Speaker 1: Let's build your own financial game plan for two thousand
Speaker 1: and twenty five. Let me share with you all my
Speaker 1: secrets to success to help make sure that we give
Speaker 1: our financial goals and dreams the biggest and best opportunity
Speaker 1: to thrive. Welcome back to Sugar Mama's Fireplay, the podcast
Speaker 1: where we ignite your path to financial independence and hopefully
Speaker 1: an early retirement. I am your host financial planner, Canna Campbell,
Speaker 1: and a couple of weeks ago, I shared with you
Speaker 1: my financial goals for twenty twenty five, and then in
Speaker 1: a subsequent episode, I shared with you how I was
Speaker 1: actually going to make sure that my financial goals happen
Speaker 1: to the best of my ability. So in today's episode,
Speaker 1: I want to actually turn the focus on you. So
Speaker 1: today's episode is really about helping you create your own
Speaker 1: financial game plan for twenty twenty five, so that together
Speaker 1: we can strategically and realistically help you achieve all of
Speaker 1: those financial goals and dreams for the year and end
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five on a proud, fulfilled note and even
Speaker 1: feel incredibly excited about the further growth and success that
Speaker 1: might be waiting for you for twenty twenty six, especially
Speaker 1: as you've been able to achieve so much and learn
Speaker 1: so much from this year. Now, as you know, all
Speaker 1: of my content with a podcast, something on TikTok or
Speaker 1: Instagram or YouTube, it's always general in nature and for
Speaker 1: educational purposes. But by the end of today's episode you'll
Speaker 1: have a step by step blueprint or roadmap even to
Speaker 1: help you achieve your financial goals, break them down into
Speaker 1: bite size, actionable steps, and even put some of them,
Speaker 1: if you like, on autopilot, so that twenty and twenty
Speaker 1: five just creates success financially. Organically, it feels effortless and
Speaker 1: most of all efficient, So grab a notebook and depend
Speaker 1: and if you like, you can even go and download
Speaker 1: my free twenty twenty five financial game Plan calendar to
Speaker 1: help you apply all of these secrets, hacks, tips and
Speaker 1: tricks in today's episode. So let's get started, all right.
Speaker 1: Step one is to define your financial goals with precision
Speaker 1: before we do anything. We need to get crystal clear
Speaker 1: on your financial goals. Not just these vague goals and
Speaker 1: ideas and dreams like save more money or pay off debt.
Speaker 1: We need specific, exciting and even slightly scary goals, but
Speaker 1: with lots of detail. In fact fine detail. And also
Speaker 1: these goals should make you feel exhilarated, but also push
Speaker 1: you and stretch you out of your comfort zone. Think
Speaker 1: of it like this. If you woke up on the
Speaker 1: first December twenty twenty five, what financial achievements would make
Speaker 1: you feel proud and powerful? Write down the first things
Speaker 1: that come to mind, and keep adding to that list. So,
Speaker 1: for example, you might think, well, I would have built
Speaker 1: up my emergency savings and have ten thousand dollars, say
Speaker 1: by the first of March. Or i would have paid
Speaker 1: off all my credit card debt finally by the thirtieth
Speaker 1: of June. Or I'm investing five hundred dollars per month
Speaker 1: into my portfolio and I've actually steadily increased it to
Speaker 1: seven hundred and fifty dollars per month by September the fifteenth.
Speaker 1: Or I've started one hundred dollar per month salary sacrificing plan.
Speaker 1: Or I've paid off the final eight thousand dollars off
Speaker 1: my hex debt by the fifteenth of October. Notice how
Speaker 1: these goals have a lot more detail than these previous
Speaker 1: payoff debt save more money ones. They now have exact
Speaker 1: dollar amounts, and they also have exact deadlines, and they
Speaker 1: also have direction. The money knows exactly where to or
Speaker 1: land in a particular savings account, investment portfolio, superinnuation account,
Speaker 1: HEXTEBT or credit card, and everything feels so much more
Speaker 1: intentional and with a clear sense of direction and instruction.
Speaker 1: And also everything's written down. And it's not only just
Speaker 1: written down, it's written down and this is a really
Speaker 1: important thing to grasp heer. It's written down in the
Speaker 1: present or past tense. Now, the reason I recommend doing this,
Speaker 1: that is writing in the present or past tense, is
Speaker 1: it helps you feel more accountable. It triggers immediate action
Speaker 1: and stops those silly pipeline dreams when we say or
Speaker 1: when we say or think I will or one day
Speaker 1: I'm going to, or I would really like to, which
Speaker 1: just basically drags the chain. It's like dangling a carrot.
Speaker 1: We never actually really pull a finger out and create
Speaker 1: that immediate action that is required for our goals. So
Speaker 1: whin do your goals? Write them as I am paying
Speaker 1: off my credit card, I am building my emergency money,
Speaker 1: I am investing not this, I am going to, I will,
Speaker 1: I plan to, I want to. My goal is to
Speaker 1: make it in the present tests or even better in
Speaker 1: the past tests. I've started investing five hundred dollars per month.
Speaker 1: I have started putting one hundred dollars per week into
Speaker 1: my emergency savings account. Again, remember you need the landing destination,
Speaker 1: the account, the superreineruation account, the investment portfolio, the credit
Speaker 1: card debt, the HEXTEP whatever it may be, the amount,
Speaker 1: and of course the deadline, the exact deadline to the day.
Speaker 1: Now for bonus points, you can add your y in
Speaker 1: and your next goal in to your existing goal. For example,
Speaker 1: I will have my emergency money of ten thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in my xyz bank account so that I can start
Speaker 1: building my share portfolio, which is the start of earning
Speaker 1: passive income for financial freedom for myself and is going
Speaker 1: to help alleviate so much stress in my life. See
Speaker 1: how with that one simple goal of saving ten thousand
Speaker 1: dollars for emergency money has so much more depth and
Speaker 1: gravity to it. We have added like a bit of
Speaker 1: magical powder to that goal because we have explained in
Speaker 1: that goal what is the reason why, and of course
Speaker 1: the benefits from those goals alleviating the stress in your life,
Speaker 1: building up passive income, feeling that sense of financial freedom
Speaker 1: and independence. So we have included to recap the exact
Speaker 1: amount the deadline. We've written it in the past or
Speaker 1: present tense. We've included our why, and we have sprinkled
Speaker 1: a little bit of I guess motivation even to put
Speaker 1: in the next goal, so you can start to see
Speaker 1: the flowing connection between financial goal to financial goal. Now,
Speaker 1: the moment you've gotten clear about your goals and you
Speaker 1: feel pumped start working on them, I recommend putting them
Speaker 1: down in order of priority, ideally if possible, from small
Speaker 1: to life. Just for example, goal number one would beat
Speaker 1: it clear off the toxic credit card debt. For example,
Speaker 1: if you have that, the next goal would be to
Speaker 1: build up your emergency savings. The next goal would be
Speaker 1: to start investing. The next goal would be to save
Speaker 1: up for a home or renovation or you know, an
Speaker 1: elaborate holiday. Now, there are a couple of reasons why
Speaker 1: I recommend having it in this order of priority, ideally
Speaker 1: from the smallest to the last. So the first reason
Speaker 1: is by setting small and achievable goals at the top
Speaker 1: of your list, you feel so much more confident to
Speaker 1: actually start working on those goals. You actually feel empowered
Speaker 1: to get started because they're not ones that you can
Speaker 1: really procrastinate. They're achievable. You'll do them. It's like you know,
Speaker 1: when you do your list of things to do in
Speaker 1: the morning, we always tend to gravitate towards those quick, easy,
Speaker 1: simple ones. First, that is perfectly fine. The second reason
Speaker 1: why I recommend you do this is it allows you
Speaker 1: to quickly tick off the first goal off your list,
Speaker 1: because you're starting to build that important momentum to build
Speaker 1: upon for further success. And then the third reason why
Speaker 1: I recommend this list of priorities and ideally smallest to largest,
Speaker 1: is that by completing the first one or even the
Speaker 1: second two goals quickly, you can then have less distractions
Speaker 1: and even more resources to then channel and focus that
Speaker 1: time and money to sink your teeth into the bigger
Speaker 1: goals of yours. So, going back to that example, clearing off,
Speaker 1: say the three or four thousand dollars of the credit
Speaker 1: card debt, we can quickly focus and hone in on that.
Speaker 1: Then that money that we were using to pay off
Speaker 1: that credit card debt, we can then use to channel
Speaker 1: towards building up the emergency money savings. And then moths.
Speaker 1: We've done that. All those tactics and strategies that we
Speaker 1: were using to clear the debt and build the savings
Speaker 1: can now be completely channeled into investing and planning for
Speaker 1: saving up for a home or what are the other
Speaker 1: big goals left on that list. It builds up momentum.
Speaker 1: It's like a trickling effect, and more goals you can
Speaker 1: tick off your list, the more trickles you can then
Speaker 1: use for those bigger goals. So you get to really
Speaker 1: sink your teeth into the bigger goals with so much
Speaker 1: more efficiency. Now I'll talk about this and be in
Speaker 1: a bit more detail further into this episode, but this
Speaker 1: is one of the most powerful techniques I have used
Speaker 1: myself personally for many, many years. So let me know
Speaker 1: how you go with writing your goals in this way.
Speaker 1: Perhaps you've done it similarly, or perhaps you've done it
Speaker 1: completely differently. But if you have a go at applying
Speaker 1: these principles, I'd love to hear feedback from you as
Speaker 1: to how you now feel in writing your goals in
Speaker 1: this particular manner. All right. Step two, create a bird's
Speaker 1: eye view of your financial calendar year. This is my
Speaker 1: biggest hack here and I'm really excited to be able
Speaker 1: to share this with you. So what I recommend you
Speaker 1: do is take a twelve month calendar. You can print
Speaker 1: one or use a calendar I like to use Canber
Speaker 1: and you start to map out your goals month by month,
Speaker 1: or for the bigger goals, perhaps quarter by quarter. So
Speaker 1: for example, when I shared my goals for twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: one of them was to build up our emergency savings,
Speaker 1: and then the other one was to go on holiday
Speaker 1: quickly to New Zealand skiing, then to focus on renovating
Speaker 1: our home, and then the last one was to invest
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars into shares. So I've written in
Speaker 1: that order from smallest to the largest, and obviously in
Speaker 1: a list of priorities. So what I have then done
Speaker 1: is actually put those those goals to focus on throughout
Speaker 1: the year. I've color coded it, so from January to
Speaker 1: March it's purely about building up emergency money. Then from
Speaker 1: April he's focusing on making sure we have our holiday
Speaker 1: completely paid for before we go on and we've got
Speaker 1: spending money, lift passes, accommodation, everything is sorted. Then for
Speaker 1: the period of May to August, it's pretty much focused
Speaker 1: purely on renovation savings, and yes there will be some
Speaker 1: flexibility with this, but again I'll come to that sort
Speaker 1: of being open and making tweaks and changes as needed.
Speaker 1: And then pretty much from September through the end of November,
Speaker 1: he's focusing on their debt reduction strategy and of course
Speaker 1: the investing, so I'll be using a debt recycling strategy.
Speaker 1: So what I've essentially done is color coordinated my year,
Speaker 1: so I know what is the key topic, the key
Speaker 1: focus for that particular block of time. So for yourself,
Speaker 1: you may want to focus on paying off the toxic
Speaker 1: debt between now and say much. Then for me to
Speaker 1: June you want to focus on building up emergency savings.
Speaker 1: My key point here is that you are intentionally blocking
Speaker 1: out periods of twenty twenty five so that you can
Speaker 1: have almost like a power session and really focus exclusively
Speaker 1: on one goal at a time. And by setting like
Speaker 1: dedicated periods of time allowed before you start actually beginning this,
Speaker 1: you can also ration out your resources so much more
Speaker 1: intentionally and mindfully and get a greater sense of the
Speaker 1: year ahead and really what has to be achieved and
Speaker 1: what is really involved. By you to help make these
Speaker 1: things happen. It really does give you this bird's eye perspective.
Speaker 1: Is all the wonderful things you are serious about achieving
Speaker 1: and doing and growing into even and how you're going
Speaker 1: to ration your time and your resources out to give
Speaker 1: it the best opportunity to succeed. And for me, the
Speaker 1: biggest thing is the biggest benefit for this is and
Speaker 1: why I love this particular approach is it stops me
Speaker 1: from trying to achieve every thing all at once and
Speaker 1: then getting completely overwhelmed with pretty much little or no
Speaker 1: real progress. So it allows me to really just focus.
Speaker 1: And you need to remember that while you have a
Speaker 1: key focus or even a block, you can at the
Speaker 1: same time put some things on autopilot. So, yes, I
Speaker 1: have cleared out you know, January through March is dedicated
Speaker 1: purely to our emergency money. But at the same time
Speaker 1: I do have small regular savings plans in place, for
Speaker 1: example for our holiday savings account. So some things, or
Speaker 1: whilst I do have a key focus, I can have
Speaker 1: a few things in the background on autopilot. And these
Speaker 1: include things like regular investing plans, extra mortgage repayments or
Speaker 1: even soury sacrificing into superannuation if you want. And as
Speaker 1: I mentioned, I make this really colorful. And now, as
Speaker 1: I said, you can download a free template that I've
Speaker 1: can created and use this as a guide to copy
Speaker 1: even if you like to build your own bird's eye
Speaker 1: view of twenty twenty five for your financial game plan.
Speaker 1: But using contrasting colors, for me, particularly someone who has
Speaker 1: ADHD and really struggles to focus, I can really sort
Speaker 1: of see the different blocks very click clearly, I'm not
Speaker 1: doing two different shades of green back to back. You
Speaker 1: know you will see when you have a look at
Speaker 1: this yourself the bright colors that give me that bird's
Speaker 1: eye view and help me understand how I have to
Speaker 1: stay on top of everything, but also really avoid getting
Speaker 1: distracted and trying to achieve other goals at the same time,
Speaker 1: which as I said, ends up being with not really
Speaker 1: much progress to be proud about. Now, step number three
Speaker 1: we need to reverse engineer you'll success. So once you've
Speaker 1: mapped out your goals, you're excited. They scare you, but
Speaker 1: you could see an inkling of it. You're actually achieving
Speaker 1: these things brilliant. We now need to start looking at
Speaker 1: the practical steps that go and you've got them plugged
Speaker 1: into your calculator, so you're calculator, you've got them plugged
Speaker 1: into your calendar, your color coordinated, and you're building this.
Speaker 1: So now what we need to do is work backwards.
Speaker 1: Work backwards in that we need to break the big
Speaker 1: goals down, or even the little goal down, into smaller
Speaker 1: actionable steps. For example, that goal to save ten thousand
Speaker 1: dollars by the first of March, You've got to break
Speaker 1: that down. What does that realistically look like between now
Speaker 1: and that goal being achieved. So, for example, that might
Speaker 1: be around about say three three hundred and thirty three
Speaker 1: dollars per month that I'd have to save to an
Speaker 1: order to hit that goal in that block, or perhaps
Speaker 1: it's a smaller amount you know that I can more
Speaker 1: achievable stretch over slightly bigger time. Just make sure you
Speaker 1: are just your block so that your deadline is realistic,
Speaker 1: but also you're not allowing a potential opportunity to become
Speaker 1: lazy or complacent. Now, of course we can only save
Speaker 1: so much. You know, for me to save a million
Speaker 1: dollars is unrealistic because I don't know a million dollars,
Speaker 1: and we have to live and pay taxes and all
Speaker 1: those things. So this is where you would then again
Speaker 1: go back and see what additional things you can do
Speaker 1: to help increase the success for the achievement of that goal.
Speaker 1: What expenses can you cut, what income can you increase?
Speaker 1: Other things you can sell? Are there any automated payment
Speaker 1: savings plans or reduction plans that you can put into place?
Speaker 1: By actually working backwards, looking at the goal and going
Speaker 1: what do I need to do to achieve that goal
Speaker 1: in this time is essential? So for example, take that
Speaker 1: number that you need to save, divide it up between
Speaker 1: now and the date that you want to achieve it,
Speaker 1: and that will then give you an idea as to
Speaker 1: how much you need to be doing in small, mini,
Speaker 1: bite sized goals to achieve that. If you look at
Speaker 1: it and go, well, I still am going to be short,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to achieve that goal. That is when
Speaker 1: you look to booster your income, sell things, hustle all
Speaker 1: those and things, and you really need to spend a
Speaker 1: dedicated amount of time thinking about each goal individually and
Speaker 1: how you can really help make that happen within the
Speaker 1: calendar block. This is going to require some brainstorming. It's
Speaker 1: not going to be an immediate ten minute job and
Speaker 1: you go, Okay, I just need to do this, and
Speaker 1: it's sure it might happen that way, but if your
Speaker 1: goal really is a stretch or their goals that really
Speaker 1: excites you, it's going to require some time of thinking
Speaker 1: outside of the square, getting creative, and continuously adding ideas
Speaker 1: to your list as they come up to help you
Speaker 1: achieve that goal potentially sooner or over achieve that goal
Speaker 1: where you end up saving twelve thousand dollars instead of
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars. And the big thing is with ideas,
Speaker 1: you've got to jump on them other ways they expire,
Speaker 1: jump on them, action them. And a great tip is
Speaker 1: to actually write down these ideas, these light bulb moments
Speaker 1: on your calendar so that when you look at your calendar,
Speaker 1: not only can you see the colored block, you can
Speaker 1: also see a list of ideas that you're going to
Speaker 1: be working on to help make that goal happen within
Speaker 1: that defined period of time. And you can also get
Speaker 1: excited when you look at this calendar as the next
Speaker 1: corresponding goal is to help build that momentum, and you
Speaker 1: can channel some of those ideas that worked into the
Speaker 1: next corresponding goal. And remember this, no idea that you
Speaker 1: come up with is silly. In fact, some of the
Speaker 1: weirdest ideas that I've ever come up with when it
Speaker 1: comes to your hustling up some extra money, have been
Speaker 1: the biggest and best strokes of genius. Okay, so let's
Speaker 1: sound work on to step four. And that's actually doing
Speaker 1: the inner work, even doing a little bit of inner
Speaker 1: child work if you like. So when you look at
Speaker 1: your financial game plan and you look at it through
Speaker 1: a personal growth point of view, you can really transform
Speaker 1: the personal growth with yourself and actually really see yourself
Speaker 1: evolve into a wiser person, a more resilient person, and
Speaker 1: also even a calmer person. So there are a couple
Speaker 1: of key questions I recommend you ask yourself. The first
Speaker 1: one is is who do I need to be to
Speaker 1: achieve these goals? Do you need to be more disciplined?
Speaker 1: Do you need to be more organized? Do you need
Speaker 1: to be more proactive? What are the mind shifts that
Speaker 1: you need to work on, strengthen and evolve in order
Speaker 1: to be able to help yourself achieve those goals? And
Speaker 1: that's the key word, help yourself achieve those goals. We
Speaker 1: really need to cut that stupid, toxic, negative self talk
Speaker 1: around money. We become what we think about. So you
Speaker 1: need to learn how to feed yourself the positive attributes
Speaker 1: that really actually do exist within you, and learn how
Speaker 1: to turn up the volume with those. The next question
Speaker 1: you need to ask yourself is how am I going
Speaker 1: to actually track my progress? Am I going to do
Speaker 1: a weekly check in? Am I going to do quarterly reviews?
Speaker 1: I am going I use an app or a spreadsheet.
Speaker 1: I'm going to find a mentor or a friend that
Speaker 1: can help make me accountable. These are the things you
Speaker 1: need to ask yourself, and of course, what are the
Speaker 1: daily habits that will help success? Set me up for success?
Speaker 1: I recommend you read your goals morning and night. I
Speaker 1: recommend that you speak to yourself in a very positive
Speaker 1: way about your future. Instead of saying I'm not good
Speaker 1: with money, say I'm learning about money. I'm working on money,
Speaker 1: I'm improving my financial situation day by day, and I
Speaker 1: feel proud, I feel excited about what the future lies
Speaker 1: ahead of me. The energy of those words are incredibly powerful,
Speaker 1: and people will start taking you far more seriously. The
Speaker 1: other thing I recommend is doing one small thing every
Speaker 1: single day it might be just one dollars to that
Speaker 1: savings account or one dollar towards your hextead. It seems silly,
Speaker 1: but that habit system is incredibly powerful, and things like
Speaker 1: habits like checking your budget through the Sugar Mamma Budget
Speaker 1: and cash Flow Academy recommend you check your budget twice
Speaker 1: a week. But you're not just checking your budget, You're
Speaker 1: also checking your transactions and your cash flow. So these
Speaker 1: small habits three hundred and sixty five days of the
Speaker 1: year can be incredibly powerful and you can build upon them. Sure,
Speaker 1: it might be one dollar being transferred to your HEXTEBT
Speaker 1: or your savings, a calendary, your home loan, but tomorrow
Speaker 1: it might be ten dollars. Again, these things really do
Speaker 1: add up, and it sends a powerful message to yourself
Speaker 1: in the universe about how serious you are about twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five being your year to shine financially, and of course,
Speaker 1: where you can automate good financial behaviors regular savings plans,
Speaker 1: dividend reinvestment plans, automatic savings, automatic debt reduction, even speaking
Speaker 1: to your employer about how you can potentially pay off
Speaker 1: your hex debts sooner, salary sacrificing so all of these
Speaker 1: small actions compounded can create massive results. And any of
Speaker 1: those keywords that you come up with in asking yourself
Speaker 1: about who need to be to achieve your goals, I
Speaker 1: recommend adding them to this calendar template that I'm going
Speaker 1: to give you because you can write down disciplined, early morning, riser, motivated, educated,
Speaker 1: write those keywords to trigger you and remind you to
Speaker 1: then have those real, true, authentic actions in your life. Again,
Speaker 1: I've created a little section within this template so you
Speaker 1: can use it for yourself, so you can really see
Speaker 1: about the internal work, because that's going to help this
Speaker 1: type of behavior and action happen organically when you feed
Speaker 1: yourself the right magical ingredients as to who you really
Speaker 1: are and allow that true essence of yourself shine for
Speaker 1: your financial goals. Now on a quick note of the
Speaker 1: whole deep dive of yourself. If you are looking for
Speaker 1: a financial mentor you are looking for someone to help
Speaker 1: keep you accountable, I run a program called the Sugar
Speaker 1: Mama Money Mindset and Manifestation Program. This is where you
Speaker 1: can have access to me, not for financial advice all,
Speaker 1: but someone can help you talk to about your motivation levels,
Speaker 1: can talk to you about your money mindset can help
Speaker 1: you brainstorm ideas as to how to potentially hustle up
Speaker 1: some extra money in your life. You essentially can lean
Speaker 1: on me as support and it's a once off fee.
Speaker 1: You have lifetime access to me. And of course you're
Speaker 1: part of our group and we all share the goals
Speaker 1: that we're working on, the things that we're doing with
Speaker 1: our mindsets to strengthen and inspire each other, how we're
Speaker 1: coping with setbacks and challenges which are naturally part of
Speaker 1: the way, and what we are learning and growing and
Speaker 1: discovering along the way. So I will link the details
Speaker 1: in the podcast notes for you if you'd like to
Speaker 1: have access to that, because that obviously then gives you
Speaker 1: access to me. But a quick remind aid's not there
Speaker 1: for financial advice. That is completely separate. Okay, So all right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to the next step number five, and
Speaker 1: that is sexy shortcuts to fast track your progress. All right,
Speaker 1: So not all progress has to be hard. You can
Speaker 1: actually have a lot of fun achieving your goals. You
Speaker 1: can get creative with your approach, your mindset, and your strategies,
Speaker 1: things like using reward points you know, to help pay
Speaker 1: for those holidays that you want to go on. Most
Speaker 1: of our trip to Queenstown skiing has been paid for points,
Speaker 1: that is the flights. We also took taking the kids
Speaker 1: out of school holidays which has saved us about thirty
Speaker 1: percent off or accommodation. I'll go and prepay all of
Speaker 1: our lift passes and ski lessons and book all of
Speaker 1: our gear and look for some great package deals. So yes,
Speaker 1: a holidays expensive, but I've found creative ways to help
Speaker 1: really bring down the cost. So you get clever, be smart.
Speaker 1: Also things like utilizing cash back programs like cash Awards
Speaker 1: and shot Back that gave you money back and also
Speaker 1: give you sometimes access to great discounts you can also
Speaker 1: then you know, when it comes to things like home
Speaker 1: loans and investment loans, is look to refinance around doesn't
Speaker 1: cost you anything to refinance. The mortgage broker does everything
Speaker 1: for you and you can often negotiate incredible terms where
Speaker 1: you are saving tens of thousands of dollars in interest
Speaker 1: and of course time you get back time because if
Speaker 1: you apply those savings to your new orger repayments, you'll
Speaker 1: see that home loan come down so much faster. And
Speaker 1: it's not just homelands call up your gas company, asks
Speaker 1: them for a discount. Energy company, call up foxtelp not
Speaker 1: unfortunately in the Netflix, that would be great if they'd
Speaker 1: offer a discount, but there is. If you don't ask,
Speaker 1: you don't get, And the squeakiest wheel always gets fixed first.
Speaker 1: So don't be afraid to ask for a discount. Let
Speaker 1: people know that you're shopping around, and then shop around
Speaker 1: if you find a better deal. Loyalty tax is expensive.
Speaker 1: You don't need to become victim of it. You don't
Speaker 1: need to be ripped off. It's probably a better way
Speaker 1: of saying this. Also in getting creative, look at things
Speaker 1: you can declutter or sell. According to Gumtree, the average
Speaker 1: Australian household has five thousand, two hundred worth of unused
Speaker 1: items in their home, sitting there gathering dust. Do a
Speaker 1: garrete celle, do a massive gum Tree listing or a
Speaker 1: Facebook marketplace. Look to offload those things to make some
Speaker 1: quick cash. But put those that cash that you make
Speaker 1: immediately towards those goals. Otherworlds, you'll get tempted to spend
Speaker 1: it on something else. That's where procrastination and distractions and
Speaker 1: something you know, shiny, glossy and new pops up in
Speaker 1: your life, you think, oh, I'll just use that to
Speaker 1: pay for that. No, this is about making progress for
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, doing things very differently and really building
Speaker 1: up your self, doing that inner work to actually see
Speaker 1: and feel proud about what you're achieving for yourself. And
Speaker 1: of course, if we're looking to earn some extra money,
Speaker 1: and we really is limitless to how much extra money
Speaker 1: we can create, look at selling your time or your skills.
Speaker 1: Are you good with a photographer as with a camera,
Speaker 1: Maybe you could do some mixture photography work. Are you
Speaker 1: great at designing websites? Do you love dogs? And thinking,
Speaker 1: you know what, I could do some dog walking, or
Speaker 1: I can do some dog sitting or house sitting, perhaps
Speaker 1: babysitting nannying work. You know these are some of these
Speaker 1: things are cash in hand their quick immediate payment that
Speaker 1: can be really helpful to help you save money and
Speaker 1: achieve more with your financial goals and get things done
Speaker 1: so much sooner. Things like you know, if one of
Speaker 1: your goals is to start retiring and planning a retirement
Speaker 1: sooner and you want to get more money to super
Speaker 1: go and educate yourself, learn about the co contribution scheme,
Speaker 1: learn about salary sacrificing, spouse contributions, all these things that
Speaker 1: are out there available to to help you achieve your goal.
Speaker 1: Educate yourself. If you need more savings, perhaps you need
Speaker 1: to get more organized with your taxes and make sure
Speaker 1: that you haven't left anything off the table when it
Speaker 1: comes to your legal deductions and helping maximize any potential
Speaker 1: possible tax refunds. If you need more money but you
Speaker 1: want to earn more, maybe you need to speak to
Speaker 1: your manager or your boss about a promotion, or now
Speaker 1: you need to look at maybe just getting a new job,
Speaker 1: changing jobs. We all know that that is when when
Speaker 1: we change jobs, change companies. That is normally when we
Speaker 1: get the biggest and best pay rises. Perhaps it's time
Speaker 1: for you. No one really sticks around for fifteen to
Speaker 1: twenty years anymore. And if you need to save more,
Speaker 1: of course, go to your budget. Focus on what you
Speaker 1: can cut down, what you can cut out. A great
Speaker 1: example is this I did literally recently as I was
Speaker 1: looking at our grocery bills because they were starting to
Speaker 1: blow out again, and I was not impressed with myself.
Speaker 1: So I returned back to my good old trusty HelloFresh
Speaker 1: and it saves me so much time, it saves me
Speaker 1: so much money. And I know for myself, I can't
Speaker 1: walk into a supermarket and buy one thing, even though
Speaker 1: I only need one thing. I walk through the aisles
Speaker 1: as everyone else does. Oh that's on special. Oh we'll
Speaker 1: grab that whilst I'm here, walk out the door, eleven, twelve, thirteen,
Speaker 1: fourteen extra things. So by having think something like for me,
Speaker 1: and this is not sponsored by HelloFresh at all, but
Speaker 1: in me getting creative and looking at how we can
Speaker 1: save money, the fact that I have something on my
Speaker 1: doorstep means I don't go to the supermarket. I also
Speaker 1: don't waste time going to the supermarket. I'm cooking a
Speaker 1: meal within the house without literally not even need to
Speaker 1: delete the front door. So all these little wins are
Speaker 1: going to help accelerate your progress, and often there are
Speaker 1: the nuggets of gold that can help you tick your
Speaker 1: goals off in a really efficient way. In that dedicated
Speaker 1: color block that I spoke about again, all these ideas.
Speaker 1: Add them to your calendar notes so you know exactly
Speaker 1: what you need to do and get done for that
Speaker 1: goal for that block of time to watch that financial
Speaker 1: goal flourish. All right, Step six, Build accountability and automate
Speaker 1: for success. Find an accountability friend, a partner, or even
Speaker 1: an online community and check in on a regular basis weekly, fortnightly, monthly.
Speaker 1: And I said, if you want to work with me,
Speaker 1: you can join my money Mindset manifestation program community where
Speaker 1: we share all of our goals, and as I said,
Speaker 1: you get that direct access to me to help work
Speaker 1: on those goals. No financial advice, as I said, but
Speaker 1: I will definitely help you with your motivation levels and
Speaker 1: your money mindset and you can pick my brain. We
Speaker 1: can talk about your goals, discover your why, and also
Speaker 1: help clear any money blocks that you might have that
Speaker 1: are lingering around now. When it comes to building accountability
Speaker 1: and automating for success, as I said, automatic savings plans
Speaker 1: and investment plans are great because they take away the
Speaker 1: need to require and rely on willpower. But there is
Speaker 1: a word of warning here. Please be careful. Automatic debt
Speaker 1: repayment plans, savings plans, investing plans, stary sacrificing plans. Even
Speaker 1: it can help maybe make you dangerously comfortable over time.
Speaker 1: So whilst you may have automation like cooking in the
Speaker 1: background for those bigger goals. Whilst you focus some power
Speaker 1: through your immediate short term mini goals, please make sure
Speaker 1: that the moment you tick any of those short term
Speaker 1: goals off your list, that we reassess those savings plans,
Speaker 1: debt repayment plans, or investing plans even so that you
Speaker 1: can potentially increase your plans and create even greater success
Speaker 1: and efficiency in your life. So, for example, you might
Speaker 1: have a two hundred dollars per month regular investing plan
Speaker 1: going on in the background because one of your bigger,
Speaker 1: longer term goals is to build an investment portfolio. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, you're focusing on paying off your credit card
Speaker 1: debt on building up savings. What I'm trying to say
Speaker 1: is the moment that credit card debt is paid off,
Speaker 1: any resources that you have freed up, start looking at
Speaker 1: whether you should potentially increase now your regular investing plan.
Speaker 1: So you might think, you know what, I've just paid
Speaker 1: off my credit card debt, great, I'm now working on
Speaker 1: my emergency money. I'm going to maybe look to increase
Speaker 1: my regular investment plan from two hundred dollars per month
Speaker 1: and out of two hundred and fifty dollars per month,
Speaker 1: make sure you're using your money intentionally, and never get
Speaker 1: to a place where you feel comfortable or complacent about
Speaker 1: these regular payment plans, because that is often then a
Speaker 1: sign that we could be stretching and pushing ourselves slightly
Speaker 1: further for even greater success. And then step seven, stay
Speaker 1: flexible and adjust. All Right, Yes, we have these clear
Speaker 1: blocks for twenty twenty five sitting in front of us,
Speaker 1: but life happens. They're going to be setbacks, and they're
Speaker 1: going to be challenges a long way. That is normal,
Speaker 1: That is natural, and it is okay. As I shared
Speaker 1: in my previous episode, we fell short of one of
Speaker 1: our big goals last year. And whilst that was really
Speaker 1: upsetting and really frustrating and I felt so disheartened, within
Speaker 1: a few weeks, I didn't just move on, but I
Speaker 1: moved up with my mindset. You see, I'd actually had
Speaker 1: done okay with my progress even though we fell short
Speaker 1: of our goals. But I actually gained a lot of
Speaker 1: wisdom and insight from failing. And when I look back
Speaker 1: and sort of really went through absolutely everything that I
Speaker 1: needed to look at this failure, it actually made me
Speaker 1: realize that this failure offered a really important and valuable
Speaker 1: platform for further growth and success. So what I recommend
Speaker 1: you do is obviously have regular check ins for your
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five financial goal game plan, but understand there
Speaker 1: are going to be times where you need to make
Speaker 1: slight tweaks and changes, and of course use those automated
Speaker 1: systems if and where you need to, but again by
Speaker 1: coming back and checking your progress, also check and update
Speaker 1: any of those automated programs to see if there's room
Speaker 1: to improve and change them, to adjust them, to increase them,
Speaker 1: so you can see your goals being achieved so much
Speaker 1: quicker and so much greater success. So tweaks and changes
Speaker 1: throughout the year are most definitely allowed and most definitely
Speaker 1: encouraged as long as you're not making too bigger tweaks
Speaker 1: and changes where you're actually cheating yourself and selling yourself short.
Speaker 1: And also by continuously staying flexible, adjusting and reviewing your calendar,
Speaker 1: your financial game plan, it really does help improve and
Speaker 1: increase your motivation levels. And then when we do that,
Speaker 1: we find that we are less likely to be distracted,
Speaker 1: we're less likely to procrastinate, were so much which more accountable,
Speaker 1: we are so much more aware. The clock is ticking
Speaker 1: time is being wasted, and then that organically creates a
Speaker 1: powerful call to action by us. We don't even think
Speaker 1: about it. We just start doing working on our goals,
Speaker 1: getting creative with our goals. And when you have those
Speaker 1: regular check ins where you may need to become flexible
Speaker 1: and make those adjustments, you can actually see the progress
Speaker 1: you've made and actually how things are working, how you're
Speaker 1: actually achieving your goals, and how different the year is
Speaker 1: in comparison to your previous years. You can see what
Speaker 1: you're learning, you're growing not just from a financial education
Speaker 1: point of view, but from a personal growth point of view.
Speaker 1: And for me, that personal growth is actually where the
Speaker 1: biggest and best rewards come in. So to quickly recap
Speaker 1: your financial goal plan, number one, get crystal clear with
Speaker 1: your goals. Write them in the present or past, tense,
Speaker 1: have numbers, have deadlines, have a landing destination, and if
Speaker 1: you want, add in your why and a little inkling
Speaker 1: of what your next goal is that you're going to
Speaker 1: focus on. Step two is to create is bird's eye
Speaker 1: view that is your financial game plan calendar. Again, I've
Speaker 1: created a template for you. You can linked it in the notes.
Speaker 1: You can quickly and easily access it, but make it colorful.
Speaker 1: Block out your times and make sure you've got spots
Speaker 1: there where you can write down all of your ideas
Speaker 1: and all of the personal characteristics you need within yourself
Speaker 1: to achieve these goals. This will help keep you motivated
Speaker 1: and focused and stop you from wasting time. Step three
Speaker 1: is to reverse engineer your success. Look at that goal
Speaker 1: and what you want to achieve and by when, and
Speaker 1: then you can work out how much you need to
Speaker 1: be saving or investing paying down debt per week or
Speaker 1: even per day, per fortnight, per month in order to
Speaker 1: help make that happen. If there's a gap that is
Speaker 1: where you look to hustle, where you look to save
Speaker 1: extra money, all the different creative things you can do
Speaker 1: to help achieve that goal within that dedicated time. Step
Speaker 1: number four is to do the deep dive into you.
Speaker 1: Look at your mindset, look at the characteristics and the
Speaker 1: skills and the habits that you need to have within
Speaker 1: yourself in order to help give these goals the biggest
Speaker 1: and best opportunity to thrive. You already have everything that
Speaker 1: you need within yourself to achieve these goals. Step number
Speaker 1: five is to make sure you're creating shortcuts to fast
Speaker 1: track your progress. This is what I call in my
Speaker 1: money mindset program boosters, little things you can do to
Speaker 1: help boost that goal so that you can achieve it
Speaker 1: quicker or you can over achieve that goal. It's about
Speaker 1: getting creative. Think outside of the square as to things
Speaker 1: you can do to bring in some extra cash to
Speaker 1: move through the year faster and with greater efficiency. Step
Speaker 1: six is to have accountability. Of course, automate everything you
Speaker 1: can for success, but have someone you can talk to
Speaker 1: about your goals, how far you're going, what your progress is,
Speaker 1: looking at, maybe where you're struggling, where you need some
Speaker 1: help or you need some inspiration, and just get excited
Speaker 1: about what you are doing and achieving along the way.
Speaker 1: And again to remind you automation is brilliant, but be
Speaker 1: careful where automation just makes you comfortable and complacent. Whenever
Speaker 1: you've achieved goal the particular smaller ones, look at what
Speaker 1: improvements you can add to that automation system. And then finally,
Speaker 1: step number seven is just stay flexible and adjust. You
Speaker 1: must review your progress all the time, weekly, fortnightly, monthly.
Speaker 1: Just make sure you do it regularly. This is one
Speaker 1: of the habit systems you're going to have to create,
Speaker 1: so where you need to make adjustments, it's okay, don't
Speaker 1: beat yourself up, but promise me this one thing. You're
Speaker 1: not going to add new goals to your list unless
Speaker 1: you've achieved every single goal for twenty twenty five. One
Speaker 1: of the key things where I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people go wrong is they start and they put my
Speaker 1: hand up for this as well, they start to add
Speaker 1: new goals into the list, They get excited about other
Speaker 1: things they want to achieve, and they start adding more
Speaker 1: things to the table without actually clearing the decks first.
Speaker 1: So as you think happen in life setbacks and challenges,
Speaker 1: to really try and stay committed and true and dedicated
Speaker 1: to those goals that you sit down intentionally at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the year, and of course don't beat yourself
Speaker 1: if you fall short. So much wisdom is to be
Speaker 1: gained beyond those actual physical dollar amount goals. So that
Speaker 1: is it for today's episode. This game plan is really
Speaker 1: not about perfection, it's really about progress. Your future self
Speaker 1: is counting on you, so you need to show up
Speaker 1: for yourself daily, weekly, fortnightly, and monthly and make sure
Speaker 1: that you finish twenty twenty five and a stronger, wealthier
Speaker 1: and more empowered position than ever before. So now is
Speaker 1: the time to use your game plan, to create your
Speaker 1: game plan, to get started on it, and see twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five being very very different, a financially abundant year.
Speaker 1: You could say, now, if you've enjoyed this episode, please
Speaker 1: make sure you send it to a friend, send it
Speaker 1: to a family member, and of course don't forget to
Speaker 1: go and download that free template that I've created FEWS.
Speaker 1: You can create your own financial game plan now. Until
Speaker 1: next time, stay focused, stay empowered, and keep that financial
Speaker 1: fire burning right. This is Sugar Mamma's first play