What is holding you back from financial freedom with special guest Carol Glynn

In the latest episode of Fantastic Female Fridays, I interviewed Carol Glynn of Conscious Finance Coaching. It’s a company based in Dubai that Carol spearheads with a view to helping her clients (who are primarily women) overcome challenges to achieve their financial dreams. She calls the work that she does “financial nakedness” as when you’re working with a money coach, they see everything!

Here are some things we can all learn from Carol:

Clarity Sheets

Carol says that she doesn’t refer to budgets in the way we might traditionally call them but instead as “clarity sheets”. Their purpose is to highlight what people spend, in comparison to what they earn, but not with a view to squeezing out the enjoyment of their money but to see if that spreadsheet is representative of their value.

A Fear of Investing is a Fear of the Unknown

Carol talked about how we view savings versus investing. Saving is secure, stable and constant. We know the result. However, in the case of investing, we don’t know what’s going to happen nor when. Of course, investors are rewarded through higher returns for taking that risk but that doesn’t mean that new investors may be wary. Specifically, when she is dealing with this, Carol walks through why somebody might want to invest, their risk appetite, demystifies the jargon, helps them find out the cost and then make a decision.

Everybody thinks Others are Born with the Playbook

Carol mentioned that lots of people come to her finance coaching business riddled with negative emotions. They might be shame, guilt, intimidation, overwhelm and others. Lots of people assume that others know exactly what they’re doing. However the reality is that financial literacy isn’t genetically inherited! Everybody needs to learn from the beginning and has different reasons for doing so.

What is Your Willpower Telling You?

Willpower is an interesting idea. Many connotate it with grit and the ability to stick “it” out, whereby the “it” refers to something difficult with a view to arriving at a virtuous outcome. It’s worthwhile thinking about why that might be. Carol gives us great ways to optimise your willpower by being kind to yourself. Think back to why you really want what you’re working towards so that you can power through. Remove the “should” and “should nots” from your lexicon so that there is only room for the why you genuinely want what you’re striving towards. Celebrate the milestones with rewards.

Get Started with Five Practical Steps

1.     Get clarity on what you owe and what you own.

2.     Observe what you’re spending.

3.     Make sure that your financial activity links to your values.

4.     Track your progress

5.     Understand your risk profile and take action accordingly.

For more insights from this conversation, check out the full episode on our channel on YouTube!