326 | Improve Your Finances With These 2 Steps

Society’s normal money habits keep people stuck and struggling.

What if you could take 2 steps to break that cycle and radically improve your finances?

In this episode, let’s explore wisdom from various sources and talk about 2 steps to redefine how you think about money and change your results with it.

• • wisdom from the Bible, Warren Buffett, Albert Einstein, and Henry Ford on the importance of your thinking and not following the crowd

  • the typical patterns in society for money management

  • changing the way you think about your money

  • the importance of who you surround yourself with

  • how I changed my thinking around money

You’re listening to Personal Finance for Lawyers. 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! I’m back. I can’t believe the summer has ended already. It went very quickly, but we are back into school mode and all of that, and I’m back recording fresh new episodes for you. I hope you had an amazing summer. I hope you were able to get some rest, to do some fun things, and you’re back and rejuvenated, ready to dive back into your work and your finances and all the things.

So today, I want to talk about two things that you can do to improve your finances. I did a devotional, and it centered on Romans 12:2. And before I get into it, let me say, please don’t miss the lesson because you don’t like the packaging that it’s wrapped in.

If you don’t believe in Jesus, you don’t believe in God, you don’t believe in the Bible, all of that is fine, but this is just sound life advice, and there are actually a few quotations that I’ve heard in other contexts that are saying the same thing. So don’t miss it just because I’m talking about the Bible, alright?

But Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” And as I mentioned, I have heard other people say similar things. For example, think about when you were a kid, and you were trying to convince your parents to let you do something, and you’re like “Everybody else is doing it.” Your parents are like, “Well, if everybody else jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” Don’t just do what everybody else is doing just because everybody else is doing it.

In talking about investing, Warren Buffett has said, “When others are greedy, be fearful, and when others are fearful, be greedy.” Again, don’t conform to what everybody else is doing. You want to be doing the opposite in this case.

On the importance of your thinking, Albert Einstein has said, “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” So we change things by changing our thinking. Henry Ford said, “Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right.” The difference there in the outcome is your thinking. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be changed by changing the way you think.

So if we apply this to personal finance, what is the pattern of this world? It is spending every dollar. It’s living paycheck to paycheck. It’s not having savings, drowning in debt, buying things just to keep up with other people, buying the biggest house or the biggest car or the best whatever that the bank will lend you money for, trying to project a certain lifestyle, hoping things work out or wishing things were different, rather than sitting down and creating a plan for your money. That’s the pattern of this world.

Just because everybody else is doing these things doesn’t mean you have to do them. Again, if they were all jumping off a bridge, would you do it too? People do these things because they think they’re normal. This is what society has told us life is. This is how you handle money. This is just the way it is.

But if you want different results with your finances, you don’t want to be stuck, you don’t want to not have savings, you have to change the way you think about money. You have to change the way you think about the way people typically handle money.

We’ve talked a lot over the years about the importance of your mindset because it really is the key to anything you want to do. So if you think something is normal, you’re never going to change it. If you think this is just the way it is, you’re never going to do anything different.

We want to start thinking differently about money. We want to think differently about what’s possible with our money. We want to think differently about what’s normal.

I’ve asked this question before, but what if instead of seeing money as a way to buy more stuff, you start seeing money as a way to buy more freedom and to buy options? How does that change the way you manage your money?

Or what if instead of thinking it’s normal to save whatever scraps you can after you’re done spending in the month, you instead think it’s normal to save for yourself first and then spend what’s left?

What if instead of thinking that you have to buy more stuff to impress everybody, you start caring more about your own goals and prioritizing those over everything else?

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Change the way you think, and you’ll start changing the things you do. You’ll start changing the results you have with your money.

So, how do you do that? The biggest thing for me was surrounding myself with people who thought about differently. Have you ever heard that saying that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with? I don’t think that only applies to people that you see in person.

I would listen to podcasts. I would watch YouTube videos, read blogs, all of this stuff from people who thought about money differently and were building wealth and taking sabbaticals, and retiring early, and all this stuff that was not normal around me, right? That wasn’t the norm that I saw.

When you start surrounding yourself with a different way of thinking, it starts to change the way you think, too. So be mindful of who you’re surrounding yourself with. Be mindful of who you’re spending the most time with and what messages you’re getting about money from them. Maybe it’s time to shift some of your attention to other people who think differently.

The biggest thing I want you to take away from our conversation today is you don’t have to do the typical things that society does with money. You don’t have to think the way that society tells us is normal. You have the power to change your financial situation by simply changing the way you think about your money.

And if you would like me to take a look at your finances and give you my thoughts on how you can get from where you are now to your ultimate financial goals, apply for a coaching session. Head to rhothomas.com/apply.

Alright, so that is it for this week’s episode, and it’s good to be back with you.

Please take a second, subscribe to the show, leave a review, if you haven’t done so already. Those things help the show to get seen by more people, so that we can spread this information, and as always, I appreciate your support.

As we close out, friend, I pray that you take the information you learn here, apply it in your life, and open up to the realization that wealth is available to you. As you do that consistently, week after week, you’ll continue to take steps to take back control of your time, build wealth, and live the life of freedom and choice you deserve.

Talk to you later.