Ingredients for Financial Wellness
Why try to create something new when there are recipes you can follow
Originally published in the July/August 2023 issue of Wake Living Magazine.
Financial planning can be overwhelming. Trusted advisors and good advice help! They’re part of the tools in your toolbox for a healthy financial plan.
Here’s a basic recipe to build off of to make your bank accounts work for you.
Level: Beginner
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour
Servings: 1 Household
Ingredients needed for this recipe:
- Bank and credit card statements
- Budgeting tool
- List of expenses
- List of existing debt
- A trusted advisor
- Dreams for your future
Directions
1. Prep work
Every chef knows good prep work is crucial for a smooth cooking process.
When you sit down to look through your statements or chat with an advisor, bring all your ingredients together ahead of time. Pull together statements for your checking accounts, savings, and credit cards. Start with 3 months’ history. Sorting through your transactions helps to have a clear idea of your income and know exactly where every dollar is going. You’ll need this for step 2.
2. Cooking the Entrée
Grab a pen and paper or sign up for an app such as Mint, EveryDollar, Honeydue, or a whole host of others.
Variables like syncing bank accounts or monthly subscription fees factor into choosing the best tool that fits your budgeting needs and style. Once you’ve chosen your budgeting method, this is where your prep work comes in handy. You’ve already categorized and written down these costs during step 1 so now you can plug and play. If budgeting on your own, this is when you’ll look at your discretionary spending and cut purchases where necessary in order to hit those savings or investment goals. If you’re cooking things up with a financial advisor, you’ll look at that later.
3. Hiring a Sous Chef
Working with an advisor can prevent a lot of headaches. To find a financial partner you can trust, a good place to start is your primary financial institution. Your advisor will help you lay out a plan for hitting your immediate goals, future goals, and suggest ways to save or invest.
At Coastal Credit Union, we have a suite of services dedicated to helping our members achieve their goals. From setting up your first budget to preparing for retirement; our knowledgeable staff is dedicated to helping people carve out a tailored path to their aspirations. A great example is GreenPath, our partner that provides free, one-on-one financial counseling and education tools for all of our members. We care about our members and know that tackling debt can be incredibly difficult and overwhelming.
We make it a priority to provide access to the experts, so you don’t feel alone in the process.
4. Thinking about dessert
Once you’ve created your budget, and are confident about your day-to-day spending, then you’re ready to start thinking about goalsetting. A budget without plans for the future is like a great meal without dessert.
Budgeting allows you to plan for the future. None of us know what will change in our lives tomorrow or in 10 years. Putting together a plan to cover the “what ifs” can make the future less intimidating. From making sure a family emergency won’t get in the way of paying bills to building a nest egg for retirement, every dream is easier with a financial plan behind it.
Our job at Coastal is to make sure you have the products, services, and support you need to make those plans, to pursue those dreams.
Hopefully, you dream big.