protocol:
- Tell others – To build healthy habits, having some form of accountability always help. Tell your family, friends, or an accountability group your goals and they can help you keep on track by checking in
- What’s in your toolbox? – Use tools like budgets, expense trackers, automated savings, loan repayment, and investments plans with your account for stress-free and impactful execution of your goals
- Challenges and Rewards systems – Using short term challenges can help you fast track accomplishing your goal over a shorter period. Most people have a competitive spirit, latent, or not. Besides, who doesn’t like to win? As you grow your money, do not forget to reward yourself and celebrate your accomplishments – small or big.
As the colder weather approaches, continue to build your financial muscle and finish the year strong!
Thanks for reading. As always, feel free to share your ideas, comments, and feedback below.
Blessings.
Loved the way Money GYM and Fitness Gym was compared.Helping one to set goals and then at the end evaluate how achieved. Good job.
Hi Xty,
Thanks for your comment. I appreciate the feedback and happy you found it helpful!
Cheers!