Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole by Tiffany Aliche

Chapter 1
Before We Begin: Get to Know Financial
Wholeness
Seven years after starting my business I was making more money a
month than I used to make in a year teaching preschool. I had more than
enough to live on and was able to dig myself out of my financial hole. I paid
off the $35,000 in credit card debt that I’d accumulated from my run-in with
Jack the Thief and the overpriced business course (see the introduction if
you want to relive all that with me!), and I also paid off my $52,000 student
loans. Once I was debt-free I was able to save almost 70% of my income and
paid cash for a car (used, but certified and new to me) and a new house. The
house was a foreclosure and therefore seriously discounted from what would
have been the market price, but it was still a very big-ticket item: $180,000. I
was even able to pay off the remaining $120,000 on my parents’ mortgage.
By most people’s standards, I was rolling in it!
But even though I was doing so well, I was more scared than I ever had
been when I was a teacher and making so much less. In fact, despite making
so much less then, I’d never been scared about handling my money at all
when I was a teacher. So why was I so obsessed with having zero debt and
stashing money away just in case? The short answer is that losing everything
during the Great Recession had been traumatic and I was emotionally
scarred. I was living in a state of financial fear.
My own financial fears were obviously brought on by actual events—
things that happened (and that I could have handled differently)—and so I
felt I had a rational reason to fear financial downfall, but really it was an
irrational fear of them happening again. Many people, including my former
self, understandably live in financial fear based solely on the possibility of
financial disaster. If the global pandemic of 2020 has taught us all anything,
it’s that the unknown and unpredictable do happen—jobs and income and
stability can disappear due to something simply in the air!
But when you are financially whole in the way I’ll teach you to be, you
won’t have to live in fear of all that. You’ll have a plan for each area of your
finances so that they are constantly working on your behalf, regardless of
where you currently are in life. Financial wholeness has nothing to do with
the tax bracket you’re in. Anyone, regardless of their income level or
employment status—whether you’re making minimum wage or you’re a
millionaire—can and should actively work toward becoming financially
whole; its principles are relevant and applicable to all. Financial wholeness
doesn’t stabilize just one aspect of your financial life, but all aspects of your
financial life. This is why it can help you manage and sometimes even thrive
during financially traumatic times.
The True Freedom of Financial Wholeness
Lots of financial advisors preach the power of financial freedom, or the
idea that it’s possible to have enough money to support your lifestyle without
having to work anymore. Sounds good on paper, right? But my own
experience shows loud and clear that this kind of freedom won’t make you
feel truly free. Despite my postrecession comeback, I was more on track
financially as a teacher than I was as a burgeoning business owner earning
much more. Why? Because as a teacher, I had a savings strategy, a debt
payoff plan in place, a good credit score, adequate insurance for where I was
in life, and I knew where my assets would go if I died (my sisters). I had an
automated retirement account to which I contributed the maximum allowed
each year. I had an emergency savings account and even had multiple
streams of income from teaching, babysitting, and tutoring.
When I was financially free, I had a large cash reserve, but I hadn’t
achieved many other critical financial pillars I needed to feel secure. I had
never adjusted my insurance to cover my new way of life. I didn’t have a
clear retirement plan that reflected my newfound standard of living, either. I
didn’t have an updated estate plan or a way to grow and sustain wealth
versus just save money. And I still didn’t have any place to go for
professional financial advice. I was actually losing money because my fear
kept me from investing in ways that could grow my wealth beyond my own
earnings. Seriously—one financial planner I considered hiring laughed at me
for having a ton of money in the bank and hardly any in my retirement
account.
I was not at all a millionaire as a teacher. But I was maximizing my
income and I had a clear plan in motion for each area of my finances. To
repeat: I felt more secure making $39,000/year teaching preschool than I did
as a business owner making more than $39,000/month. Just goes to show
that a strong foundation can be built with much less than you think. And that
wealth is more than just money in the bank!

Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole by Tiffany Aliche