100 | Thoughts About Money

We’ve talked many times before about how the way you think about money and the way you think about your ability to manage it play a huge part in the way you actually manage your money and whether you’re able to achieve your goals.

But have you ever examined your thoughts on these topics? How often do you intentionally direct yourself away from the thoughts you have that feel bad and toward new thoughts that feel more empowering?

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.

Topics Discussed

• 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

Listen to the Episode 

Resources mentioned

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

Work with me

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

Connect with me

Social media: Instagram and LinkedIn

Email: hello@rhothomas.com

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Lightly Edited Transcript

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. 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 2020 When I actually took the leap and started the podcast and what I thought it would be, I never ended up 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. Alright, 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 and when 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 read it the number you did, you will learn so much about yourself and your money mindset doing the 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 and 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 your mindset. And if you are thinking about that feel discouraging or defeating or disempowering, or whatever other negative emotion you may have, it’s gonna 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. Alright, 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 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 feeling. 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 approach 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’re doing, just think about that. Alright, the second thought is similar to the first and if that I manage my money well, how would you approach your finances if you believe 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 categories, sometimes just because you’re good with money or you manage money well, now that mean that you don’t sometimes make mistakes or 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 money? Well, even if you have a budget, even if you spend too much on a 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 it’s okay with me. So try that one on for yourself and think about what you do differently with your finances. If you believe that you manage money. Well, how do you manage money well already, because I’m sure there are some things that come to mind if you ask yourself the 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 talked many times on podcasts about our journey to pay off $220,000 in debt and build our native bridge a $40,000. net worth, and we’re going to be millionaires. I don’t know that 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 thing that we’re doing, we’re gonna get there. So do you believe that you’re gonna be a millionaire? Or if that feels too far out of reach? Do you believe you’re gonna hit a $100,000 net worth or build your net worth to the point that’s not negative anymore? Like that was my focus back six years ago or so when we were at the negative $3.2 billion net worth? I just wanted you 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 we’re going to do it, it was inevitable you would get back to zero or 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, and how much you believe it. Alright, the next one, the next step is about our specific finances. The first one 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. Specifically here, my finances so my husband paid off our student loans last year, and I knew it was just 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 shared this one with my client often as well. So you heard a couple of them on show talking about the work that we do together. Tony and paid off $20,000 of credit card debt that you’ve been avoiding for years. And that was just beginning for her. Alex save a $30,000 emergency fund and paid off another 20,000 student loans and it was still just the beginning for him. Other clients are doing similar things, no longer overspending on a credit card. We’re building their savings, paying down debt, understand 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 impacts your 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. Right the next slide 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 someone who’s actually lowered in the previous month because of the fluctuation in the market or things like that. But over time, our finances keep getting better. So what do 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 put your finances if you believe that you had more than somebody will you’re saying what they have is not enough, right? If I just had a little bit more than it’d 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 we’re swimming in debt. I always thought that we made more than enough money. Sure. I was happy to get the raises and 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 your thinking is 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 been less than you make and use the difference to achieve your financial goals that it is very simple, right? Not always easy, but it’s very simple. So what if your post 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 believe money IS simple. The second thought here is budgeting creates freedom. So often we think about budgets as being restrictive and telling us what you can’t do with a budget is completely up to you. So you get to decide how you’re gonna spend our money. And when you start intentionally deciding how you’re gonna earn that money or how you gonna use it, right, what’s going to spending versus what’s going to your goals and all 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? Your budget as a plan for freedom feel a lot better than what 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 is 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 believe we had done something wrong. I had heard all the stories like you probably have about debt being bad you have paid off as soon as possible. But over time, I started looking at the good things about our debt that allowed us to go to school and my cars and my 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 is the thing, right? Obviously, I’m not saying get rid of all the debt and don’t worry about paying it off because it’s good. But we 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 get rid of 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 that. How would you feel having the debt you have, if you approach it with the thought that that can be a good thing? If you looked at the good things that have come from you having that? How would that change the way you talk to yourself or what you do with your money if you truly believed it? Alright, 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. Leave them Can you believe them for yourself? Practice thinking them and 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’ve set for yourself, head to rho thomas.com/call and schedule your consultation. All right. 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. I am rho Thomas on Instagram and rho Thomas on LinkedIn. Subscribe to the show and leave a review but that would help more people to see it. And please share this episode with a friend who you think will 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.