Hi all,

Thank you again for wanting to be a part of this! I’m really excited to take the leap into this personal budgeting/finance newsletter with you guys.

I got some great feedback from you guys about your biggest challenges/obstacles in starting a budget or sticking with one – thank you for all the responses! What I noticed were some common themes:

• Not knowing where to start
• Being able to pay all your bills just fine, but not knowing where the rest of the money is going each month
• Knowing you spend slightly beyond your means, but don’t want to sacrifice your standard of living
• Starting a budget but falling off the bandwagon (either once or many times)

Before we dive into the “how”, I think it’s important we talk about why you subscribed to this newsletter in the first place. I want you to have a meaningful purpose for why you want to change and/or create new budgeting habits. Here are a few of my current goals, the reasons behind why I want to get better at budgeting:

• To travel around Europe and see old friends in Denmark and Vienna.
• Invest in myself by taking classes and attending conferences that challenge me.
• Save for the future, so when I’m 60 I can decide whether to keep working or volunteer based on what I want to do, not what I have to do.
• To feel better emotionally and have less guilt about my spending habits.

The good news is that in order to start tackling these goals you don’t need to be an expert in finance, you just need a willingness to change behavior and build good habits. Personal finance is like dieting – you don’t have to be a professional nutritionist to be healthy or lose weight, you just need to know the basics.

But just because budgeting (or dieting) is technically simple doesn’t mean it’s easy – getting into the right habits and knowing why you’re doing it will make a great difference.

I want you to take a few minutes to really think about why you want to start budgeting. What are some goals you’re hoping a budget will help you achieve? What are some awesome things you’ll be doing once you’ve ‘taken control’ of your finances?

Alright, I shared mine, now I’d love to hear yours!

I don’t want this to be a typical newsletter where I stand on a soapbox and preach fiduciary responsibility. I want to help empower you to achieve whatever financial goals you have by engaging in a conversation about what would be most helpful for you.

I’m excited to hear about your goals and stoked to have started this journey to financial peace of mind together.

Love,
Amelia Gare-heart

PS. This is the first newsletter article I’ve written and was more than slightly nervous to press the send button. #scaredy-gare. That being said, I’d love to hear your feedback in addition to your goals. Seriously. Give it to me.