Part I of the series: Your Financial Blueprint

You declared bankruptcy, had your debts eliminated (in legal parlance “discharged”) and may be thinking, “Now what?” How do I start rebuilding so that in the future I have financial stability and even financial freedom? Here’s what your first step needs to be.

First off define what financial stability and financial freedom mean to you. The answer to these questions will help you set a definite goal. For some people financial stability means they have a specific amount saved up, are earning a specific amount each year and/or have so much in assets. For others, its simply being able to pay the day to day bills. And yet for others its about being able to provide for others. I don’t know what the answer is for you but my first piece of advice is that you find out.

If you don’t define what financial stability and freedom mean to you then I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there’s a high probability you’ll end up in bankruptcy again in the future because you haven’t broken the “pattern of your financial blueprint”. Here’s a good analogy to help you understand this by what I mean pattern. Ever read or heard about those people that win the lottery only to have nothing years later. If you haven’t here’s a story about a few of them: www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-26-lotteryluck_x.htm  What’s interesting is that despite all that money these people still somehow managed to squander it all away. What happened? My belief is that these millionaires never broke the pattern of their financial blueprint. Financially they may have been rich for a while but they were still deficient in their way of thinking and/or in their habits. In other words, they kept playing the same song (their “blueprint”) over and over again despite the windfall they got. Don’t fall victim to the same mistake.

In a way, declaring bankruptcy is like winning the lottery. One day you had $50,000 in debt and the next day you have a clean slate. Years down the line you may find yourself in debt again because you began doing some of the same things you did in the past that got you to go into debt in the first place. I’m not here to finger point and pass judgment on you. My intent is to help you understand that now is the time to take control of your financial destiny. My observation is that many people walk around not really having thought about their relationship to money, why they behave towards money the way that they do and how they can be masters over money instead of the other way around.

In future blogs I’ll give you specific tips on what you can do to establish control over your financial destiny but for now you have to focus on your “blueprint”. Here are some powerful questions that will help you get started:

What is the biggest fear I have about money? Where did this fear come from? Growing up what lessons did I learn about money from people around me?

What’s my biggest regret financially up to this point? What stopped me from doing that in the past? What’s the story I’ve been telling myself over and over about money?

What does financial stability mean to me? In other words, how do I know that I am financially secured? What needs to happen in order for me to feel this way? Make a list and have this become your checklist that you can refer to know so you know whether you are on track. What can I do right now to make this happen? What am I willing to do to achieve financial stability?

Does financial independence mean something different to me? What’s the difference? How will I know I’ve reached financial independence? Why am I not there now? What needs to change/happen in order to be financially independent?

If I had $100,000 saved up would that be enough for me? How about $500,000? What is the number (and there is a number) that I must saved up before I can say I choose to work not because I have to but because I want to?

What’s one small thing that I could, no strike that, need to do right now to put me on the path to my financial destiny?

This is just a starting point. There are plenty of books and seminars out there that can help you establish these goals. A book I would recommend is Maria Nemeth’s The Energy of Money.  Another book is T.Harv Ecker’s Secrets of the Millionaire Mind. Both books do a great job of helping you explore your relationship to money. Your psychology of money if you will. As I’ve said before, Who is the master, you or money?

Remember now that you’ve declared bankruptcy, your ability to have a positive net worth may be a lot easier to attain now because you may have a clean slate. So instead of focusing on paying off a mountain of debt, you now have the ability to save, accumulate assets and create financial freedom.  The path begins in your mind. I wish you avalanches of abundance so that you may Live & Give Richly!