“Am I Too Late to Fix My Finances?”

As children, most women weren’t raised with the expectation that they will be the ones managing the money. Most of us weren’t taught how to invest or how a 401(k) works or why credit card debt is so bad for your financial health.

So, when we grow up and suddenly have the responsibility of managing our day to day money, paying bills, and saving and investing for retirement, if you don’t know what to do it’s inevitable that a few mistakes will be made.  

As a money coach, I hear from women all the time who ask us if it’s too fix finances.

If it’s too late to get out of debt.

If it’s too late to save for retirement.

If it’s too late to build wealth.

If they’ll have financial stress for the rest of their lives.

And the answer is no. It is never too late to take control of your finances.

We live in a world with unlimited possibilities, and while your path forward may not look traditional, there is a path forward.

I’m going to explain WHY it isn’t too late to fix your finances and how you can fix your financial problems no matter your age.

Reason #1: Your past doesn’t need to dictate your future

Maybe you’ve made poor financial decisions in the past. You might not have even known at the time that they were poor financial decisions. But somehow maybe you’ve gotten into debt or haven’t saved as much as you need.

Let it go. Don’t beat yourself up about it. There is nothing you can do about the past, but there are things you can start doing today to create a new future.

Think of this as a fresh start. You can adopt healthier money habits. You can learn how to manage your money and build wealth, starting today.

And any time you start to think negative thoughts, like, “I don’t know how to manage money” or “I have no self-control when it comes to spending,” replace them with more positive thoughts, like, “I’m learning how to make informed money decisions” or “I’m making progress toward developing better saving and spending habits.”

Don’t let your financial past haunt you. Focus on what you can control in the present so that you can fix your finances and build wealth.

Reason #2: You’re not stuck

Nothing in life is guaranteed. That’s a scary thought, but it is also incredibly liberating. It means the way things are now, is not the way that they need to stay.

When it comes to your finances, you have so many choices available to take control of your finances. But people have often done things for so long in a particular way, they don’t realize how many options they really have when it comes to increasing their income and decreasing their expenses.

You can shift your spending habits dramatically.

Let’s do an example. Say you own your home and the mortgage payments on it are making saving for retirement difficult. To alter your financial situation,  you could:

1. Sell your home and downsize into a smaller place
2. Sell your home and move to a state that has a lower cost of living
3. Sell your home and move into an RV and travel for your golden years
4. Keep your home and get a roommate
5. Keep your home and rent a room on Airbnb
6. Keep your home, move into a smaller place and rent out your existing home
7. Sell or keep your home and move to a country that has a lower cost of living (even temporarily to save money for a few months or years)

Those are just a few ways you could change just one of your expenses if you are willing to get creative you can find a workable plan for yourself.

The same is true for increasing your income. There are so many streams of income available that with some creativity and effort you can find a way to create more income for yourself — even if you’re short on time, energy or ideas.

Reason #3: People underestimate small, consistent effort

You may decide to radically change your lifestyle in order to achieve your financial goals, but you may not have to. People tend to underestimate what we can accomplish over a longer period of time with just simple but consistent effort.

It’s the old story of the tortoise and the hare – persistence and stamina always beat speed and carelessness.

Wealth is built through the daily decisions we make with our money. Small actions taken consistently add up over time.

Reason #4: Success builds momentum

Remember high school physics – an object in motion stays in motion?

As soon as you see success, you’ll feel excited and crave that hit of dopamine again. Continuing to reach milestones and achieve financial success will keep you motivated to continue making progress.

Starting to fix your finances is the hardest part, but once you do, it becomes easier to maintain momentum.

Reason #5: You don’t take it all out the day you retire

A lot of the women who come to us are worried that they’re behind on their retirement savings and they may never reach a point financially where they can stop working.

While careful planning is needed, people often don’t realize that you don’t take all of the money you need for retirement out of your investments on the day you retire. You slowly spend down that money to pay for your life and the majority of it stays invested and continues to compound.

Your money has more time to grow than you think…but the sooner you get started, the less you’ll need to save.

To sum it up…

No matter how old you are, no matter how bad your financial situation may seem, it is not too late to fix your finances.

I’ve worked with women who had thousands of dollars of credit card debt and minimal retirement savings. They thought they would work for the rest of their lives. Now they’re confident that they’ll be able to enjoy retirement.

If you want to learn how they did it, check out our signature program, Million Dollar Year. In it, we give you our tried-and-true systems for taking control of your finances and building wealth.

Best of luck!!