Simple Secrets to Becoming a Saving Whiz E-Book

Gina Zakaria

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 233

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Discover the power of simplicity in the quest for financial empowerment In Simple Secrets to Becoming a Saving Whiz: Stop Feeling Overwhelmed, Take Control of Your Money, and Create the Lifestyle You Want, veteran financial educator Gina Zakaria delivers a compelling discussion of leveraging simplicity to approach personal finance. You'll learn to create momentum and foster financial empowerment as you reach successive, intentional milestones that build your sense of progress and accomplishment. The author shares her own personal debt story and how she accumulated over $105,000 in credit card debt through tiny, seemingly insignificant, actions. She also demonstrates how equally small steps--when taken intentionally--can help you climb your way out of debt and into a place of financial security. You'll also find: * Strategies for breaking down your goals into subgoals that can be easily accomplished * Grocery budgeting tips, along with simple shopping strategies, home systems, and effective routines for saving money with food and meal prep * Methods for understanding the basics of bills, bill saving strategies, and debt savings using the author's popular "3A Method" An essential and effective resource for anyone interested in improving their financial outlook, Simple Secrets to Becoming a Saving Whiz is perfect for everyone who hopes to save more money, budget better, and make real, measurable changes to their personal financial habits.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I: Unlearn

Chapter 1: Big Goals Don't Budge

Fully Committing to the Big Goal Mindset

Shifting the Perspective to Achieve the Goal

Recognizing the Limitations of Big Goals

Redefining Big Goals and Putting Them in Their Proper Place

Chapter 2: The Magic Power of Small Steps

Divide and Conquer

Mastering a Budget

Small Builds Momentum

The Domino Theory

Chapter 3: A Spoonful of Consistency and a Dash of Patience

Fast Often Fails

Time Is Essential

A Powerful Duo

Zoomed‐in Pictures Lie

The Philosophy of Time

It All Works Together

Ditch the Timelines

Part II: Assess and Address

Chapter 4: You've Done This Before, Now Do It with Intention

Your Intentionality Matters

The Proof Is in the Stitching

Creating Your Simple Step Plan

The Smaller, the Better

Compounding Your Steps

Chapter 5: Your Steps Matter

What I Learned in Sixty Seconds

Each Step Is Essential

The Simplicity of Small Steps

What Simplicity Can Do to Your Wealth

Choosing the Easier Way

Small Steps You Can Start Now

Using Simple Steps for a Major Purchase

Chapter 6: The Simple Reboot

Establishing a Positive Routine

Recognizing When the System Needs to Change

Why a Reboot Is Better Than a Complete Redo

Rebooting the Reboot

The Financial Reboot

Understanding the 3A Framework

Putting the 3A Framework into Action

Takeaways

Chapter 7: No Such Thing as Too Basic

How Going Basic Benefits You

Understanding What Influences You

The Health of Your Finances Starts with Your Happiness

How Basics Transformed My Finances

Are You the Fisherman or the Businessman?

Part III: Grocery Savings

Chapter 8: From Spendthrift to Savvy Shopper

Beginning to Budget

Using Cash Envelopes Is a Game Changer

Choosing Private Label Brands

Taking Advantage of Store Coupons and Weekly Deals

Turning Saving into a Sustainable Practice

Becoming Savvier

Savvy Spending Means Savvy Saving

Chapter 9: Get More and Pay Less

Know What a Tomato Is Really Worth

Learning and Changing

My Grocery Coach

How to Create a Routine That Saves Money

Pennies Become Dollars

Chapter 10: Creating a Savings Ecosystem

Setting Your Kitchen Up for Success

Creating a Routine That Serves Your System

Part IV: Bill Savings

Chapter 11: Bill Breakdown: Getting to Know Your Bills

Understand the Three Types of Bills

Create Competition for Your Business

Avoid Payment Autopilot

Bundle Your Services

What Deserves Your Money?

You Can Even Reduce Your Utilities Payment

Reducing Your Debt

Utilize Balance Transfer Promotions

Chapter 12: The Benefits of a Bill Routine

Why Is a Routine Important?

The Benefits of Creating an Intentional Bill Routine

Each Step Matters

As Easy as 1‐2‐3

Simplicity Provides Ease

Chapter 13: Saving Money on Your Debt Payments

The Circle of Influence

Improve Your Credit

Negotiate Your Interest Rates

Hardship Relief Programs

Creating a Debt Payoff Game Plan

Recap of the Game Plan

Part V: Budget Better

Chapter 14: Where to Aim Your Focus

Create Your Budget That Prioritizes

You

Focus on Increasing Your Income‐producing Assets

Investing in an Income‐producing Property

How and When to Automate

Chapter 15: Budgeting Like You Mean It

Learn to Love Your Budget

Prioritize You and Your Goals

Be Intentional with Savings Plans

Monitor Your Expenses

Be Picky

Be Flexible

Follow a Proven Framework

Chapter 16: Let Simplicity Do the Heavy Lifting for You

Complex Financial Solutions Can Cost You Money

Walk, Don't Run, to Your Financial Goals

How Simplicity Empowers You

Secrets to Becoming a Saving Whiz, Unlocked

About the Author

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 7

Table 7.1 Generational Debt in the Year 2020

List of Illustrations

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1

Chapter 9

Figure 9.1

Chapter 12

Figure 12.1

Figure 12.2

Guide

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

About the Author

Index

WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

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Simple Secrets to Becoming a Saving Whiz

Stop Feeling Overwhelmed, Take Control of Your Money, and Create the Lifestyle You Want

Gina Zakaria

Copyright © 2024 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 750‐4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.

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ISBN 9781394195831 (ePDF)

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Author Photo: Courtesy of the Author

Baba (Dad)—with all my heart, this one's for you.

Acknowledgments

This book was only made possible because of a wonderful village of people who provided the space, guidance, support, and love to make it happen. I am so thankful to God for blessing me with this incredible opportunity to serve others in such an impactful way.

To my darling husband, Ashraf, your love and support knows no bounds. Thank you for your unwavering belief in me, for all the roles you assumed, to give me more time to write, and for the countless pep talks you gave me.

To my daughters, Sarah and Ashley, thank you for being my sounding board when I needed to think out loud, for being my cheerleaders every step of the way, and for being the true catalysts for fixing my financial life. Sarah, thank you for pushing me to start a blog. Your push led me to ultimately write this book, a childhood dream I never imagined coming true. Ashley, thank you for reminding me to take breaks when I was zoned in for hours.

To my mom, who always saw more in me than I could see in myself, whose prayers, patience, and love made all this possible. Your words and teachings will forever live in my heart and in this book.

To my Wiley team, you are the real MVPs. To Sally, who reached out and spoke life into my dream, thank you for believing in me. To Deborah and Kevin, thanks for your support during this entire process. To Kelly, a heartfelt thank‐you for the loving care you put into this book, I couldn't have done this without your direction, guidance, and constant uplifting support.

To my friend, Dr. Brad Klontz, thank you for generously sharing your expertise, providing your guidance, and most of all for your friendship, which gave me the confidence and courage to write this book.

And finally, to you, the reader. Thank you, friend. Without you, this book wouldn't have been possible. Thank you for putting your faith in me and allowing me into your world by reading this book. I hope that it helps you make positive changes with your money and empowers you to keep moving forward.

Introduction

Fixing your finances can feel overwhelming and stressful. And if you've ever attempted to fix your finances on your own, you may have come across terms or concepts that added more confusion. Since money is a universal concept, it's important that it's universally understood. This book intends to simplify your money journey by breaking down the complicated concepts into easy‐to‐understand nuggets of knowledge so you can confidently take steps forward and make progress.

There are five major parts to this book. The first two parts (“Unlearn” and “Assess and Address”) aim to help you recognize where you are, how you got there, and what to do to move forward with your finances. The last three parts (“Grocery Savings,” “Bill Savings,” and “Budget Better”) offer practical approaches that help you sidestep common pitfalls and methods that can help you reach your financial goals with more ease. Each part has chapters that are intended to provide a deeper understanding of the overarching theme of that part.

It's important to mention a few things that make this book a bit different from your average personal finance book. First and foremost, while I do have a background in finance, I wrote this book from the point of view of an ordinary mom who wanted to fix her finances without sacrificing her lifestyle in the process. This book is very much a conversation from one friend to another about all the freedom that was discovered in keeping things simple. So you won't find me teaching you accounting techniques or financial formulas that require charts and spreadsheets to learn. Instead, I show you financial concepts and approaches that make your financial journey just a little bit easier and a lot less overwhelming.

Second, your personal finance journey is personal. This book is not meant to encompass every possible scenario or rare situations that require certain actions to be resolved but instead focuses on teaching thought‐provoking principles that aim to shift your perspective and help transform your mindset over time. Whether you are a single mom with a high school diploma or a high‐income singleton with a PhD, the principles and approaches highlighted in this book provide structure with the freedom to adapt the methods in a way that supports your personal money goals.

Third, this book is for educational purposes and is not to be taken as financial advice. Its intended purpose is to foster new perspective, shift your mindset, help you build healthier financial habits, and empower you to take charge of your financial health and life.

Are you ready to begin your journey to an easier, simpler life of financial freedom? Great! Let's get started.

Part IUnlearn

Chapter 1Big Goals Don't Budge

One message was crystal clear when I was a kid: big always meant better. I was always told to think big, dream big, and do big things. I didn't realize it at the time, but every interaction I had growing up pointed to the same underlying message: Success starts with a plan. A big plan. After all, big means better, doesn't it?

By the time I was in junior high school, I was expected to make big decisions too, like planning my future career path. And one night, as my mom and I were watching TV, I decided to share my big plan. I told her that I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up. You see, being raised in an Egyptian home meant that there were essentially three acceptable career options to choose from: lawyer, doctor, or engineer. And to my excitement, my career choice landed right inside the parameters of what was acceptable. I'll never forget my mom's response when I shared my plan with her. It wasn't necessarily what she said that stuck with me as much as the message that the words carried. She said lovingly, “You'll be more than a lawyer; one day, you'll be a judge.”

I'm certain that those words were meant to give me confidence and show my mom's support, more than anything. And while her words were motivating, it was the underlying message that subtly made its way into shaping my mindset. That day, I realized that my goals and plans were not big enough. They needed to be bigger. A goal had to feel scary for it to be worthwhile.

Fast‐forward to college graduation; I earned a Bachelor of Science in business and never became a judge or even a lawyer for that matter. Along the way, I realized that the law field wasn't for me, but somehow, a part of me felt like I took the easy way out. Even though I graduated with honors in a field I loved, it still felt like I failed because a Bachelor of Science degree had nowhere near the prestige of a Juris Doctorate. My accomplishment didn't feel big enough. I shake my head as I think of this moment now, but back then, that “fail” shook my confidence.

I continued to carry the “big goal” mentality into adulthood until I found myself as an all‐or‐nothing type of doer. It affected every part of my life. I either cleaned the entire house from top to bottom, reorganizing every drawer and closet, or left the dishes in the sink and my socks on the floor for days.

Inevitably, this mindset made its way into my financial life as well. With every major money goal I created, failure would be lurking around the corner, just waiting for me. And with every failure came another big swing to knock down my self‐confidence. My big goals began to feel more like a burden and less like the admirable ambition I once thought they were, until they eventually became a stumbling block that stopped me from getting ahead.

But things really came to a head when my husband and I had just purchased our first house and almost immediately decided to renovate it because how else would we make this house “our home”? We were big fans of home renovation shows at the time and believed that for our space to feel like us, we had to knock down walls, paint every corner, and buy new pieces to decorate the space. So we did just that and found ourselves in a whopping $106,000 of high‐interest debt in a matter of months!

Fully Committing to the Big Goal Mindset

Feeling overwhelmed, I settled deeper into my comfort zone mindset and put my “big goals” cap on. Surely, I thought, this time would be different, and I had so many reasons to believe it would be. At this point, I was older, wiser, and had more drive to make it work. I convinced myself that it wasn't the “big goal” mindset that was the problem, but that I just had not been disciplined enough to make it work before. But now I was determined to get out of debt, so I decided to commit to sticking to the plan, and we'd become debt free in no time.

The big goal I created seemed to be quite simple, at least on the surface. Our goal was to pay off our debt by halting all our spending except to pay bills and necessities. My logic was that this would create a ton of savings, and all those savings would go toward paying off our debt. Sounds straightforward, right? What could possibly go wrong?

So my husband and I tried this plan out for a few months. But every month, without missing a beat, we'd fail. And you'd think that this would be a sign for me to reassess, but nope! In my stubborn determination to succeed this time, I kept trying again and again. I'd restart each month the same way, convinced that this month I would be more disciplined and focused to make it work. After all, I was certain that the problem was not in my goal but rather in my lack of discipline.

This went on for months until one morning, I was on the very edge of losing all my patience. That morning, I was up at 4:30 a.m. and started my 45‐minute commute to work before the sun came out. As I was driving, I felt frustrated and resentful. Here I am driving to work, already in a bad mood and on payday for that matter! My frustration came from the utter exhaustion I'd felt up until this point. Every extra dollar from our paychecks was going toward our debt payments, yet it felt like we were progressing at a snail's pace. Every dollar that paid debt should have felt motivating, but instead it felt depleting. Looking at our total debt, it seemed like we were not making much progress, even though we were sacrificing so much and gave ourselves no room for any fun. No takeout, no outings, no breaks. It was exhausting and draining, and it wasn't realistic for us to continue carrying on this way. There was no way we could sustain this plan long term, and I was ready to give up. But in that moment of frustration and hopelessness, I had a moment of clarity. “This plan sucks,” I thought. “It's not me who's failing the plan; the plan is failing me!”

Shifting the Perspective to Achieve the Goal

My plan had failed, and I was frustrated. Why was my big goal so hard to accomplish? Why did big goals continue to stunt my progress? From where I was standing, it seemed like everyone else had the ability to reach their big goals. So what did they know that I didn't? As I dug deeper trying to find answers, I discovered a major flaw in big goals that changed my perspective.

If your eyes are solely on the big goal, it will always feel like you're not making progress. Imagine you're on a road trip and you need to travel past some mountains in the distance. If you focus your gaze on the mountains, no matter how much you drive, they still seem far away, and you have the illusion that you're not moving toward them.

But if you keep your foot on the gas and focus on the road in front of you instead of the mountains, you'll start to keep track of every mile driven, noticing your progress when you've driven five miles, then ten, and then fifty. Then, when you periodically take your eyes off the road and look back up at the mountains, you'll realize how much closer you are. Those miles seem like small steps when you're driving, yet they make all the difference in your journey to reach the mountains.

That's what I had been missing all along. I had been focusing on the mountains instead of the miles. After years of being conditioned to keep my eye on my big goals, I had to first shift my perspective to focus on the true driver of success, which is the steps along the way. This shift was the key factor that would eventually change my mindset and my approach.

Recognizing the Limitations of Big Goals

With so many success stories we see on social media, publications, and the news, we're inadvertently led to believe that big goals are the standalone plan to achieve great accomplishments. That's not the way success works, for anyone. Sure, creating big goals reflects ambition, drive, and the belief that you can make them happen. But are we creating big goals merely to feel good about having them or to accomplish the positive changes we want to make?

The reality is that big goals don't conform to practicality. If you don't have practical and realistic steps, then every failure feels extremely personal. You begin to question your ability to follow through, and you'll lose confidence in yourself. Even though on the surface they seem harmless, they're almost always accompanied by feelings of being stressed, overwhelmed, stuck. Big goals don't motivate; they intimidate.

This is especially true for big goals set in our financial life. Success requires progress, and progress requires focusing on the small steps that push you forward. When we solely focus on big goals without breaking them down into action steps, we often feel stuck and overwhelmed by the sheer size of them.

Feeling overwhelmed is a direct result of trying to do too much too fast. We lose momentum when we try to take big leaps. Instead, we need to focus on small steps to create the rhythm of progress that we seek.

Think of it this way: If you're currently living paycheck to paycheck, would it be reasonable to expect you to pay off all your debt, save six months' worth of living expenses just because you made it a goal? How about building wealth? Can you realistically build your wealth at a time when you're currently staring at the last seven dollars and fifty‐six cents available in your checking account? The idea that somehow creating big goals results in achieving them, as if through some type of osmosis, is silly. Big goals are simply not enough to foster big change, at least not on their own.

Redefining Big Goals and Putting Them in Their Proper Place

Big goals are not the end‐all, be‐all of the planning process for our finances. This isn't to say that big goals are inherently wrong and that you should ditch them altogether. But they don't lead you to success on their own. To achieve a big goal, you need to focus on the steps and structure needed to make progress. For big goals to work correctly in driving us to success, they need to be redefined.

The irony that small steps take you further than big goals is not lost on me. Small steps seem to be the underdogs of financial planning, and for that reason, they're often overlooked. Yet the power that they hold is much greater in pushing you forward in your financial progress. Once you give them their true position in your plan, you'll discover just how much impact they create. Small steps are overachievers in every sense of the word. They take that great big overwhelming goal, break it down to a structured road map that you can easily follow, and help you go from zero to hero with your finances, without taking drastic measures that disrupt your life. They are exactly what you need if you want to achieve your financial goals in a way that is sustainable. And arguably the best part of small steps is that they do all their work quietly, without much chaos or commotion, and without being loud and pretentious, like their counterparts tend to be. People around you probably won't even notice them working, but you'll soon recognize how they begin to radically transform your financial life and, with that, your mindset too.

Chapter 2The Magic Power of Small Steps

I'm a checklist‐type of person. My checklists keep me organized, hold me accountable, and remind me of all the things I want to complete. Checklists also help me transfer my thoughts into action steps. But I often find that I ignore the hard tasks and instead scan my list for the easiest tasks to do first. By the time I finish the easy tasks, I've almost completely depleted my energy, and the bigger items move to the following day's list. Sadly, there are times when I don't get to the bigger items for a week or more, and when I do finally start to work on them, I've built up so much anxiety toward the tasks that they feel ten times harder to complete.