Episode 1040: Asking the Right Question about Your Money

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1040 of the inspired stewardship podcast,

[00:00:07] Branch Isole: my brain Solei, and I challenge you today to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence by using your time, talent, and treasure to serve your calling. One way to do that is to listen to Scott Mader and his podcast inspired stewards.

[00:00:29] Scott Maderer: what do you want next January to look like when it comes to your money? What are you doing different this year? These are the kinds of questions that you need to ask yourself repeatedly to be able to get in tune with the real reason. That you're trying to go somewhere with your money so that you can change your financial future.

[00:00:53] Welcome, and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly [00:01:00] desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true. And the inspired stewardship podcast go learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:19] And today's episode about investing in yourself through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about why we often don't ask ourselves the right or any questions about our money. I share several of the best questions you can ask to get yourself better with your money. And I also share why you may need to ask these questions repeatedly to really get the right answer.

[00:01:44] As we talk about stewarding your treasures. Wouldn't it be great. If you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime, it turns out you can. All you have to do is use inspired [00:02:00] stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small commission, we'll come back to support the show.

[00:02:06] If you enjoy the show, when you're ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship.com/. On Tuesday, I talked about asking better questions about your productivity and the truth is there's also questions that we need to ask ourselves about our money too. Your money is one of those things that affects every component of your life, whether you want it to or not.

[00:02:32] It is the tool that you use to provide shelter, food. Medical care and everything else. It's not your security. And it's not the most important thing, but it is a measure that you need to use to get other things that create what you want. It helps you get freedom. It helps you get security. It helps you get other things.

[00:02:55] It isn't those things, but it helps you get [00:03:00] those things in your world, in your life. And the interesting thing is for being so important. It's something that most of us spend very little time actually focusing on. And so I think it's important as you begin the new year to begin to ask yourself some questions about your money.

[00:03:23] Is it that's been going on with your money this year? What is it that happened last year? And what is it that you want to have happen this year? So ask yourself these questions. Number one is what I'm doing today. Helping me get closer to. To financial freedom, to my goal of financial freedom. Assuming that is a goal that you want.

[00:03:47] And for most people, when I talk to them, it is a goal that they want. You need to actually define what that looks like. What does that mean? What is financial freedom for you? Because the interesting thing is a lot [00:04:00] of us use that word, but a lot of us mean different things. And then look at the actions that you took last year.

[00:04:07] Look at the actions that you have planned is what you've been doing, getting you towards that goal is your money being spent on the things that truly matter. That's the second question. And by the way to answer that question, you need to know for you, what is it that really matters? What are the things that are non-negotiables?

[00:04:29] What are the money things that you won't give up? What are the things that really are your values and your priorities, and then examine your money and look to see, is it aligned with those things to help you do that? You can ask yourself what was the last thing that you spent money on that you regretted and what was the last thing that you spent money on that you loved begin to look at?

[00:04:56] The things that actually cause you regret and [00:05:00] cause you positive emotion. And by the way, when I say love, I'm not talking just in the short term of I loved it when I went to the movies last week. But what are the things that cause deep and lasting change in your life and ask yourself, what's holding you back from taking actions.

[00:05:19] What's standing in your way of achieving what you want with your. Is it income. Do you need to focus on income? Is it expenses and spending? Do you need to focus on that? Is it debt? What is it that's holding you back? Is it your own mindset and beliefs? Is it needing accountability? What's holding you back from taking action.

[00:05:43] Ask yourself what would my budget look like if I didn't have. Fill in the blank. What would it look like if I didn't have these debt payments, what would it look like? If I didn't spend money on cable, what would it look like? If I didn't spend money on [00:06:00] rent, but purchased a house, what would it look like if my income doubled or if my income went in half drinking them a little bit and think about what would happen if you have extra cash flow or if you have less cash.

[00:06:15] Ask yourself. Who are you listening to when it comes to money? Are you listening to the right people? Are you getting advice from your broke brother-in-law are you getting advice from people that have actually achieved success with money and as a followup to that, how are you improving your financial education?

[00:06:36] How are you learning more about what you're doing with. Are you reading? Are you listening to podcast? Are you watching YouTube videos and who is producing those things begin to calculate what your actual income is or your true hourly wage? Because if you think about how much it costs you in [00:07:00] time to make a certain amount of money, it begins to change your money spending decisions.

[00:07:05] If you think about that new. That new iPhone is going to be this many hours of work, then you can decide, is it worth that amount of time? It's a way of actually tuning in to the emotional feelings behind those costs. And is there something you can do to increase your hourly wage or to increase your income?

[00:07:30] Is there things you can do to make that hire. Now, a lot of people are working from home and they've discovered that buying back that commute time has actually caused them to effectively make more money per hour because that commute time was an unpaid cost of time. Think about these things too.

[00:07:52] If you died today, would your family be okay? Would your family be provided for, and if not, [00:08:00] what is it that you need to do to begin to make that. If you have children, think about the example you're setting for them. And are you educating them on money? The number of people that I have that tell me, I wish my parents would have taught me more about money is astronomical.

[00:08:15] So are you teaching your kids more about money and then similarly, where do you want to be one year from now? If you're doing this in January, when this episode is released, what do you want next January to look like when it comes to your. What are you doing different this year? These are the kinds of questions that you need to ask yourself repeatedly to be able to get in tune with the real reasons that you're trying to go somewhere with your money, so that you can change your financial future.

[00:08:51] Thanks for listening.

[00:08:52] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge [00:09:00] you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of treasure. You can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship.com/treasures or text in the U S 4 4 2 2 2 treasures tips.

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