Find financial wisdom in the story of your money

The speaker discusses the importance of telling the true story of your money in order to gain financial wisdom. They share their personal experience of getting into a financial mess and the need to confront the reality of their finances. The speaker also emphasizes the need for accurate and truthful financial statements to understand one's spending habits. They encourage listeners to be courageous in facing their financial story and making meaningful changes for the future. Hello, Jeremy Deeds here and welcome to the Insight Post for the 28th of April, 2024. Find financial wisdom in the story of your money. You need courage to become vulnerable and tell your honest story about money. However, telling the true story of your money is the route to financial wisdom. A false money story does nothing for your financial wisdom or provides power to create meaningful change. Many years ago, I got into a financial mess, for some time I avoided taking action for Eventually, I was forced to sit down and work out my figures, calculate key ratios and recognise the true story of my finances, free from self-proverting assumptions and confabulations, aka lies. I did not call it financial wisdom at the time, but this is what it was, a combination of detailed figures and understanding of what they meant, and wisdom from dealing with the pain by writing my true financial story. Find wisdom in your spending In my experience, people need help to form a realistic assessment of their expenses. This is because expenses are a mirror of life. The money flowing out of your account tells you how you live, which is often uncomfortable. For my client Drew, that was too painful a story to face. Accounting for her spending, analysing it and categorising it brought home the reality of her story. She needed deep compassion and support to look at her life before she could look at her money. For Drew, money was a mirror of her soul and brought home that she existed instead of thriving. It should come as no surprise that very few people can immediately provide an accurate statement of their income and expenditures. It will also not surprise you to hear that most people underestimate their expenditures and overestimate their income. Take courage So you will need to be courageous and live in chaos as you wrestle with your story and figures. Start by developing factual financial statements. Refrain from making assumptions about your spending, especially regarding cash. You still use cash. It is easy to forget the small expenditures, but these can mount up and leave you out by as much as 20% if you forget too much. What matters now is what you do with the figures and the story. When you have accurate and truthful financial statements, look at the story they tell you. This is messy, but it is where the magic happens. Do not be defined by the past and the mistakes you have made. Instead, be defined by your financial wisdom and the story you want to create for your future self. The future, not the past, will define you, so take possession of your figures and story and rewrite them with financial wisdom.