June 2018 Tasks

June 1, 2018 • Newsletter

2018 is almost halfway over. Can you believe it? Said differently, we still have more than half a year to go until 2019. Small changes in perspective like that – very much a glass half-full instead of half-empty approach – can have a dramatic impact on your financial health.

Did you happen to read about Sylvia Bloom last month? She passed away at the too-young age of 96 after working 67 years as an assistant at a legal firm in New York. She left a surprise financial windfall for her family, plus $6.2 million to the Henry Street Settlement plus a scholarship fund at Hunter College. How did she do it? A little at a time. Because a little bit… A little change in perspective, a little change in spending, really does go a long way.

Sylvia Bloom’s story is extraordinary because she was an extraordinary woman. But she is hardly alone. United Income published a research report (cited by Bloomberg), which found that one out of every six retirees is a millionaire. One out of every six. That’s a lot of people living like Sylvia Bloom and amassing wealth without necessarily displaying it grandly.

So this month, in support of “a little” think about little things you can do to support your financial health and wellness.

Identify what you were most excited about spending money on last month. Was it a new shirt? Was it a cup of coffee at a socially-responsible business? Was it an adventure with new friends and colleagues, say at the IAC’s On-Ramp program? (That was definitely my own personal highlight from May!) How can you prioritize more of those types of expenses in your budget going forward, perhaps while cutting things that you weren’t so excited about?

Contact a potential customer, client, or partner in your industry that will help you reach one of the goals you outlined for yourself this year. It may not feel little as you draft the email, but it will seem like a little step once the project comes to fruition.

Quantify your debt in real dollar terms, not “ish” ones. What do you really owe? What is the real number? By taking the little step of acknowledging where you are, you can start making a plan to pay it off, even if it seems insurmountable in this exact moment. (And by the way, quantifying something immediately makes it seem less insurmountable. It is no longer infinite. There is a real number attached to it.)

Plan a lunch or coffee meeting with someone you admire this month. Reach out to that person now so you have plenty of time to set the date and time and think clearly about what you hope to get from the meeting. Is it advice? Support? Encouragement? Belly laughs? If you go into the moment with some clear goals, you’ll be much more likely to accomplish them.