Creating Abundance at Any Income (with Ann Neal)
Just in time for the holidays – we are learning how to create ABUNDANCE in our own lives!
Ann Neal joined us this November for a Pledgettes webinar, Creating Abundance at Any Income.
Pledgettes members can watch the replay HERE. (Not a member? Join for $18/month and get access too ALL our webinars-on-demand!)
Ann’s presentation was all about developing systems, processes and habits around creating that feeling of abundance – no matter how much money you make. Because, when you can feel abundance in your life – you attract more of it.
For those of us living paycheck to paycheck, it can be east to get stuck in the mindset of “we have no money for ourselves.” And then that becomes our mindset and thus our reality.
So how do you break the cycle?
When we get paid – we set aside money for bills, savings, emergency funds and more. But, Ann suggests that to truly feel the power of abundance – we should also be putting an amount of money aside for it each paycheck and commit to using that money by the end of the month.
This “Abundance Budget” can be for anything that feels special or important to you.
But ear-marking a percentage of our income for abundance, it removes all guilt from spending it on yourself. And by requiring that you spend it by the end of the month – you keep that abundance flowing, feeling good and manifesting MORE of it.
“When 5% of your paycheck goes to abundance – you feel like you are acting like a rich person. No matter how much you make” – Ann
Of course, if 5% doesn’t work for you – you can scale up or down for what makes sense with your finances.
The important thing is that you are setting aside money to spend on YOURSELF.
Want to work through some numbers on your own? Here’s how Ann took us through the exercise:
PRE-WORK:
1 – Determined our Average Monthly Income
2 – Determined our Average Monthly Spending
3 – The percentage of expenses to income was our Living Bucket.
DEFINING OUR BUCKETS:
1 – Living Bucket (aim for under 75%). Those are our monthly expenses.
2 – Wealth-Building (aim for 10%). This is long-term retirement.
3 – Fun & Fixing (aim for 10%). These are short-term goals and savings.
4 – Abundance (aim for 5%). This is a monthly amount of money that must be spent on yourself to try something new or novel. If you have not yet used it by the end of the month, donate it.
If money is tight, start with 1% in your abundance fund and keep working on your income and buckets to get it to where you want to be.
These are the types of account that Ann recommends:
– Living Bucket goes in a Personal Checking Account
– Wealth Building can get automated to your 401(k), IRA, Brokerage Account, or Extra Debt Payments on a mortgage, small business loan.
– Fun & Fixing goes into an HYSA (High Yield Savings Account).
– Abundance goes in a separate HYSA.
Like other conversations we have had within our community, Ann recommends reviewing your spending trends from the last three months.
1 – Print your last three statements
2 – Total & Divide by 3 for your average monthly money
3 – Highlight Spending in three buckets: Imperative (required for your health), Important (but you could live without it if needed), Nice-To-Have (not necessary).
4 – Total the Sub-Categories to get your averages in each category.
5 – If your spending (aka Living Bucket) is over 75%, cut out the Nice-To-Haves. If you still can’t get under 75%, cut into the important. Remember that these cuts can be short-term as you build your income or make more changes to your spending.
No matter what your income is, month after month, commit to the recommended 75%, 10%, 10%, 5% buckets or the percentages you have decided will work for you.
Want to work with Ann? Check her out at: https://www.annnealinc.com/
Interested in becoming a Pledgettes so you can watch this webinar and 80+ more for free? Check us out.
