First Step – Stop Digging

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Trevor Hammond

digging

Famous investment guru and billionaire Warren Buffett once said that if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you must do is “stop digging”.

While this sounds basic, people every day are digging themselves deeper and deeper into debt. They are spending more money each month than they bring home from their paychecks.

If you are serious about changing your financial future and getting on the right track to enjoy more freedom with your money, then you must stop negative spending habits! You must commit to ending this bad habit now. Debt and overspending have an incredibly negative impact on your financial future as well as your relationships and marriage.

If you have consumer debt now, what is your PLAN to pay it off? Do you have a PLAN? Do you know WHEN your debt will be completely paid off at your current rate of repayment?

How about your cash flow? Do you know to the dollar how much money you bring home each month? Do you know exactly how much is going out?

Which scenario sounds better?

  1. You and your spouse are always bickering over money and you constantly feel the stress of living paycheck to paycheck.
  2. Or…you live within your means; have money in savings, and you and your spouse’s money arguments have ceased.

Action Plans:

Here are some critical first steps to help you STOP DIGGING and START PLANNING.

  • Set goals. Set aside one evening with your spouse and write down your short, mid-, and long-term goals. These can be directly about money or not…but just about every goal seems to involve money in one way or another.
  • Identify your total take-home pay. You should know this automatically, but if you do not, locate your last couple of pay stubs and see how much comes home each month, after taxes and retirement contributions at work.
  • Identify how much you spend each month. To be as accurate as possible, you should track your expenses every month. Many expenses vary month-to-month.
  • Identify your POSITIVE or NEGATIVE monthly cash flow. Do you spend more than you make? If not, how much is left over?

Commit to yourself, your family, and your future, to follow these steps over the next TWO WEEKS and develop a PLAN to STOP DIGGING!

 

About Trevor Hammond

Since 1998, Trevor Hammond has helped thousands of families finance their homes and make smart decisions when it comes to their personal finances. Now, as a sought-after mortgage advisor, coach, speaker, and author, Trevor Hammond continues to focus on helping people enjoy more money, less stress, and more life. As the co-author of Borrow Smart, Repay Smart and his 2018 follow up book, Mortgages, Money and Life, Trevor has created unique financial coaching programs and spoken in front of thousands of people on his book concepts ranging from improving cash flow and savings, managing liabilities, to advanced real estate financing strategies for homeowners. His passion for providing financial education and his ability to innovate unique processes that help both clients and originators excel, has led Trevor to become a top producer and build a #1 branch in the country for mortgage lending company Sierra Pacific Mortgage. Whether Trevor is speaking to hundreds of people from the stage, working on his next book or mentoring a Loan Officer one-on-one as a High Trust™ Leader, he is pursuing his greatest passion of all: Coaching.
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