Week 41: Survive and Thrive – Your Financial Goals – #AlphaFemaleFriday

Week 41: Survive and Thrive – Your Financial Goals – #AlphaFemaleFriday

“ WEEK 41 / 133 – 133 WEEKS TO SUCCESS ”

I have been engaged for a few weeks now, and I’m getting used to the word “fiancé” rolling off of my tongue instead of the more casual “boyfriend”. Now that we’re getting married and about to embark on a whole new chapter of our lives, I sat down with my fiancé as we crunched our soon-to-be-newlywed-and-living-together-expenses. Suffice to say that there were still a lot of variables we cannot forecast.

We cannot predict or budget for every incidental, but I do know that we need to have a financial goal and budget in mind if we are going to thrive in both our personal and professional lives. We mutually decided that we do want both a joint savings account (i.e. securing a down payment on an apartment or house, saving up for our future family) and a joint checking account for any bill pay that would be easier to just pay together from one account (i.e. rent, utilities, cable, and so forth). We also made it clear that we still want to have our separate checking and savings accounts for our own purposes and freedoms. I don’t think his finances should mix with my whimsical desires to buy high heels nor do I think I should have to contribute to his esoteric record collections.

I cannot begin to stress how important I think it is for each individual to have money of their own. Each person should have their own financial goals. I think when we think smart about how we spend our own money that intelligence and crafty thinking can translate to how we choose to budget our business expenses or investments.

The reality is that my fiancé and I cannot afford our dream home or dream apartment right now even if we combine our incomes. The reality is that we can work together to achieve our dreams and watch how as we grow in our personal and professional lives so will our bank accounts. While I’d love to go wine and dine with my future husband every night, I realize that the reality is he and I will have to live on small cartons on beef chow mein or simple, prepared home cooked meals for a while. The point is that we have our own visions and goals for ourselves which are aligned with the visions and goals of our joint futures.

After all, as Coco Chanel said herself, “there are people who have money and people who are rich.” Some people may have a lot of money but not know how to spend or save it, therefore wasting their richness. Others may have a decent amount of cash flow but know how to spend and save it wisely, therefore living a rich life. Price and value are two different things. To be frank with you, I would choose the $15 bottle of Foxglove Zinfandel any day over the $60 “100-point” rated wine any day.

Cheers,

Kelly

@AlphaFemSociety tweets by @KellyRGonzales                                                                                

About:

Each week, I take a tip from Lois P. Frankel’s book, Nice Girls Still Don’t Get the Corner Office, and explore how each of these tips affect myself and other women in similar positions on the road to becoming the women we want to be. There are far and few between who are a few steps behind me, and many more who are far advanced. I found that Lois P. Frankel’s advice applied to novice, intermediates, and experts alike. It helped me see that I was already doing right, served as a reminder to keep on doing what I was doing and how to keep that momentum going. The book also showed me areas where I could improve, and gave realistic tips to jump on board. There are a total of 133 tips, and explore one tip per week in a program I call: 133 Weeks to Success.

Join the movement using the hashtag #133WeeksToSuccess with posts which are posted every #AlphaFemaleFriday.