155 | Rewind: Thoughts About Money

The way you think about money and the way you think about your ability to manage it play a huge part in whether you’re able to achieve your money goals. You’re always able to choose what you think.

In this episode, I’m sharing some of my top thoughts about myself and about money. As you listen, I invite you to explore your own thoughts and adopt any of mine that feel good to you.

• the importance of examining your thoughts to achieve your goals
• how to believe new thoughts
• some of my top thoughts about myself and about money

Episode 89: Paying Off $20,000 of Debt in Six Months with Toni-Ann Mayembe

Episode 97: How Alex Transformed His Life and Finances in Less Than a Year

If you’re ready to learn the mindset and strategies to master your money, let’s schedule a call.

You’re listening to Wealthyesque. We are a community of lawyers who believe that true wealth is having control of our time. I’m Rho Thomas, and as a busy wife, mom, and former Biglaw associate, I know all too well the tension between the culture of the legal profession and pretty much everything else you want to do in life. That’s why each week, I’m bringing you the information and tools you need to improve your money mindset and manage your money to create true wealth. Because ultimately, it’s not about the money. It’s about the freedom and flexibility the money affords.

Hey, friend. Welcome back to the show. I hope you’re doing well and having an amazing day so far. Today, I am bringing you a rewind episode. It’s some of my top thoughts about money. And if you really think about how the way you approach your finances would change, if you applied these thoughts, it will shine a light on the impact your thinking has on your money and how you manage it. These thoughts are available to you. And they are the same kinds of thoughts my clients develop during our work together. Alright, let’s dive into this rewind episode. Thoughts about money. Hey, friend, welcome back to the show. I hope you’re doing well and having an amazing day so far. So this is episode 100 of this podcast. And it’s so crazy to me. My two year anniversary for the podcast is coming up in July. And when I think back to July 2021, I actually took the leap and started this podcast and what I thought it would be, I never envisioned being where I am now or the podcast being where it is now. Seeing what it’s grown into is amazing. So thank you for being here with me for almost two years for learning with me for 100 episodes and counting. And I hope you will stick around for 100 more. All right. So getting into our topic for today, we’ve talked so many times about how the way you think about money. And the way you think about your ability to manage money, play a huge part in the way you actually manage your money and the financial situation you have, and the results you’re able to achieve. So I want to share some of my top thoughts about money in the way I think about myself as related to money. And I want you to think about how these thoughts land for you. How much do you believe these things about yourself and about money. Ask yourself on a scale of one to 10 how much you believe each of these thoughts for yourself, and then explore why you rated it the number you did, you will learn so much about yourself and your money mindset doing that exercise and take any of these thoughts that feel good to you practice believing them, you get to choose what you think you might have some thoughts currently that aren’t useful, or that you don’t like about yourself or about money. And you can redirect your brain and take on some of these new thoughts instead. One of my favorite ways of doing that is asking myself how the new thought is true. So for example, if you’re practicing believing that you’re good with money, you might ask yourself, How am I good with money. And then you list out all the reasons you can think of. And as you do that, more and more, you start coming up with more and more evidence for that thought and you build your belief in it. Once you believe it, it’s easier for you to go to that thought versus whatever other thought you don’t like. And as you take on these new thoughts that feel good to you, that help you achieve the goals you have that align with who you want to be in the finances you want to have, you will start to shift the way you manage your money and ultimately achieve your goals with money. Because everything starts with your mindset. And if you are thinking thoughts that feel discouraging or defeating or disempowering, or whatever other negative emotion you may have, it’s going to be really hard to achieve your goals from that place. So as we talk about these thoughts, just think about how they land for you and how you might approach your finances differently if you believe them about yourself and about money. All right, getting into the actual thoughts. I’ve got three categories here and I chose my top three thoughts for each one. So the first is thoughts about myself. The second is thoughts about my fi finances. And then the third is thoughts about money generally, like, general money topics. So in this first category, the first thought about myself as related to money, is I know what I’m doing. I feel very confident and certain when I think this, I believe I’m going to achieve every goal I have for my money, because I know what I’m doing. How often do you think this about yourself? Imagine if you approached your finances from this place, believing that you know what you’re doing? How would you handle your money differently from the way you’re handling it? Now? If you believed you knew what you were doing? Just think about that. Alright, the second thought is similar to the first and it’s that I manage my money. Well, how would you approach your finances if you believed that you manage your money? Well, even if you make a mistake, because I’ve told you before I teach money, and I still go over budget in some category, sometimes, just because you’re good with money or you manage money, well, doesn’t mean that you don’t sometimes make mistakes, or go over budget or whatever else. But how would you treat yourself if your core belief about your ability to manage money was that you manage your money? Well, even if you went over budget, even if you spent too much on your credit card, even if whatever other thing happens in your finances that you don’t want to happen? Like, I believe I manage my money well, so even if I go over budget, I still know that I manage my money. Well, it’s like, okay, that happened. Let’s take care of it. And I’m still good with money. So try that one on for yourself and think about what you would do differently with your finances. If you believe that you manage your money. Well, how do you manage your money? Well already? Because I’m sure there are some things that come to mind, if you ask yourself that question. Alright, the final one in this category is we’re going to be millionaires. My husband and I didn’t have a whole lot growing up. We always had enough, but we didn’t have a lot. And we didn’t learn about money. And I’ve talked many times on the podcast about our journey to pay off $670,000 of debt and build our negative $342,000. Net Worth. And we’re going to be millionaires. I don’t know exactly when I don’t know the exact timeline or anything like that. But I can so clearly see the trajectory of our finances. If we keep doing the things that we’re doing, we’re going to get there. So do you believe that you’re going to be a millionaire? Or if that feels too far out of reach? Do you believe that you’re going to hit a $100,000 net worth or build your network to the point that it’s not negative anymore? Like that was my focus back six years ago, or so when we were at the negative $342,000. Net Worth? I just wanted to get back to zero, right? So do you believe that you know what to do with your finances to achieve that goal? If you believe that you’re going to do it, if it was inevitable that you would get back to zero or hit 100,000? Or hit a million? How would you approach your finances? Then? What would you do differently with your money? How would you treat yourself? Think about all of that, as you think about this thought and how much you believe it. Alright, the next one, the next set of thoughts is about our specific finances. The first thought is, this is just the beginning. I actually got this one from my business coach, she talks all the time about how each stage of business is still just the beginning. And I’ve applied it to my personal life as well. And specifically here, my finances. So my husband and I paid off our student loans last year. And I knew it was just the beginning for us. Each step that we’ve taken with our finances over the last almost six years has been just the beginning. And it’s so fun to think about where we could be down the line and it kind of goes hand in hand with that last thought about us becoming millionaires, like where we are now is still just the beginning. I share this one with my clients often as well. So you’ve heard a couple of them on the show, talking about the work that we did together, Tony and paid off $20,000 of credit card debt that she had been avoiding for years. And that was just the beginning for her. Alex saved a $30,000 emergency fund and paid off another $20,000 of student loans. And it was still just the beginning for him. Other clients are doing similar things, no longer overspending on their credit card or building up their savings, paying down debt, understanding their finances on a deeper level, and it’s just the beginning for them. I’m so excited to see how the work that we have done and impacts their finances going forward. And I know that it’s just the beginning. So how would you feel if you believe that wherever you are with your finances was just the beginning for you? How would that change how you approach your finances going forward? Think about that. All right, the next thought, which ties in with that last one is our finances keep getting better and better. And I believe this even when the fact is that our net worth is fluctuating, we calculate our net worth every month, and some months is actually lower than the previous month, because of the fluctuations in the market and things like that. But over time, our finances keep getting better. So what if you believe this about your finances? How would you feel? What would you do differently with your money than what you’re doing now? Knowing that each step that you’re taking your finances are just getting better and better? And the final thought in this category is we have more than enough? How would you approach your finances if you believe that you had more than enough? So many lawyers think what they have is not enough, right? If I just had a little bit more than it would be better? I’d feel better. And it’s not true. Because you get to that little bit more, and you still feel like it’s not enough, you still need more money, right? A higher salary, more savings? Because it’s not about the money. It’s not about what’s in your savings account, or the amount you make, or whatever it is. It’s your thoughts about it. And if you continue to think it’s not enough, you will never feel like it’s enough. I believe we have more than enough. I believe that even when we were swimming in debt, right, I always thought that we made more than enough money. Sure, I was happy to get the raises and the bonuses and such. But I didn’t think we needed it. We had more than enough. So how would you approach money if you truly believe that you had more than enough? Because you’re allowed to believe that now if you want to regardless of your financial circumstances, and I guarantee that you would approach your money, you would handle it a lot differently? If you believe that you had more than enough versus if you’re thinking it’s not enough. All right. And the final category is thoughts about money generally. So the first thought here is money IS simple. In terms of managing your money, literally, it’s spend less than you make and use the difference to achieve your financial goals. That’s it. It’s very simple, right? Not always easy, but it’s very simple. So what if you approach to your finances believing that it was simple? What if it doesn’t take all the complicated stuff you might think it takes money does not have to be complicated? So do you believe money IS simple? And if not, what would you do differently if you believed money was simple. The second thought here is budgeting creates freedom. So often we think about budgets as being restrictive, and telling us what we can’t do. But the budget is completely up to you. So you get to decide how you’re going to spend your money. And when you start intentionally deciding how you’re going to spend that money, or how you’re going to use it, right? What’s going to spending versus what’s going to your goals and all of that, then you start building your net worth, I say all the time that true wealth is having control of your time. And a big part of having control of your time is having control of your money. So how do you think about budgeting? How would you approach budgeting, if you looked at it from the place of creating freedom, versus looking at it as restriction and deprivation? Viewing your budget as a plan for freedom feels a lot better than Well, my budget says I can’t do this, or I can’t spend that. And the final thought in this category is debt can be a good thing. And me from six years ago was like who are you? Because when we first added up all of our debt, I was so resistant to being in debt. And I felt bad. And I believed we had done something wrong. I had heard all the stories like you probably have about debt being bad, and you have to pay it off as soon as possible. But over time, I started looking at the good things about our debt. Debt allowed us to go to school and buy cars and buy a house. And even if you’ve got credit card debt from buying other kinds of things, for example, if it’s making you pay attention to your finances, maybe for the first time, then that’s a good thing, right? Obviously, I’m not saying go run up all the debt and don’t worry about paying it off because it’s good. But we’ve talked about how there are two sides to every story. We’ve heard the story about how bad debt is and how it’s ruining your life. And if you have debt, then you should be getting rid of it as quickly as possible and all of that. So let’s acknowledge the other side of that story. And recognize that there are some good things that can come from having debt to how would you feel having the debt you have, if you approached it with the thought that debt can be a good thing? If you looked at the good things that have come from you having debt? How would that change the way you talk to yourself or what you do with your money, if you truly believed it? All right. So those are just a few of my thoughts about myself and about money. I hope that they are useful for you. As I said, take any of these thoughts that feel good to you and see what you think about them? Do you believe them? Can you believe them for yourself? Practice thinking them. And truly as you start to believe those thoughts and really live into them, you will start to shift the way that you manage your money and ultimately, you’ll achieve the goals you’re working to achieve. These are the kinds of thoughts that my clients are having. When we work together, we put a strategy in place to manage your money better. And you also feel better about money in the process. You start to shift your thinking from thoughts that are holding you back to more empowering thoughts like these. So if that appeals to you and you are ready to think differently about money, to feel differently about your money, and to really make progress on the goals you have set for yourself, head to rho thomas.com/call and schedule your consultation. Alright, that’s it for this week’s episode. Again, thank you so much for being here with me for 100 episodes. Please come connect with me over on social media at I am rho Thomas on Instagram and rho Thomas on LinkedIn. Subscribe to the show and leave a review both of which helped more people to see it. And please share this episode with a friend you think we’ll find it useful? As we close out friend, I pray that you will take a second and really question your thoughts about yourself and about money. I pray that you will use this episode to start believing new thoughts and replace any existing thoughts that don’t feel good to you. And as always, I pray that you continue to take steps to regain control of your time, build wealth, and live the life of freedom and choice you deserve. Talk to you later.