The Clark Family Financial Game Plan
The Crazy Clark's value and respect the almighty dollar. We have learned to make money our servant and not our master because we understand the importance and power that money has on the quality of life.
With that being said, I wanted to share what has worked for our family when it comes to earning, saving/investing, spending, and sharing. We have reached strong financial security because we have been disciplined, organized, and motivated. Anyone can do it, but it does take a plan.
"A dream without a plan is just a wish!" Make your dreams a reality with a solid game plan!
I hope you can find insight, education, and inspiration that you can apply to your own financial future!
With that being said, I wanted to share what has worked for our family when it comes to earning, saving/investing, spending, and sharing. We have reached strong financial security because we have been disciplined, organized, and motivated. Anyone can do it, but it does take a plan.
"A dream without a plan is just a wish!" Make your dreams a reality with a solid game plan!
I hope you can find insight, education, and inspiration that you can apply to your own financial future!
Earning
My wife and I have always found a variety of ways to earn money. Our main source of earning power has comes from our main careers. We are both in education and our paychecks are consistent, stable, and reliable for 10 months out of the year. By understanding our salary guides, our benefits, and seizing other opportunities while at our schools we have been able to map out and plan around our earnings.
There has always been an eager feeling to create multiple income streams and we have always worked during those 2 unpaid months to continue a positive cash flow. From waiting tables, to creating camps, to continually looking to improve our finances (insurances, cutting cable, and refinancing). We also get the correlation between spending less and earning more as well! Keeping the momentum of earning money has been a pillar in reaching our financial goals and we strongly encourage side hustles to help you achieve your goals. Maximizing our time off and focusing our energy in new opportunities and learning new skills has made all the difference.
We (My wife) has set-up a google doc labeled "Our Checkbook" that we use to track money in and money out. It is our guided plan on everything financial in our life on a day to day basis. We both can see it, interact with it, and use it as a way to both stay connected to our finances. Put a system in place that works for you and that puts you in the best position to stay on track and succeed.
Personal Capital has been our bigger picture tracker since it links all of our accounts and shows us our progress on our goals and financial future.
There has always been an eager feeling to create multiple income streams and we have always worked during those 2 unpaid months to continue a positive cash flow. From waiting tables, to creating camps, to continually looking to improve our finances (insurances, cutting cable, and refinancing). We also get the correlation between spending less and earning more as well! Keeping the momentum of earning money has been a pillar in reaching our financial goals and we strongly encourage side hustles to help you achieve your goals. Maximizing our time off and focusing our energy in new opportunities and learning new skills has made all the difference.
We (My wife) has set-up a google doc labeled "Our Checkbook" that we use to track money in and money out. It is our guided plan on everything financial in our life on a day to day basis. We both can see it, interact with it, and use it as a way to both stay connected to our finances. Put a system in place that works for you and that puts you in the best position to stay on track and succeed.
Personal Capital has been our bigger picture tracker since it links all of our accounts and shows us our progress on our goals and financial future.
Saving
How many times have you heard the phrase, "Pay yourself first?" I remember the first time I learned about it when I bought the Automatic Millionaire at a garage sale and began to read it in 2005. It literally changed my perspective on money and it gave me a feeling that the money I made should be mine first! Why should it belong to someone else?
This is one of the first steps we take when it comes to our month to month finances. The checkbook begins with 2 green highlighted boxes (Savings and Investing/Retirement) and amounts are entered in that make it ours! This is the fun part since it's the second time we get the money, the first being when we get paid. The movement of this money to ours involves automation (amazing technology that enhances this all) and is something we continually revisit to adjust (raises, and additional pass go's of life-I love the game Monopoly).
Overall, you can save more than you think. It just takes you making the decision that you are worthy of your money before anyone else is.
Saving gives you more power in your own life and once you make it a habit you are only going to give yourself more options and control in living the life you want!
This is one of the first steps we take when it comes to our month to month finances. The checkbook begins with 2 green highlighted boxes (Savings and Investing/Retirement) and amounts are entered in that make it ours! This is the fun part since it's the second time we get the money, the first being when we get paid. The movement of this money to ours involves automation (amazing technology that enhances this all) and is something we continually revisit to adjust (raises, and additional pass go's of life-I love the game Monopoly).
Overall, you can save more than you think. It just takes you making the decision that you are worthy of your money before anyone else is.
Saving gives you more power in your own life and once you make it a habit you are only going to give yourself more options and control in living the life you want!
Investing
I hate losing at anything! I believe most people feel the same. I could see how people could associate the fear of losing money with investing and therefore never want to engage in it. What I have learned over time is that investing needs to be done in order to grow your money, just like exercising needs to take care of your body, and learning needs to be done to grow your brain. It needs to be looked at as an essential part of the process.
Investing can be scary when you do it, however it can be even scarier if you don't (inflation). Keeping money under your mattress may bring you comfort, however when that same money overtime is worth less then it might feel like you have been robbed blind! Investing is the only way to control your own destiny.
You also need to understand and respect your own personal relationship with money so you can find a place between conservative and ultra risky where you can find peace. The sooner you learn this and the sooner you start investing the more financial secure you will become.
I look at our investments as our money working on our behalf to make us more back. It's kind of like little ants leaving a colony in search of food and resources. I simply give the directive (somehow I have become the Queen with this analogy) of where to go (real estate, stocks/Etf's/mutual funds, bonds, alternative investments) and I let them do the rest. Some of my advice to them might cause potential harm, result in little to no success, or even reward me greater than I could ever imagine. If I never send them out in the fear of them never returning or with the belief they won't find any food, our colony might not survive (inflation). It is a risk that you can't afford not to take!
It is imperative that you learn and educate yourself, understand your options (I can see how people can feel overwhelmed), and also trust your common sense and intuition.
There are risks and rewards with investing and smart investing means minimizing loss, maximizing gain, and letting the process play out over time to see success. It is also about looking at the big picture and not fixating on one major loss or one major gain. There also needs to be a strong commitment to the process, a strong belief, and an understanding that you will win and you will lose.
Investing can be scary when you do it, however it can be even scarier if you don't (inflation). Keeping money under your mattress may bring you comfort, however when that same money overtime is worth less then it might feel like you have been robbed blind! Investing is the only way to control your own destiny.
You also need to understand and respect your own personal relationship with money so you can find a place between conservative and ultra risky where you can find peace. The sooner you learn this and the sooner you start investing the more financial secure you will become.
I look at our investments as our money working on our behalf to make us more back. It's kind of like little ants leaving a colony in search of food and resources. I simply give the directive (somehow I have become the Queen with this analogy) of where to go (real estate, stocks/Etf's/mutual funds, bonds, alternative investments) and I let them do the rest. Some of my advice to them might cause potential harm, result in little to no success, or even reward me greater than I could ever imagine. If I never send them out in the fear of them never returning or with the belief they won't find any food, our colony might not survive (inflation). It is a risk that you can't afford not to take!
It is imperative that you learn and educate yourself, understand your options (I can see how people can feel overwhelmed), and also trust your common sense and intuition.
There are risks and rewards with investing and smart investing means minimizing loss, maximizing gain, and letting the process play out over time to see success. It is also about looking at the big picture and not fixating on one major loss or one major gain. There also needs to be a strong commitment to the process, a strong belief, and an understanding that you will win and you will lose.
Spending
As a health nut, I understand that diets aren't the solution, but rather sustainable lifestyle changes are. The same holds true with spending. What fun is money if you can't spend it? On the flip side, how much fun is it to spend money you don't have? Spending money is so directly connected to us as humans because there are emotions and feelings associated when we purchase things. Spending and using go hand and hand because we need to use money to purchase things we need and for things we want. The true victories come in understanding your needs and wants.
It takes time and life experience to realize that things you buy or spend your money on don't necessarily bring happiness. I wrote a blog earlier about happiness being able to sustain itself long after the act has been experienced. If you can spend your money on moments, experiences, and memories than you will have spent wisely.
The Crazy Clark family doesn't count every dollar spent, and we are just as guilty as any family when it comes to impulse buys, however we have begun to reflect and limit those types of purchases. My wife has always had a strong work ethic and she values money a little more conservatively than I do so it took time to find a happy medium. I am more of the risk taker and tend to spend money in more fun ways (at least to me). But nonetheless, we have worked together to have a strong grasp on fruitless spending, and we have and will continue to be thrifty and smart when it comes to our purchases. We spend our money on things that better our life and our family physically, emotionally, mentally, and psychologically. We look for things that make us healthier and happier.
It takes time and life experience to realize that things you buy or spend your money on don't necessarily bring happiness. I wrote a blog earlier about happiness being able to sustain itself long after the act has been experienced. If you can spend your money on moments, experiences, and memories than you will have spent wisely.
The Crazy Clark family doesn't count every dollar spent, and we are just as guilty as any family when it comes to impulse buys, however we have begun to reflect and limit those types of purchases. My wife has always had a strong work ethic and she values money a little more conservatively than I do so it took time to find a happy medium. I am more of the risk taker and tend to spend money in more fun ways (at least to me). But nonetheless, we have worked together to have a strong grasp on fruitless spending, and we have and will continue to be thrifty and smart when it comes to our purchases. We spend our money on things that better our life and our family physically, emotionally, mentally, and psychologically. We look for things that make us healthier and happier.
Sharing
My wife and I believe are extremely thankful and blessed to have a lot in our lives so we look for donating opportunities that we value and that also teach our kids the same lesson. She has coordinated a number of fundraising events and opportunities while in her role as a school counselor. I have also used my position to incorporate donating and fitness together in fun and engaging ways for students, staff, and the community. We all have more power than we think when it comes to helping others and it is one of the best lessons a parent can teach a child. The great thing about sharing and impacting others is that it doesn't always have to be financial. It can start with just raising awareness, collecting supplies or goods, or even sharing time and energy to help someone. From 5k's to beef and beers, find something that drives you and bring others with you on your sharing journey!
Welcome to my newest adventure....
Are you a teacher looking to become financially free?
You don't know where to start, or even what to do?
You have a vision of an amazing future, but your present is fuzzy?
Listen, you are not alone and being a quality teacher means constantly giving and sometimes forgetting about your own wants and needs.
You need to invest in your future and I want to help you succeed!
Check out the Financially Free Teacher and learn all the things teachers should know when it comes to their money, their future, and their freedom!
FFT is going to be loaded with step by step guides, organized thoughts and resources, and most importantly a realistic and down to earth approach that will help you get on a solid financial track, help you become more free, and that will start making you believe in the inevitable of becoming a.....Financially Free Teacher!
You don't know where to start, or even what to do?
You have a vision of an amazing future, but your present is fuzzy?
Listen, you are not alone and being a quality teacher means constantly giving and sometimes forgetting about your own wants and needs.
You need to invest in your future and I want to help you succeed!
Check out the Financially Free Teacher and learn all the things teachers should know when it comes to their money, their future, and their freedom!
FFT is going to be loaded with step by step guides, organized thoughts and resources, and most importantly a realistic and down to earth approach that will help you get on a solid financial track, help you become more free, and that will start making you believe in the inevitable of becoming a.....Financially Free Teacher!
Coming soon....
Educator on FI/RE Interview 16: Mr. Clark (Elementary PE)
I stumbled across a financial website for educators called Principal F.I. They are two teachers who had a large amount of debt and they fought their way out to begin and continue their path to financial freedom. I loved the core values instilled on their pages and their insight to teachers regarding personal finance.
Their Educator on FI/RE series features stories of educators from a variety of roles, all along the career spectrum, who are interested in taking charge of their finances. The stories they share are from educators all over the financial independence scale. They are attempting to create a positive and meaningful platform for other educators to learn, share, and grow together and I love the power and momentum they have created with this series.
I reached out to them to praise them on their vision and website and they offered me the opportunity to be featured and tell my story. Thank you Principal F.I. and I look forward to sharing your message with my followers.
Their Educator on FI/RE series features stories of educators from a variety of roles, all along the career spectrum, who are interested in taking charge of their finances. The stories they share are from educators all over the financial independence scale. They are attempting to create a positive and meaningful platform for other educators to learn, share, and grow together and I love the power and momentum they have created with this series.
I reached out to them to praise them on their vision and website and they offered me the opportunity to be featured and tell my story. Thank you Principal F.I. and I look forward to sharing your message with my followers.
2020!
