The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom

Savvy woman's guide2013 is my year of Financial Freedom, my financial goal is to clear my past business debts and to start to save.

The year has started well and the last couple of years of hard work is paying off. All the meetings and the contacts from last year are starting to covert and the money is coming in. But the problem is; where is it going? I was never very good with money, I’m a bit of a Carpe Diem girl and if there is opportunity to enjoy life right now let’s not wait. This worked very well for me in my twenties, I had a ball. In my thirties not so much and now that I’ve crossed into the next decade and have three bottomless pits to feed, clothe and educate, the wanton spending strategy isn’t working so well.

Fortunately for me a very clever young lady by the name of Susan Hayes crossed my path last year. Described herself as a The Positive Economist, I liked her instantly. Susan did some research for me when I was writing Chaos to Control and told me she was writing a book but it wasn’t until early this year that I saw the title. “The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom” hmmm did she write it just for me? Financially Savvy that sounds so good. Goal setting, organisation and taking control of things are all part of my daily life, I don’t just show others the systems, I practice what I preach. But having an organised workflow up to now hadn’t included my financial life. When it came to Finances I have always been a bit of an ostrich. I always assumed that if I earn more money I will be ok, but the first couple of pages of Susan’s book alerted me to where I had been going wrong.

What is your Financial Temperature?

The first chapter of the book focuses on your relationship with money. What I discovered was that no matter how much I earn, I will never have money as I tend to spend what I earn. My husband has been telling me this for years but it took a young woman from Cork to get me to listen. So pathetically obvious I couldn’t understand how my income was increasing but my debt wasn’t falling nor my savings rising, how could this be?

The Ostrich looks up

All the lessons I applied in every area of my life, I wasn’t applying to my financial world. I couldn’t tell you how much I earned last month, how much I invoiced and how much still need to be invoiced. I ignored my finances and hoped they would sort themselves out but I think you can guess that it didn’t. Someone was benefiting from my increased income and it certainly wasn’t me.

Taking Control

So I sat in a coffee shop and did all my figures, I worked out what I had earned and what I needed to earn to pay it all off and to be Financial free, even doing the exercise felt liberating, I took the first positive step to financial freedom and it felt good. I took my own advice and I got organised, I took Susan’s advice and got savvy.

What I love about the book is that it is written like a friend is talking to you in a practical non-judgmental way. Susan takes you on the journey step by step, mapping out the route that will take you to financial success. To anyone who isn’t totally in control of their finances this book is for you. Easy to ready, clever and fun, it takes all the negative feelings out of finances and helps you to create a positive and progressive attitude to the greenbacks entering your world. If you want to find out more about Susan go to www.thepositiveeconomist.com or more about the book The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom

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Comments (8)

I love managing money. I love paying bills, investing, paying down debt… I know, I’m odd. But the freedom of staying on top of your finances and becoming debt free… amazing. The problem is – my husband is a spender and does not believe that living debt free is realistic. Uuuggggg. So I squirrel away money each month and pay down debt – he doesn’t miss it and I like the security of knowing I am working towards our dream life. Congrats on being proactive in your own financial life.

Lucky you Jane, that is a great way to be, sounds like you have a very healthy relationship with money. We can all learn from you, or even better seeing as you Love managing money maybe I can hire you to manage mine !

Thanks for Susan’s book recommendation. When I went on my financial freedom journey a few years ago I tracked each and every expense I had. I did it on Excel. After 6 months I cleared all my debts and start to earn a good source of passive income. Tracking is so important. Thanks for the reminder Ciara.

Thanks Tal, looks like we will all get some great tips from your blog http://passivelyfree.com I’ll be spending some time there later.

Sounds like a great book! If you like her, check out “Smart Women Finish Rich.” It changed my life in my early 20’s now I’m in my early 30’s never having debt and having a very comfortable savings, all on my own.

Hi Diana thanks for your recommendation I’m almost finished reading it, fantastic book. I think between the two I’ll be super rich and financially free!

Hi Ciara
Just want to let you know that I bought the book “The Savvy Woman’s Guide…” on your recommendation. I intend to start a blog to record my progress as I begin to implement Susan’s recommendations, if you’re interested in following my progress. Thanks so much for recommending her book – I reckon it will make a big difference to my P&L account!
xxx
Síle (Grae)

Sounds fantastic, delighted to hear that Sile. Let me know when you have the blog up and running and I’m sure there will be plenty of others who would like to follow your progress too. Good Luck

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