On days like these you want to turn off the TV and the radio and use the newspaper to light a fire in your barbeque! Anything, but anything, just get away from the news media's predictions of doom and gloom. Wait, certainly Wall Street and Congress are doing a great job of helping us to the doom and gloom philosophy too!
What does the average working American do today? What about those that have recently lost their jobs? Who is helping us through this confusion and what is the first thing to do?
I strongly suggest that before you make a run on your bank account, mutual fund or sell all of your stock holdings at their low, you do one very important thing.
Breathe. Yes, breathe slowly.
Now follow these simple steps to settle your mind, your thoughts and your stomach:
T ake out a pen and paper and write down all the circumstances you might be facing in your personal experience. Where are you at? Your home mortgage? Car payment? Job situation? Once you have all of this on paper, you can then begin to look to the right people to answer these questions. So here are some examples to work from:
1. Make a list of everything you currently own
2. Make a list of everything you currently owe
3. Make a list of all monies into your household per month
4. Make a list of all monthly payments per month
This is the beginnings of your personal family money organizer. Some would call it a budget but it's much more than just a basic budget. It's an entire roadmap for your financial sanity. When you write down where you stand today you have a better chance of staying out of crisis mode.
As with any business, the family business must stay organized. It needs a system with jobs assigned to each member of the family.
Now that you have written down everything you own, owe, bring in and spend, you can take a step back and ask yourself "How do the current events in the stock market affect my information?" Each item on your road map must be addressed with this very same question.
Some examples are:
Question: My assets include my 401K Plan from work today its worth 30% less than yesterday, what should I do?
Answer: Nothing unless your retirement party is tomorrow afternoon! Even then touching anything in the plan is a mistake until you speak to your plan advisor who guides your long term retirement savings strategy.
Question: What does my current job security look like?
Answer: If you think your job is secure, then continue to do a great job and maybe even a better job than yesterday. Being grateful to have a wonderful job means show gratitude, be nicer to your fellow employees and give that extra mile to keep the company you work for as strong and profitable as possible.
Question: I am out of a job today, what are my job prospects?
Answer: Talent is always in demand. Unemployment at approximately 6% means 94% of the population is working. There are jobs to fill every day. Pound the pavement if you have to but find another job today, not tomorrow, not next week, not when you finish your perfect resume, not only answering online ads, get out the door every day until you have landed the right contact to the right job. Then with great amounts of gratitude do the very best job you can!
Is this making sense to you? Sometimes we need a little help to get that family roadmap into shape. That's where The Financial Family Coach takes a team from lost in space to landing on the moon! The Financial Family Coach can help you build the roadmap, stay on task, report great results and send you off to celebrate your success!
Find a Family Financial Coach and begin to build our Financial Family Roadmap today!
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