We have all experienced massive changes in our lives because of the pandemic, and it is natural to feel uneasy about finances both personally and professionally. While your finances might feel out of control, you are in the driver’s seat. If you want to thrive coming out of the pandemic, you must make financial literacy a priority, and that starts with how you manage your money. We hope this webinar recording of Owning Your Finances from CPED instructor Ann Martel is a helpful resource to improve your financial literacy.
In the webinar, Ann covered the four legs of personal finance: building income, managing expenses, reducing debt, and managing assets. To learn more about all four categories, we encourage you to watch the full webinar recording. Today, we’ll focus on two of these categories – building income and managing expenses.
Building Income
Building income is the first step to improving your finances, but instead of immediately thinking about moving on to a new role, ask yourself the following:
Is it time to ask for a raise? If you are in a key role or in an industry that is not struggling right now, then it might be time to ask for a raise. Watch the full webinar for tips on how to do this and what you should research first.
Could you generate additional sources of income? If you have the time, this is an option to earn cash quickly. You may be able to find an evening or weekend job. If you have a lot of time on your hands, investigate a part-time job. That’s how Ann started teaching and she loved it so much it changed the course of her career.
Is it time to rethink your role? It’s always the right time to elevate your skill set. What do you enjoy doing? What do you want to learn? Enrolling in a certificate or a program at CPED could boost your resume and inspire the future of your career.
Managing Expenses
Managing expenses can be difficult but avoiding it will hurt you in the long run. You will likely have to be patient as you learn how to do this, and it will take some serious attention on your part. Getting a second job is easy but, in the end, managing personal expenses has a lot to do with your personality, so work on this gradually to get some of your expenses in order.
We know what our big, regular payments are, like our car payments, rent, or mortgage. It’s the smaller, more regular things that trip most people up, like knowing how much you spend each week on coffee, entertainment expenses, groceries, and other routine things. These items are harder to put a price point on when you’re away from the moment. To budget these, you must take a step back and review what you typically do in a week, a month, a quarter, etc. Review these charges on your bank statement and start analyzing what you’re spending regularly. Doing this will help you see where you can cut back.
Another expense most people forget about is subscriptions. It’s easy to get sucked into trying a subscription that starts with a free trial and eventually auto renews, but how much do you really like what you’re subscribing to? What services can you go without? This has been a big pandemic lesson for everyone. Leaving the house less means less gas refills, less out to eat costs, and fewer weekend shopping trips. Lean into those lessons and use them to regain control of your expenses.
For more advice from Ann on refinancing, reducing your debt, and managing your assets, we encourage you to watch the rest of the webinar.
Now that you have the basics of how you can start owning your personal finances, think about how you can strengthen your financial acumen at work by understanding the language of finance. Finance and Accounting for Non-Financial Professionals. will help you make timely, cost-effective decisions and identify appropriate initiatives and projects when you understand what drives costs in your organization.