Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

No matter your age, it’s never too late to chase your dreams and achieve financial freedom

I don’t know about you, but the ongoing scarcity of women in leadership positions continues to blow my mind. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that it’s 2018, because not nearly enough has changed when it comes to gender equality in the last century. It’s well documented that women are just as capable, if not more so, than our male counterparts, yet we still face a tremendous amount of obstacles clawing our way into senior leadership positions.

According to an article in Inc., six of the top issues that contribute to this phenomenon include:

1. Outdated gender biases that are deeply ingrained in workplace culture.
2. A gap in perception—in a recent survey, 86 percent of men said women have as many or more opportunities than men do, but only 56 percent of women agreed.
3. Women in leadership tend to be relegated to traditionally female roles, such as human resources or public relations, versus IT and finance.
4. Continuous lip service, in which companies say they’re addressing issues of equality but they don’t hold their leadership team accountable for taking action.
5. Disparity in pay for men and women in the same roles.
6. Work-life balance concerns, which result in women being put on the “mommy track,” which prevents them from advancing.

Clearly it’s not easy to change workplace culture, but we’ll keep hammering away at it. In the meantime, if any of these six things sound familiar, it’s time to focus your attention on what you can change: your own mindset.

What do you want to do with your life?

Robert asked me this hard-hitting question on our first date. I told him I wanted to start my own business, and that’s what I did.

Yes, it was difficult. I had to learn through experience and a lot of trial and error. Back then, we had nothing—we even lived in our car for a short period of homelessness. It was extremely scary and stressful. But I did not give up…and things worked out just fine in the long run.

My dream became a reality because I had the courage to focus on my financial education, keep moving forward and not let the naysayers change my mindset for success. I remained steadfast in my purpose and zeroed in on my why.

With this in mind, what do YOU want to do with your life? Who do you want to be? What goals do you want to achieve? What legacy do you want to leave behind?

Do you want financial freedom?

Whether you are a mom trying to balance an impossibly tight budget, a stressed-out executive daydreaming about a better life, or just someone who has “settled” for what you have, have you put your dreams on hold? Do you yearn for something more? Something different?

Well, stop making excuses. It’s time to push yourself to the next level!

Life is a never-ending workshop, and when you stop learning, you stop living. Yes, you will make mistakes, but that’s how you learn. The important thing is to take action.

Put yourself in a position where you have to do something beyond what you think you can do. Make yourself just a little uncomfortable.

Sure, it’s scary. And you will have to fight the negativity out there—not only from your own self-doubt, but from all the people who will tell you your dreams are impossible (especially friends and family, who are either jealous or trying to protect you from making mistakes and getting hurt).

But this is how you break out of a rut, build confidence and get the skills and financial education you need to make positive changes happen. This ties in perfectly to my Be-Do-Have philosophy of chasing and achieving your dreams.

Who knows? You just may surprise yourself at what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it!

Source: http://www.richdad.com/Resources/Rich-Dad-Financial-Education-Blog/May-2018/Who-Do-You-Want-to-Be-When-You-Grow-Up.aspx

How the value of the pound affects you

In this video The Telegraph looks at how the fluctuating value of the pound affects people in their daily lives. It covers everything from the impact on imported food and cars to how UK pensions paid to expats overseas will be affected.

Ideas That Could Help You Reduce Life’s Expenses

Ideas That Could Help You Reduce Life’s Expenses

Life can be expensive at times. Whether you’re a frugal person or not, you most likely spend a lot of money every year on rent (or mortgage payments), utilities, food, gas, clothes, taxes, insurance, and a wide range of other essentials that are either necessary for your wellbeing or imposed by the government. These are necessary costs, but you can reduce the amount you spend on many of those necessities. The answer isn’t to simply stop treating yourself to luxury things; you can save money in that regard too. You just need to organise your finances. Here are some ideas that could help you to reduce the many expenses that life hurls at you.

Spend less on necessities.

One of the best ways to save money in life is to take a look at the necessities in your life and see where you can alter your budget. You obviously need to set aside enough money for the weekly food shop, but you might not need to spend as much as you currently do. You could search online for deals and discount codes that can be used at certain supermarkets. As for your energy bill, you could reduce that by unplugging any electronic device that’s not being used and even getting thicker glazing for your windows. You don’t have to sacrifice some necessities in order to save money; you just need to think of smarter ways to get the things you need.

Do some research before you make those big purchases.

Of course, everybody faces big costs in life. A new house, a new car, a college education, and other costly things are all essential aspects of life in the modern world. These are unavoidable things for the majority of people. Whatever your lifestyle, you’ll probably be faced with at least one such “big purchase” at some point in your life. It’s important that you, at the very least, do your research so as to save as much money as possible on those massive costs.

For example, you should always haggle when you’re house-hunting; never accept the asking price because most sellers will gladly accept something lower. The initial price is just a starting point. As for buying a new car, you should do some research on used car finance to see if you could get cashback or other deals on your purchase. Referring back to the first point, you can save money on necessities. A car might be essential for your travel, but there are cost-effective ways to go about buying one.

Put your money out of reach to cut back on non-essential expenses.

One of the best ways to reduce your expenses is to resist temptation. And if you put some of your money out of your reach then you’ll have less disposable cash to spend on things. You’ll still be able to treat yourself to meals out or nice clothes, but you won’t be able to splurge as excessively as you could if you kept all your money in your main account. That’s why you should regularly transfer money to another account. If you set up an automatic standing order that sends a portion of your income to your savings account every payday then you won’t have to worry about accidentally dipping into your excess cash. It’ll be out of reach. It’s a good way to teach yourself to be more fiscally responsible and reduce your luxury expenses.

Source: https://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/ideas-that-could-help-you-reduce-lifes-expenses/

Success at School vs Success in Life

Do you feel like the education system let you down? Maybe you feel like it's letting your children down?

Why is it that so many people who do so well at school, do so poorly in the real world?