Tag: personal finance
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Goals vs. Identity in Personal Finance
When we look to create change and success in our finances, we usually focus on setting goals. Goals are incredibly helpful in moving the needle in your finances. Yet they fall short in one key area: they shift the focus away from identity. While behaviors, goals, and identity are intertwined, I’m going to make the…
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Every Dollar is a Vote for Your Values
Every dollar we spend is a vote in favor of that item bringing us a degree of happiness. A new haircut, childcare, groceries, take-out, insurance premiums, new brakes for a car. Each of those items has the ability to give us something that gives us a degree of security, happiness, or change. So why do…
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Why You Need More Than a Budget
The personal budget is the holy grail of financial planning. Since this article is going to run a bit counter to some of what you’ve been taught, let me state up-front that, yes, budgets can be an incredible tool to support you in aligning your finances and goals. I use the zero-based budget method, and…
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Identifying Your Underlying Values
There’s a connection between stale cheese crackers and your financial management. Hear me out. We took all four kids to swim in a river on a Sunday afternoon. It was a great time. I packed a cooler with watermelon, water, and an assortment of leftover snacks in the pantry. One of them was a slightly stale…