Savings is a Verb – Episode 324

This transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors.

[00:00] I founded Ornot in 2013, and we made clothing for cyclists. For me, the best part of Shopify is the possibility of managing the business even without technical knowledge. We managed to manage everything, from back-end to front-end, and make sales online, without complications. If Shopify were a cycling equipment, I would say it would be the bicycle itself. And that’s what allows us to get where we want. It is in Shopify that we manage our business. Start your free evaluation at Shopify.com Welcome to the Prosperity Podcast. Welcome to another episode of the Prosperity Podcast. Today, we’re going to be talking about savings, but there’s a little different twist to it. So Kim, are you excited to talk about savings?

[00:45] I’m always excited to talk about savings, Spencer, just because it’s such a thing that most financial advisors don’t talk about. And we know how to do it. We know how to help clients get results in this space. Absolutely. And you know, what’s amazing is I think our loyal listeners, when we hear the word savings, they’re thinking, oh, wow, I’m going to learn something new and exciting. Whereas in other podcasts and platforms, it’s almost like the boring thing that no one talks about, but it’s the principle, the fundamental to it. Absolutely. And I just want to be clear for those that are new to our listening community that savings in our language is a verb. It’s the act of putting money away every month.

[01:33] And then we also talk about it as a noun, i.e. where do you store that savings? What it is not is figuring out how to clip coupons and quote, save money on things that we’re buying. Absolutely. So here is what we’re going to do. I’m going to read a little bit of text and then we’re going to talk about it. Sound like a plan? I’m in. Okay. So for all of you listeners, we’ll make sure to bring you up to speed. This topic that we’re talking about right now is a conversation from a forum. This was actually a Reddit post and in the personal finance, and it was one of the top posts. And here’s what the person says. He goes, quote, I’m no expert, but this simple change in thought has saved me more money

[02:22] over the past year than ever before. So I’m going to insert some text. This is what he’s talking about. The title is start thinking of saving money as making money instead. He goes, quote, I was constantly thinking of ways to make more money in life and I would do anything it took to create multiple incomes. I was saving, but not really actively focused on it. And he goes, I would just save what I planned to and spend my budget as freely as possible. I then had a thought that if I actively tried to save and make better decisions under my budget, it would be like making money. What do you think of that, Kim? Well, that is interesting. And it does cross over on my earlier setup of the difference between saving as a verb,

[03:10] savings as a noun, and then the crossover into, I’m going to use the word reducing expenses, because that’s really what maybe not so far as like coupon clipping, but reducing expenses in order to save money is what he’s talking about. And yet I want to back up a little bit because the most critical thing in my mind, two critical things that he has discovered is one, how much his thought plays a role. And then two, which is definitely a part of this, the value of intention, the value of specifically focused thought on an outcome that you want to have. Absolutely. So here is the example I want to use. And I’m going to extract this from you just because I know you, Kim. So how about this? When it comes to food, does Kim care at what restaurant she eats at?

[04:11] Or does Kim just care that food is food? Food is food. Have no preference for the restaurant. So there you go. So for you, it’s not necessarily a savings. You could just grab an energy bar, a protein bar, and that’s good enough instead of sitting down and having a $50 meal. Correct. For me, that is 100% accurate. But how about this? How about having the house cleaned? Now, could you save the money and take your Saturday morning and do that? Or would you prefer to have someone lean into their ability and do that? Absolutely prefer that someone with a heck of a lot more skill in that and joy in it come and do that for us. Okay. Absolutely the money. Isn’t that great? So now we look at savings differently because we have someone on here

[05:04] that may look at a house cleaner and say, oh, that’s a waste of money. I should save it because I can do the house cleaning myself. And it’s not important to you to have it done by yourself. You’re not saving money. You’re actually spending more because it’s costing you more, correct? Absolutely. So this is, to me, making money decisions based on my values and what’s important to me. Now, you’re the leader of the prosperity movement. This is definitely a mindset thing. You grew up on a farm. Did you guys have people that came and cleaned the house? Not when I was growing up, no. No, it was you and Tammy, right? Is that how it worked out? Yep. And when was it that you had your tipping point to say, hey, this is a value of mine?

[06:00] And you switched to a prosperous moment of saying, I actually want to pay someone to do that. You know, it’s really funny. It came about, I’m fairly certain, when I was in strategic coach for the first year. And we learned about the idea of unique ability and the idea that hiring somebody to do something that you’re not good at is not a message of I’m better than you are as a person. It’s a message of you’re better at this task than I am. And by giving you the opportunity to do what you’re good at, that frees me up to do what I’m good at. And it’s not a higher or lower environment. It’s a more all-inclusive environment of finding people that are good at what they do and giving them the opportunity to do it.

[06:57] That was a huge paradigm shift for me. Yeah, that sounds like a really big paradigm shift. Could you help us understand some of the things that you see as savings and also things that you’re able to maybe have others with their unique abilities do for you? Absolutely. Again, with thanks and credit to strategic coach and the whole idea of unique ability, the very first thing that I did inside strategic coach, and this is pretty funny since I’m clearly in the personal finance industry, is I hired help for my books. And this was before online banking existed. And so having somebody come in and I can’t even think what it’s called, balance my checkbook and handle the credit card statements, not only for our business but for me personally,

[07:54] that was a huge freeing up of my mental, physical, emotional and psychological resources because I hated doing it even though it might seem kind of odd because this is my industry. But that is a very detailed, specific follow through a process oriented work. And I am not detailed specific nor follow through a process oriented myself. So having that kind of help was really, really valuable. So the bookkeeping was one. Can you think of another example? Food, because as you said earlier, when I was running a very busy life and had children and a husband that worked and all of that, there was no way that I could deal with getting decent meals on the table. I mean, I worked more than full time and so did my husband because

[08:46] he was in a commission job and those just are not 40 hour a week jobs. And so having food help and again, not as a, oh, I’m better than that, but as a so much of an appreciation for somebody that has the skill to go to the grocery store and then put meals in the fridge, which can then be heated up later, etc. That was worth every penny of dollars. And interestingly enough, if I were having to make some decisions today about where to cut expenses, I would clean my house before I would get rid of bookkeepers or food help. I mean, our situation is a little different now because the kids are gone, and also because my husband now enjoys working on food, but of course not all the time. And so it’s just such a freeing thought.

[09:38] And again, what it frees us up to do is now something that we love. So we’re happier and the person that gets to do what they love is happier. And the quality of everything is better because if food is prepared, I can actually sit down and enjoy a meal instead of be miserable because I was the one that had to prepare the meal, including going to the grocery store, etc. And there’s been lots of podcasts about Kim’s positive focus at the grocery store necessary because I don’t like said grocery store. So the freeing up not only of time but of mental energy because I chose to include paying for that kind of help is so worth it. And if you can’t do it financially, do it with time, like find somebody that loves to do what you hate to do and trade services.

[10:34] That’s a brilliant idea. So, you know, it’s kind of strange with this episode, we’re talking about savings and I think most of the time, you know, you hear certain personalities say to skip the latte or the coffee and over X amount of years of that, then you get whatever it could be. And then you hear other people that are talking about, you know, dedicating a certain amount of money every single month and your savings talk is really going to this prosperity mindset of freeing up your mental, emotional capacity to do the things that you’re best at. Because then I can earn more money. And back to the Reddit quote that you were reading, I love that he shifted his thought around savings being a creation of making money.

[11:26] And I think it is I’m just going to take it one step further, which is because I’ve saved myself the time and the hassle factor and my mental state, I am able to, whether I literally use that hour or not isn’t relevant, but I am able to do what I’m good at and create more money in that space than I would if I tried to just, you know, tough it out, do the work myself, etc. It’s just a completely different approach. And so consequently, yes, it enables me to make more money. So one other takeaway from me is this, and this isn’t something that Kim and I actually talked about them saying this on the fly. You know, it’s wonderful that you found your unique abilities in teaching and in helping the audience.

[12:17] And so for listeners, if you’re looking to find ways to save more or to be more prosperous and learn more, Kim’s already written several books. And so you can read a book or as you’re doing right now, listening to the podcast, you can listen in. And then some people, they may say it, hey, I want to do all of these investments or I want to do all of these saving strategies or whatever it may be themselves, they can. And a lot of people says, hey, I want to just get some extra help and reach out. Have you seen it go both ways of people, I should say, trying to do it themselves and then people finally having a tip and point reaching out to you? Yes, it is interesting. There’s so much good that can be done by oneself.

[13:05] It means that you’re paying attention. It means you’re on the lookout for opportunities. It means that you cared enough to try to do some self-education. All of those things are good. And as we’ve talked about here, by hiring unique ability essentially is what you’re doing when you’re reaching out to us for help. You can so shortcut your learning curve and possibly shortcut some mistakes that we’ve made that then will enable you to not make. And so I’m a huge believer in do it yourself for the things that you love to do and for the things that you don’t, absolutely get some help. Now, absolutely, sometimes a combination of both is best and I encourage that all the time. We’re not the type of financial advisor that indicates,

[13:55] oh, you must have all your assets with us. That is not how we work. I love helping people with just small little bits and pieces of their finances that they cannot do themselves. And I also love helping install systems whereby things get automatically handled in and around somebody’s personal finances. Because as human beings, sometimes we need those systems to help us get the results that we want to get because we’re human beings and we just don’t tend to have the discipline that we think we do. Oh, that’s so well said. You know, it’s kind of funny. Sometimes when we think we’re saving money doing it ourselves, it’s actually costing us more. So true. It is. Well, you know, what a great conversation.

[14:42] And for you listeners, if you’re looking to learn more, dive into a book or learn more on the podcasts, make sure you’re subscribed here. We’ll put a link to the different books that you’ve written. And if you’re looking to get someone with their unique ability to answer questions for you or solve those more rapidly, probably the best thing to do is go to hello at partnersforprosperity.com, send an email and Kim, you’re really quick at responding and helping out. I love to do it. That’s part of my unique ability is efficiency and I love communicating on email. You know, there’s a lot of people out there say, oh, get off your email. To me, it is a wonderful way to have direct communication and really help somebody take the next step.

[15:29] Absolutely. Listeners, thank you for being with us again on the podcast. Thank you for listening to the Prosperity Podcast. To take control of your money and have it work for you, visit us at partnersforprosperity.com. If you liked this episode, make sure you subscribe and leave a review.