Hello Swarm Moms
In one of my recent posts I wrote about helping yourself to increase your financial knowledge. While I have graduated from college, my background is not in finance, so in order to learn about finance I must make the concerted effort every week to learn more. I do this in many different ways. I will read the New York Times and my local paper for finance advice and news. I read magazine articles and sometimes watch financial 'experts' on the tv. One thing I have found is that there are finance (or money saving/spending) tips everywhere I look.
There is so much information out there it can be overwhelming (where do you start) and it can be tough to know what is for you and what you should ignore. My advice is to read and listen and then see what you can apply to your life. Experiment with the information you find and see how it works for you.
I find experimenting with advice to be a good way to implement some changes into my life. I 'experiment' for a couple of weeks, maybe a month and then I try to revisit the changes to see how they worked. Was it a positive change, is it something I need or want to continue...
When I started what I now refer to as my challenge to increase my knowledge in finance, I had some financial constraints, so I needed to learn as cheaply and effectively as possible. Since I was taking my child to the library at least once a week, I began to seek out information in the finance section of the library. I would take some books home and read through them. I would take them to work and read on my lunch hour and I would even take them with me to my child's activities and while she played, learned the piano or practiced volleyball, I would sit in my car or in a waiting area and ingest the information.
There were two immediate changes in my life that I noticed:
1) I was less stressed because I wasn't feeling like I was just sitting around wasting time and
2) I was actually learning and formulating ideas and plans for myself and my financial life.
Reading while I was waiting evolved into listening while I was driving or listening while I was knitting, cleaning, etc. What I am saying, is that I began to get books on tape out of the library and as I drove around. as mothers do, I found it very convenient to listen on my way to drop offs, pick ups, etc. It proved to be a useful strategy with benefits to my child as well. She was now learning from the experts and as she grew we could add new subjects to our conversations. Kids are sponges so why not help them learn passively and actively?
As an aside...I began to get out books on all sorts of subjects as we travelled around. Some were chosen because the title sounded interesting, some were chosen for their subject matter (finance, sports, etc) and some because they were biographies of people either of us were fond of. One day I chose Benjamin Franklin. I always liked Ben and was happily surprised to discover his rules for living. This was a really wise man; disciplined, smart and savvy. I have learned something from every book I read and from him, I found that discipline might be the most important element in success.
In other books I have found that the advice is not for me or not for me now. And with other, added information, I have found that I can weed out information much sooner and I can differentiate between the 'not now' or 'not ever' information, much quicker.
Let's get started. . .
Today I want you to go to the library and go to the books on tape section. Find the finance gurus and choose one that speaks to you. Some of my favorites are Warren Buffett, Suze Orman, Richard Kiyosake and even, Benjamin Franklin, (good advice is timeless!!!)
Choose one book for the upcoming week or weeks if necessary, and get learninag. Keep the cd in the car, in your kitchen, or where ever you will take the opportunity to listen to it. I like to keep a notepad nearby so I can keep notes. I mention the above finance people only because I have listened to them and found the advice to be helpful and I can take immediate actions to make some good, new financial choices.
So... Swarm moms, TODAY... choose to be better educated. Action creates more action. A body in motion tends to stay in motion and I believe that goes for the mind. Keep it active, keep learning, keep mentally growing! Happy Learning... from Sharon . . .A Swarm Mom
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