10 Things you should know about your Finances

Talking about finances is one of the topics I am learning to be more comfortable doing. Our finances play a major role in enabling us to live the amazing lives we want. Yet, many of us shy away from talking about our accomplishments and challenges regarding money.  
 
In this post, we will explore the ten things we should all know about our money to thrive financially. Check out my other "Her Finances" posts for more financial tips and resources.
 
#1: Do you have a good relationship with money?
Our background and experiences influence our relationship with money in life. Until a few years ago, I never thought that we all have a relationship with money that goes back to our childhood. I took time to reflect on my first lessons about money and how they influenced my view as a grown-up. I now know that fear was one of the feelings that hindered my financial growth. Learning and talking about  
 
Resources

• Your relationship with money

 
#2: Are your finances healthy? 
We can thing about our finances as an area of our lives that can be healthy or unhealthy. If you are living above your means, in debt, and unaware of your financial status, your finances are not whole. It is crucial to overcome your fear and know your financial status. I have learned that ignoring financial challenges makes it worse. Checking in on our finances often will help you set a great foundation to grow your finances.
 
Resources

• Achieving financial wellbeing
• 10 Things to do for your financial wellbeing

 
#3: What is on your financial vision board?
Dreaming about our financial future inspired us to continue working towards our goals. I was always impressed when I heard people talk about their vision boards and what they wanted to have in life. About three years ago, I built my first vision board that included my financial dreams. For someone like me who likes to have concrete plans, dreaming of the future took a lot of effort to dream of the future. I now enjoy adding things to my financial vision board.
 
Resources

• Things to put on your financial vision board

 
#4: Do you know the areas of your finances where you need to do better?
Learning from our mistakes and making better financial decisions is a part of adulting. The most crucial part is identifying where we need to make changes to improve our financial status. In my early years living in Germany, I had no funds saved in an emergency fund. One lesson I learned was that saving money needed to be something I did monthly to get the discipline I needed. My latest financial lesson has been about growing my finances by building multiple income sources.
 
Resources

• Five hard lessons I learned about money
• My experience making difficult financial decisions

 
 
#5: What good money habits and actions will help you accomplish your financial goals?
Implementing the learnings that we gathered to achieve our financial goals is a necessary step for us to take. This is a good time to take stock of your good practices. I have found that good money habits such as saving, budgeting, and investing have helped me achieve financial independence.
 
Resources

• Good money habits 
• What I'm doing differently with my money

 
#6: Are you learning about how to grow your finances?
The first step to achieving financial independence is to set a solid foundation by knowing your status, paying debt, living within your means, and saving. The next step is to explore how you can grow your finances and develop wealth. The strategy that I started learning about a few years ago was investing. I am honestly still learning about how to grow my wealth.
 
Resources

• How to grow your savings

 
#7: Do you plan your expenses and income?
Knowing how much you bring in and where your money goes monthly is crucial to building a solid financial foundation. I hear from people that budgeting seems complex and that they don't have one. I recommend starting simple by writing down your income and subtracting your expenses from it. You can then subtract what you would need to pay monthly to get out of debt and also how much you want to save. Once you have done that, you will have a solid budget that you can work from.
 
Resources

• Taking charge of your finances
• How I spend my money

 
#8: How are you investing in yourself
Over the years, I have learned that I need to be comfortable investing in myself. Part of my money journey has been giving myself the freedom to spend money on myself. As someone who why hyper-focused on saving my money, I needed to identify what I wanted to spend my money on and do it.
 
Resources

• Five things for yourself that are worth spending money on

 
#9: How are you going to learn about finances?
There are so many great experts out there who know a lot about finances. I take every opportunity I get to soak in financial knowledge from people skilled at growing their money. It's great that we have access to books, podcasts, or even the opportunity to work directly with a financial advisor.
 
Resources

• What Is a Financial Advisor, and What Do They Do?

 
#10: What are your financial goals? 
We need to have financial goals to continue to have healthy finances and grow. I set new financial plans at the start of every year. It helps me focus on continuing to be financially independent and build wealth.
I look forward to learning a lot as I accomplish my goals.
 
Resources

• Six simple steps to start your financial planning 

 
Final Thoughts
Writing blog posts about finances reminds me of how far I have come and how much more there is still to be done on this journey. I want everyone around me to thrive financially and get comfortable talking about money. Let's all build wealth together.