“Let’s Talk Money with Dave and Reb” tackles the subject of “Budget Busters” on today’s podcast. After talking with their financial coaching team, Dave and Reb gathered a number of budget busters that can derail our financial journeys, like lack of planning, not sticking to a plan, and “unexpected” spending without an emergency cushion.
“After talking with our financial coaches, I am amazed at how many issues they shared that can derail personal finances,” Reb says. “One of the biggest ones we hear about, again and again, is the lack of planning and tracking of monthly spending.”
Other issues include:
- loss of salary without adapting regular spending habits to the new salary
- cost of living increases
- spending pressure from social media and marketing
- wanting what our neighbour has, and getting it
- appliances breaking down with no emergency cushion to fall back on
- spontaneous spending on both small and large ticket items
- house renovations that are more costly than anticipated
- hospitality
- vacation spending
- expensive cell phone bills
- back to school fees, clothes, uniforms, and sports fees
- Christmas spending
- lack of preparation and unwillingness to wait
So many of the items listed here have to do with planning and preparation, and sticking to the plan. For David it all comes back to “plan what you spend, and spend what you plan.”
One other area critical to planning and spending is inviting God into our financial journeys. What Dave and Reb have discovered is that many people don’t talk to God about their financial challenges or struggles.
“This is a key factor in spending plans because God wants to give us His wisdom so we don’t get derailed by opportunities that we haven’t planned for,” Dave says. “God wants us to invite Him into every area of our lives and that includes finances!”
Listen to today’s show to find out what might be your budget busters, or spending plan triggers. Today’s show is sponsored by Financial Discipleship Canada and notmine.ca: a place to find resources and conversation about serving and loving God with our finances. To learn more about financial discipleship go to notmine.ca. To learn more about financial fitness seminars and financial accountability, call More Than Enough Financial at 613-520-4157.