For the last week I have been torn as to what to write about – I have a whole bank of blog information regarding money, finances, mortgages, mental motivation that I could write about, but in our current climate nothing feels right, or sits right with me, do you know what I mean? You know that feeling in your gut, or conscience that guides you when you just feel a bit off and unsettled. I can’t say I’ve always listened to it , but since I read The Alchemist a few years back and walked the Camino de Santiago I’ve tuned in a lot more and try to discover why I feel unsettled and what I need to do or change.
So thinking about what I can write about / or do that can help people RIGHT NOW. My last 3 blogs have been about taking this opportunity to look at your life, changing mindsets, changing habits with money and living the life you dream of. And that’s great, that is what financial coaching is all about and why I became a financial coach in the first place – because I’m passionate about living life to the full and so I could help educate and inspire people to use their money to live amazing lives.
However,
Some of us are OK – whilst others are facing mounting debts, redundancies and increased use of food banks
People are falling into different camps right now. For a lot of people life hasn’t changed drastically, you may have had an enforced break from the rat race, enjoyed the sunshine , but still have a job to go back to. The 80% Retention Scheme has covered the basics and the lack of spending has actually benefited you, and you can take advice from the blogs by changing habits going forward and repurposing previous leisure money into bigger goals.
However, in a totally different camp, literally thousands are struggling, facing redundancy, financial hardship and mounting debts. This has triggered a vast investment from the government into Debt Advice Charities such as StepChange so more people can be supported.
In addition, research by carried out by the universities of Sheffield and Birmingham in partnership with the charity Carers UK, has found that more than 100,000 people doing unpaid caring for older, disabled or seriously ill relatives had been forced to use food banks since start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
So writing about goals and managing disposable income doesn’t feel right to me today , I want to know how I as a person and financial coach can support both camps and how we as a nation can support those who are not OK and are struggling to maintain even their basic needs right now. I can write about where to go for advice, how to shop on a budget but it doesn’t feel ENOUGH. I feel I want to do more.
Repurpose your money
When this business was just a seed of an idea about 2 years ago, I’ve always seen it as “repurposing money” whether that’s helping a client change their mindset and repurposing their money from random purchases to pensions to help them retire. Or one of my main goals – donating from the business to a charity to create a win / win situation, where helping one person improve their life and finances can also help someone else.
I donate to several charities personally, but from the start I have always planned to donate a % from my net profits to Charity:Water ( for the record I was inspired by the amazing story of Scott Harrison and how he founded Charity:Water – you can watch here – it doesn’t sit right with me that we have so much in the UK and spend so much on things that are largely irrelevant whilst across the world people are still dying because they still don’t have access to a basic human needs – fresh water)
I’ll help in the future
But this was a future plan, when I’ve reached a certain level in business – aren’t we all guilty of that to a certain degree “When I get here – I’ll help ” or “ when I’ve achieved a certain goal – I’ll do this”
But the time to help is NOW – I may not have thousands in the bank – BUT I’M OK & have everything I need , I may not have achieved a certain goal of clients / income – BUT I’M OK & have everything I need – but there are thousands of people that are not OK and don’t even have the basics.
So, if you are reading this and fall into camp 1 and you know you are OK and have everything you need
Please help me to help those that are not:
I’ve wracked my brains of how I can help,
I have contacted both Step Change & Money Advice Trust to help with advising others.
I will offer my coaching services for a donation
A future idea I had planned, was a challenge called #LattesforLife for Charity:Water, this has now been brought forward and is now #CoffeeForCovid for Food Banks and other charities ( I still fully intend to support Charity:Water)
In order to help – I have been offering Financial Coaching for free recently , however Financial Coaching provides significant value, can take away stress and worry , change your finances and your mindset forever and save you money immediately and thousands over a lifetime , so instead of free, if you need to sort out your finances but generally fall into Camp 1 and want to invest in yourself, your financial knowledge and have a personalised money life plan I am temporarily offering coaching for a donation to charity.
Invest in yourself and your future – and in turn help others
1 hourly Zoom session where we can look at your budget, your plans and any immediate and future changes you need to make , anything at all that is worrying you financially and until the end of August 2020 all proceeds will go to The Trussell Trust Food Bank. (£70 per hour) Contact me here for a free no obligation chat to see how I can help or connect with me on Facebook
I’m also launching #CoffeeForCovid – If you still have income but have seen a significant change in your discretionary outgoings due to no travel, work from home etc please consider donating what you would have spent on Coffee in one month ( or eating out, petrol, whatever has been cut out) to help someone else access food. I recently wrote how to change small habits for a bigger better future , so if you are back to a normal routine would you give up a habit so someone else can eat / have a better future?. (Tip – Give up the habit, help someone else this month – keep it up and be better off yourself next month !)
Care enough to give up your coffee –
What to do….
Work out what you have / will save and go to:
Food Bank https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/trusselltrust
National Emergency Trust : https://net.justgiving.com/
Charity Water : https://www.charitywater.org/uk/donate
Donate with #CoffeeForCovid
Share on your networks !