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United States one dollar bills and coins in macro photography. Economy and finance.

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Americans are continuing to cope with a higher cost of living due to inflation. The cost of food and other goods are skyrocketing but there is another type of inflation to look out for and that’s Lifestyle Inflation. For Money Mondays, we are talking to personal financial expert Anthony O’Neal. O’Neal gives the Get Up! Church tips on how to avoid this type of financial issue.

 

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Tip 1: Look Back Before You Look Forward

O’Neal: So when I say look back before you look forward. I want you to check out your spending habits because you could follow exactly where you’re going, and if we really look at it. A recent survey really showed us that people with higher incomes tend to have higher credit card debt, so more money doesn’t mean you have less problems. You actually could mean you have more problems to be not sorting well, so look back at your bank statements. I want you to break it down into pretty much two categories, the monthly expenses and weekly expenses your monthly expenses. Are the high-end grocery bills that you’re possibly doing? What about the subscriptions that you have and your weekly could be, you know your dates were single people. Or maybe your hair, your hairstyle. I want you to go and assess all of your spendings. And if you want to flip that into a budget so we can. Now look forward to our money.

 

Tip 2: Assess your debt and stop adding to it

O’Neal: Yeah, especially going to 2023 Erica. You know, it’s like it’s easy to swipe that credit card, you know, and make a minimum payment and ignore the debt, but that leads us to pretty much. Debt snowballing out of control. So what I really want to do is. Pay off all your debt. Using the debt snowball and it’s very simple. Round up all your debt from smallest to largest amount, not highest interest to lower. The amount then just make all the minimum payments and then any extra kind of income you coming in. I really want to put it on top of that very first one and then knock that first one out while making the minimum payments on the others and just attack it one by one by one with that debt snowball that snowball trickling down like you get excited. That’s how I paid off about $30,000 worth of debt. In a matter of years, only making about $25,000 a year, this is a great tool to use during this time. 

 

Tip 3: Cast a vision for your future

O’Neal: I want you to dream about what you want your life to look like at the end of this year. I want to be married and I also understand that money is one of the main. Reasons why some people are getting divorced. So I I’m I’m literally sitting down this year and I’m talking about she got to have the brain. She got to have the Bible and I won’t say anything else. I want to come back to the show. So, I’m thinking of what I would say. Because I want my future. Look bright and understand money is that way. So I have a vision for my money. I wanna pay cash for the wedding I wanna pay cash for the ring I. Wanna pay it off? You know my house, whatever you want to do, put that on paper and you stick to that. And here’s the thing: your vision is your yes or no. If it doesn’t align with your vision. If it doesn’t get you close to the vision, that’s a no. If it gets you closer then that’s a yes. 

 

Tip 4: Make a plan for your money

O’Neal:  You gotta actually plan to do it both, and I never wanna come off like I don’t want people to enjoy their money. Their hard working money, but at the same time I don’t want the money to own you, so this really is like a sub to the vision. Is really have a budget for your money because a budget is a plan for your money and it has to reflect the vision for your life. Those who have to work congruently together so a short-term sacrifice for long-term gain to accomplish their goals and vision. And it’s literally simple. It’s a zero-based budget that I teach. Write down all of your income, child support, your. You 2 income side business income any income you have coming in the into a shop. Subtract all your expenses. As a Christian brother. My number one expenses are ties and offerings and after that, I pay all of my bills and after that, I have a dating line item. I have a haircut line item. I have a clothing line item. 

 

What is Lifestyle Inflation & Tips On How To Avoid It | Money Monday  was originally published on getuperica.com