Suze Orman's 9 Steps To Financial Freedom

Suze Orman is the author of the incredibly profound and practical book "The 9 Steps To Financial Freedom". I think it is a must-read, myself. If only I had known about the 9 steps to financial freedom when I was little younger than I am now! Here's my summary of one of the steps.

Step 3 - Being Honest With Yourself

There are two areas of life in which we persistently delude ourselves - love, and money.

Just as all of us have watched a person bounce from one bad relationship to another, or have the same argument with their partner over and over, we all know people who seem to be struggling financially, no matter how much they earn.

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting to get a different result. In the case of our personal finances, many of us meet that definition!

As a financial coach, Suze Orman has seen this first-hand.

"Most of us believe, or deceive ourselves into believing, that we need about $1,000 to $1,500 a month less than we actually do need to go on living the exact same way we live right now." Suze Orman

It is very important to go back through your records and establish exactly how much you have really spent. Guessing won't get you free!

Suze devotes a sizable chunk of her book to this step.

If you are the type of person who gets to the end of the week and just can't think where the money has gone, this step will be a challenge.

It is crucial to keep accurate records of where your money goes. Whether you carry a notebook and record what you spend, or you use a debit card for everything so there is a record in your bank account, simply setting yourself up to know accurately what you spend each week or each month can be a emotional challenge.

You may find you have a lot of really good reasons why it is not practical for you to record each and every transaction as it happens. You might discover that you have a strong aversion to paperwork, or to reporting on your actions. You may be uncomfortable about putting such personal and private information on paper.

Each of these reactions should be a "red flag" that sends you back to practice the skills you have learned in Step 1 and Step 2.

The first two of Suze Orman's 9 Steps to Financial Freedom involve identifying and freeing yourself from the limiting emotional baggage of your past. When you start trying to do Step 3 may be the first time you truly comprehend how much work is involved in doing the first two steps properly!

Read more of Suze Orman's 9 Steps To Financial Freedom at the Emergency Refinancing web site.

Photo by w_yvr.