Financial Resiliency Series - An Introduction (2024)

As we end one calendar year and brace ourselves for the next, I thought we should spend some time taking an uncomfortably hard look at how we can build our financial resiliency. It has been a tough year for many as grocery prices skyrocketed and mortgage rates continued to rise, amongst many other challenges but we are all weathering it very differently. For us, we’ve been fine but that’s only because I took steps over the past 4 years to make sure that we would be more financially resilient. And I’m really proud to say that we are.

Truth is, if this was 2019 I’d be freaking out! I had no savings as they had been eaten up by a few years of court and then a few years of underemployment and I was playing catch up with our finances but I certainly wasn’t in a good position… yet. That came once I started to prioritize this area of my life and take the steps needed to improve it. My goal is to show you what we did and what many others are doing to put themselves in fantastic financial positions.

I wrote a few articles last year that will give you some sense of my financial philosophies, particularly How much is enough?, Your debt is an emergency!, and 10 Consequences of unintentional spending. It’s important that you know that I’ve seen it all, from overspending, bankruptcy and food banks to high income and saving rates. This means that we will cover topics from tip to tail and everywhere in between. Finances are a big topic and one that will take some time to work through.

Who is this series for?

If any of these describe your situation, then you’ll want to tune into this series:

1. You are surprised at the end of each month at how little there is left and you don’t know where it all went
2. You are having a hard time feeding your family or feeding them as well as you were able to in the past
3. You have any credit card debt at all
4. You have an older vehicle that is in need of replacement soon and you can’t yet pay for a replacement in cash
5. You are still paying off your student loans
6. You can’t find any extra money to put towards savings each month
7. You aren’t able to give as generously to the charities that you support
8. You would have to use credit to cover even a minor financial emergency
9. You aren’t adequately insured
10. You aren’t prepared for emergencies like long power outages or being snowed in
11. You believe that you have to use an outside broker to invest your money
12. You don’t know where your money is going
13. You aren’t earning enough to cover your expenses
14. You haven’t started saving for retirement or don’t know if you are saving enough
15. You get angry when your cell or internet bills come in

I could keep going but I would bet that you can resonate with at least one but likely many of these situations above. I will be diving into all of these subjects.

Financial Resiliency and Self-Care

Are you wondering how this is tied to self-care? Well, it’s a little difficult to take care of oneself if their financial house is not in order. People carry a ton of stress around finances and they affect all parts of our lives today.

Topics to Look forward to

This will expand as we move through the year but at the least, topics will include:

• 2023 Year in Review
• 2024 Planning, Setting yourself up for success
• Tracking your spending
• You’re paying how much for your cellular?!
• How to pay cash for your next vehicle
• Fees that should be avoided at all cost
• The savings gap
• Tax considerations
• DYI Investing for beginners
• How to grow your income
• How much do you need for an emergency fund?
• Where to store your hard earned money
• How much do you need to retire?
• The psychology of money
• Values-based spending
• Groceries – on a budget
• Buying vs. Renting your primary residence

My hope is that by the end of this series we’ll have enough content to string it together as a guide for my kid who is only a few years from leaving the nest.

I do encourage you to follow along and implement the skills that you learn along the way. Taking the deep dive into personal finance was one of the most rewarding (literally) things that I’ve done for myself and our future. It’s something that we celebrate often and I hope that you will be able to yourself soon too!

Please join us in this journey – and start building your financial resiliency today!

Other articles that you may enjoy:

To budget or not to budget, that is the question

Frugality is a superpower

Healthy eating on a budget