ARE YOU FINANCIALLY LITERATE?

I don’t like calling April, “Financial  Literacy Month.” I prefer Financial Awareness month. 

 

ARE YOU FINANCIALLY LITERATE? Of course you are. I haven’t looked up the term Financial Literacy lately, but my idea of literacy is related to the ability to read, or not. So when LITERACY  is coupled with the word FINANCIAL, it seems like we are suggesting that you aren’t able to handle money.

Which isn’t true. 

Maybe you’ve made a money move that didn’t turn out the way you hoped it would, but you have some good ideas on how to get to your next level of financial success. You have the simple stuff like, earning income, calculating your expenses, spending less than you bring in, and you might even get advanced and execute on your own financial planning. When you’re building a business this sometimes gets put off. 

A lot of times you are making money decisions blindly, without awareness. That’s why I prefer the term “Financial Awareness Month.” You and your clients are financially literate, but it’s likely that neither of you have awareness of emotions around money. Most financial professionals aren’t thinking about the emotional side of money. So if you google Financial Literacy you’re going to see everything from programs for those with a lower socioeconomic status to corporate programs for employees. 

This is  why I’m taking time to not only separate the beginners from the pros. But also separate the external practical knowledge from the internal emotions awareness. Money is the number one cause of stress, not because we don’t have knowledge, but because we are unaware of our money emotions. 

Financial Therapy is  misunderstood and often left out of the conversation, even during Financial Literacy (Awareness) Month. You may find an article or two about Financial Well-being but most Financial Therapy topics go unaddressed. It’s been 20 years since we started paying attention to finances in April, and over the last 7-years I’ve made sure to bring up the conversation of reconciling emotions around money. Whether practitioner, advisor, or client, gaining an understanding of your emotions around money will change the way you do business and plan for your future..  

If your clients are having a hard time following your treatment plan or financial plan it’s because their emotions are in the way. For example, most people know what to do to stay healthy. They should get proper sleep, eat right, manage stress, and exercise. Most people know this, have some idea how to do this, but do they execute on what they know? 

NO, NOT WHEN THEIR EMOTIONS ARE TELLING THEM TO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. Why?

Because knowledge doesn’t equal WILL POWER.  Knowing is only half the battle. It won’t make you choose the fruit over the chips. The other half of having good health is mastering the subconscious emotions that make saying no to yourself difficult. In the same way, an understanding of finances does not mean you’re acting on that knowledge or making logical money decisions. Your emotions often get in the way causing you to overspend, over give, or even over save. (That last one might be new to you, I’ll tell you more about it later.)

When emotions are high, logic is low. And when logic is low, WILL POWER goes out the window. (Yup, that rhymed.) 

In our community most people have some kind of certification. Either in the health field or in the financial field. That certification added knowledge to your tool built, but one thing that it didn’t show you was emotional mastery, specifically over money.

If your clients are going to master their money, they’ll need to master their emotions. But if you’re going to lead them on that journey, you’ll need to master yours too. Right now, you don’t have the tool in your toolbox to get them there. That’s why I’d like  you to join my FREE community

Mental health professionals don’t particularly like to talk about money and Financial Advisors don’t particularly like to talk about emotions. I’ve been both a Financial Advisor and a Mental Health Practitioner with a private practice and it just so happens that I love to talk about both. That’s how I became the world’s #1 National Certified Counselor specializing in Financial Therapy. I’ll guide the conversation and you’ll see, it’s not as hard as you think.  

I can walk you through the Financial Therapy process and help you become what we at Presidential Lifestyle call a Prosperity Pro. It takes 8-weeks and you can do it for free if you attend my webinar and join my community. No credit card needed. In the Financial Therapy Challenge Community you not only learn Financial Therapy tools, you’ll even have built in accountability to encourage you to use them. At the end, you can decide if you want to take it further and get group or one-on-one guidance from me..  

Do you want to become a Prosperity Pro and master your money by mastering your emotions? Do you want to share what you learn with your clients? Then make sure you join the community. When you get there, let’s talk about what your clients need in order to stick to the plans you create together. You can’t be the only one committed to the plan. They are going to hurt more than you do, if they don’t hit their financial target. But they are trusting you to get them there and that’s why it’s your responsibility to guide them. I’ll guide you.

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