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We’ve all got a lot of worries on our minds right now thanks to COVID and I’m willing to bet money is one that has been popping up over and over for many of us. Whether we’re working fewer hours or lost work, the question of financially getting through the next several months and beyond is on everyone’s mind. That is why I brought Certified Financial Education Instructor and founder of Financial Sharktress, Galit Tsadik, on The Stress Less Show this week to share her expertise on how we might start to tackle our financial situation right now.
Galit’s personal journey as the Financial Sharktress began after her own experiences growing up in an abusive household. After watching money be used as a source of control over her mother, Galit began to empower herself as she got older when it came to money and finances.
“I vowed for myself never to allow money to be the reason that I stay in a toxic environment... and it just evolved into wanting to do this for everyone. I don't want anyone to be stuck in that kind of environment.”
With this drive and a love for the ocean, she became the Financial Sharktress - taking a cue from the streamlined elegance of sharks after facing her fears and jumping in a shark cage. Now she is helping countless people face their money fears and take charge of their finances (and changing their shark fears along the way!) so that they can find financial freedom.
Read on for a couple of great starting points from Galit to begin facing your pandemic financial fears!
Tip #1: Face your numbers
Many of us are facing major challenges such as job loss or reduced hours and naturally, that can cause a huge amount of fear and stress around our finances, our futures, and our safety. All of that fear can leave us feeling afraid to even address the question of our financial situation.
However, much like Galit faced her fears in the shark cage, her first tip which she shares with all her clients is to face your fears in your bank account. Often, Galit mentions, we’ll find that those scary numbers we have in our head aren’t as bad as we thought.
“We build it up to be a much bigger problem than it is in actuality.”
The reality is that our fears will often distort our reality into the worse possible scenario. Understanding where we really are financially at this time is the biggest step to take in order to survive this pandemic.
While it may not feel great and the real picture may still be a little scary, the knowledge alone is a powerful tool to let go of some of the financial stress we are feeling which is crucial to making the right decisions.
“if it's just the unknown, you can't do anything about it.”
Tip #2: Use your money with intention
Once we are clear where we stand financially, the next step Galit stresses is to bring intention to the way we are using our money. For many of us, we can often let our emotions drive our spending habits.
Especially now during a pandemic where so many tumultuous changes are happening every day, it can be easy to let fear, stress, and worry control our wallet. Galit suggests that as we sit down with our numbers and understand our financial situation, we also start to ask ourselves more pointed questions about how we are spending our money and why we are.
With many of us spending more time in front of our computer, online retail therapy can creep into our budget pretty quickly. However, understanding the larger emotions behind our money habits is key to avoiding making reactive and impulsive decisions with our money.
“You're trying to fill a hole and it's and it'll never get filled with money [or] stuff. You have to actually delve into what is going on and fix that problem rather than use retail therapy to mask it.”
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