This is what I do, to guide anyone needing some direction and some support so they feel less discombobulated with their household finances.

Get a cup of coffee and take 5 minutes and you’ll see what I’ve got for you, from free support through to my lovely 3 session nurturing experience.

This is my perspective, learned over the course of hundreds of coaching sessions, that regardless of your budget barometer, we all want the same things:

• A PLACE TO CALL HOME.
• TO FEEL SAFE, SECURE & CONFIDENT
• BEING IN CONTROL & HAVING AGENCY OVER SPENDING DECISIONS
• UNDERSTAND MONEY BETTER, ERGO, TO FEEL MORE COMPETENT
• TO FEEL NEUTRAL ABOUT PERSONAL FINANCE, USING IT AS A TOOL
• WHEN THOUGHTS OF “THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS” CREEP IN, KNOWING YOU’RE RIGHT, AND YOU HAVE THE FREEDOM TO CO-CREATE A DIFFERENT FUTURE.

These all sit beautifully within Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This previous blog will take you on that journey

How to Keep Money Peaceful: Managing the Emotional and Practical Layers of Finance

Real life stories this month, and how did my guidance support them?

Two sofa surfing youngsters

Working full time as Keyworkers, in London, with bugger all family, and having a really tough time. These were undoubtedly emotional conversations. *

I listened and asked helpful questions. Feeling moved to tears wishing I could just scoop them up into my care. Listening and encouraging talking is a therapeutic experience, never underestimate your role in listening if you find yourself here.

We discussed how to simplify and prioritise their budgets but mostly they just needed a place they could call home. Their own bathrooms they didn’t need to queue for, their own space to cook dinner in after a long day at work, and that feeling you get that only home provides, no matter how humble it is.

If you know anyone in this situation, a great practical & emotional resource I always signpost to is Turn2Us.org

A father of teenagers in the civil service also struggling.

The decisions he made in good faith a few years ago, now don’t sit well in today’s economy.

This, I think, is where so many of us find ourselves. We might have decided to stay in our homes and extend or renovate rather than upsize. The loan fit our budgets before, but now, not so much. Or maybe we did upsize, maybe we had great jobs that are now gone with redundancy. Oftentimes, great incomes mean more expensive lifestyles and no more savings than the average Joe.

Have you got a resilience fund?

Stripping out the genuinely unnecessary spending and syphoning off what was available to spend after essentials & savings. This money went into a separate account, so that they could visually see where overspending could easily happen when mixed in with all the other money.

And how to involve their teens – we all say we didn’t learn this stuff in school (this is coming to UK curriculums) so why not involve them so that they understand how to make spending decisions?

When you give options, “you can have the trainers or the xbox game” they’ll get it. They probably still won’t like it but hey, neither do we!

Do we really crave everything we can’t have, or do we crave it because we can’t have it?

If you have debt looming uncomfortably, or circling like a kettle of Vultures, I always advise Step Change. They have a layered approach, so if you feel like insolvency is your only option, they may have other other solutions. Offering you breathing space, they work with your creditors. Pass this on.

C-suite professional women realising they’re in different stages of life 

Financially, for different reasons they were living inefficiently.

They’re wanting different things from their lifestyles. Their budgets, long gone from a time before higher tax bracket incomes, now needing a fresh perspective and different levels of organisation. They’ve been so busy, that it’s perpetually taken a back seat.

Capability can exist on paper; capacity depends on real life.

Starting with you is essential. What do you want now? What do you need in the next 3 months? 6 months? Year? 3+ years?

Let’s build your year out. Calendar first, what’s going on & when?

When do your bonuses drop, when do you have events or new hobbies after school for the kids that all need paying at the same time? Not to mention new kits & equipment.

Let’s get your Resilience Fund up and growing. A safety net regulates your nervous system.

Let’s get your monthly fluctuating income & expenses levelled so you always know how much you have to save & spend.

Tax efficiencies – an IFA is your best friend here.

I’ll write a piece soon about how these work in principle, the stark differences between earning £99,000 and £102,000 but please, get independent, individual advice from an FCA regulated professional.

Life circumstances can be very different. Our relationship with money is hugely nuanced.

But when we all want to feel safe, secure, confident & competent with our personal finances; knowing that we’re doing the best for ourselves, that we’re not missing a trick that everyone else seems to know about, we can breathe a sigh of relief.

These few categories I have found, cover most of the start of our transformation:

1. Our relationship with money, and with our partner / family communication.
2. Organisation
3. Habits & Routines
4. Expectations and Plans for the future
5. The Practical Application of Proper Budgeting – not unlike a small business cash flow. Home economics at school anyone?

And when you’ve got the basics right, properly cemented in your life’s values, the sexy exciting stuff like investing can take place on solid ground.

I do the less sexy stuff with you.

But I do it well, so that you can move quickly onto the good stuff!

Tell me, please I’d love to know, if I could create more low cost support, what would you love to see?

A – Would a video teaching you how a visualisation technique switches on your prefrontal cortex in your brain, so that your problem solving skills are heightened?

B – Or maybe some training around the dopamine hit you get when overspending? Recognising it and learning how to regulate your nervous system with some really useful practical tools to add in.

C – Something else… surprise me!

I’ll create whatever is the most popular for you, so sign up to my penpal emails and you’ll soon know when they’re ready.

Until next time, toodleloo

Lucy x