There are 3 types of professionals who provide financial support but only one provides financial literacy; the CFE Certified Financial Educator®. You’ve probably already experienced financial advisors and planners but there’s a big difference in how they are trained to support you as opposed to a CFE Certified Financial Educator®.
CFE Certified Financial Educators® (CFEd®) are formally trained to teach in universities and on business campuses while specializing in supporting families and businesses. We look at your whole financial house rather than simply looking at the market and how investments perform. Everything in your life is a part your financial house.
If you aren’t working with a CFEd® your financial team may look something like this;
- Financial Advisor or Planner for retirement
- Funds manages for your IRA, 401k or Sep IRA
- Banker who works with your money
- Lender for your car loan
- Mortgage Broker for your home loan
- Insurance Agents for car, homeowners, medical & Life insurance coverage
- Accountant for taxes
- Attorney for estate planning
That’s 8 professionals working independently on the future of your money and you can only hope that they will keep your best interests in mind without causing losses and unnecessary fees. But here’s the real question. Do any of your team members talk to each other and develop a plan that assures you of a comfortable retirement and few if any losses? Probably not…
What if you built a home this way? What if there was no General Contractor working with the foundation contractor, the
electrician, plumber, framer and the roofer and no one communicated with each other? How long would your house stand? I think you get the picture. This is no laughing matter.
A CFEd® is your General Contractor. They work with you to designs a blueprint and communicate with your financial team to construct a solid future that will save you money while providing growth and security for your future.
To get you started I’ve provided five easy steps that I personally use to support my clients in building wealth and reaching their financial goals.
Take the time to watch the 14 minute WMAX.TV video below with Shirlene Reeves and Master Coach Barbara Wainwright for a clearer understanding.
STEP 1 – Get A Positive Cash Flow Flowing
If you don’t have a steady income get a job, any job, because relying on unemployment benefits or
the next sale will surely lead to bankruptcy. Even a part-time job can help pay the bills in some manner. It is one thing to maintain a frugal account and tighten the belt of spending, but it will not matter if there is no cash flowing into your account to pay for basic needs like rent, food or gas to get around.
STEP 2 – Debt Management
Credit cards are commonly used and easily accumulated. And so is debt when only the minimum per month is paid. Missing a payment is even more painful when penalties are added. If you’ve maxed out your cards and are reeling from double-digit interest, cut the cards up and pay the remaining debt off as soon as possible. Did you know that if the interest rate is 18% it will take approximately 3 years for the debt to double?.
The same goes with school loans, one of the biggest income providers for the government behind taxes. Did you ever wonder why the government spends so much money advertising school loans? School loans never go away until they’re paid in full. Even bankruptcy won’t wipe out a government school loan.
STEP 3 Proper Financial Protections
Insurance – car, medical, life and long-term care – protect your cash
flow in the event of a calamity such as natural disasters or the death of a loved one that brought home the biggest income. Your cash and savings will be bled dry without insurance, which is why it was created. Insurance can be purchased to help pay off debt, provide for a college tuition, make the mortgage payments, and pay funeral costs without going into your cash flow or savings. Will Rogers said, “I think a man should come back after he dies to see the mess he left behind.”
STEP 4 – Emergency Fund
This short story illustrates the importance of an emergency fund. Recently one of my employees walked into the office dripping, stressed and disheveled. Her car had broken down a mile from the office. “I need a ride to get a rental car. “ She said flopping down into the first available chair. “Can someone please take me? I’m so upset. I had to pay the tow truck driver to haul my car to the shop and it maxed out my credit card. Now I don’t have any money to pay the car repair guy until I get my paycheck. My car payment is due in 2 days and I need to pay for a rental car plus the daily storage, for my own car, until I can afford to have it repaired. What a miserable day. I’ll never dig my way out of this one.”
She’s right. It will take awhile to recover from a surprise emergency such as this. A lot of the costs could have been avoided if she’d thought ahead to build up her emergency fund. She would have avoided the daily shop storage fees, the late payment penalties for a late car payment and a shorter car rental term because her car could have been repaired quickly instead of waiting for her next paycheck.
Moral of the story: Begin building an emergency fund immediately after paying off your debt. These are funds that can easily be accessed immediately in the case of unexpected costs and surprises.
STEP 5 – Long-Term Savings
Do the first four steps first before contributing to a 401k or SEP IRA. Once everything else is in order then start your long-term savings. Some of us make their first step a 401k or SEP IRA without thinking about their personal monthly expenses. That’s a huge mistake.
Two days ago Susan, called because her accountant said to deposit $5,000 into her retirement account by the first of the year. “How am I going to do that she asked?”
“How much is the tax?”
“A whole lot less than the contribution.” She whined with a big sigh.
“You have bills to pay and children to feed. Forget the contribution and take care of your family.” Susan was relieved and grateful that she took a minute to make the call.
Is it time for you to make the call? Until you do, get on track with the 5 Step Formula for Building Wealth, Security and Financial Freedom. We don’t plan to fail. We simply fail to plan. With these 5 easy steps you can’t fail to develop your plan.
Contact Shirlene’s team for a 40 minute Free Review and together we’ll create a Financial Blueprint that will save you money, create security and grow wealth for your financial future.
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