Last Week on LinkedIn
April 26- May 2, 2021
It’s May which means Spring is in the air! Cleaning, gardening and open windows are here for many of us or at least on the horizon. Just imagining it brings a smile to my face. You know what else makes me smile? Knowing the answer (and taking action), a surprising pizza choice for a Jersey girl, and understanding the dark side of paying your credit cards in FULL.
Check out last week’s LinkedIn posts plus some great comments and you’ll know what I mean.
Connect with me anytime Jessica Medina Linkedin
Wednesday, April 28, 2021 - Knowing the Answer
Sometimes even knowing the answer isn’t enough. Sometimes we need a little help actually taking action. One of the greatest services I provide my clients is space and support to get things done. It’s one thing to have the map laid out in front of you, it’s a totally different thing to start heading in the right direction.
It’s probably something to do with our brains being trained for worst-case scenario thinking, but lawyers are particularly prone to this issue.
We research and research and research and may even get to the point where we’re nearly 100% sure that we have the right answer.
But we still can’t make a move.
So we don’t make any changes.
So nothing else changes.
But what if we could make that leap with some comfort?
What if we could take those steps with a trusted guide by our side?
That’s one of the ways I serve my clients.
I love putting the puzzle pieces together to figure out how you can live a life you love and still make the money work...but some of my clients need a little help putting those pieces in place.
And that’s what happens when you don’t have to do it alone.
You actually do it this time.
And your plans turn into reality.
And your reality turns into your dreams.
And that’s the whole point of figuring out the answer, isn’t it?
Wednesday, April 28, 2021 - Emotional Food Memory
I’m a Jersey girl so if you ever see me with pizza, it’s probably going to be NY style. But I have a confession...I also enjoy Little Ceasar’s. What?!? That’s blasphemous and an insult to all respectable pizza everywhere! But it’s not because of the flavor, it’s because of the memories.
When my parents got divorced we moved from my very modest hometown to a swanky village in Northern NJ. We lived on the edge of town in an apartment, a far cry from our prior reasonable, yet multi-level, family home.
I was less than pleased.
But every Friday, my stepdad would pick up Little Ceasar’s pizza.
Probably because it was his night to cook (and he worked all day) and it was a pretty good deal.
We’d all get to relax in anticipation of the weekend.
And I looked forward to it every time.
These memories affect my pizza taste buds. They’re hard-wired in.
So when my clients tell me they have an emotional, even if irrational, money habit, I listen.
Maybe they overspend or over-save.
So we look back to see where it may have come from.
Because before you can even think about changing something, you have to acknowledge its origins. Honor that experience for what it taught you.
And then decide if it’s worth keeping Little Ceasar’s in your life.
Do you have an emotional food memory?
Thursday, April 29, 2021 - Paying Credit Cards in FULL
Paying off your credit card every month is a sign of financial health, right? Not exactly. Just because you make enough to pay your bill doesn’t mean you're making financial progress. Being able to afford your spending doesn’t always mean you’re spending your money well.
I remember when I was working in Biglaw I didn’t even look at my credit card bills, I just paid them. Who knows how much money went down the drain that way...and, uh, I’m not going back to look now!
I see this same phenomenon in my clients.
They’ve established a good habit of paying their credit cards in full each month.
They have the auto-pay setup and that should be it, right?
Nope.
Because they never really know what the bill is going to be.
And if they look it might be shocking.
And their other goals go unfunded.
And the cycle repeats the next month.
Paying your bills on time and in full isn’t what gets you where you want to be financially.
Spending what you actually intend to spend, and paying attention when you don’t, is how we become better with our money.
And that’s how we start making real progress.
