Yahoo Finance Money fear to money confidence: How Shrishti saved $30k in a year
Shrishti overcame her financial fears, learnt how to manage her finances and her built financial confidence.
Just a few years ago, Shrishti felt scared to even open her bank account. She had almost finished her law degree and while she’d been earning money working part-time and casual jobs, she had very little to show for it. But with the help of three crucial money lessons Shrishti managed to quickly turn her finances around.
“There was so much I didn’t know. I didn’t know I could get better interest rates on my savings, or anything about superannuation. I knew I ‘should’ be saving but I didn’t know how. I never had any exposure to financial education growing up, so I was in the dark,” Shrishti said. “I wanted to overcome my fears around money and feel more in control, especially because I was about to graduate and start earning more, so I wanted to make the best use of my income.”
More from Paridhi Jain:
Money overhaul: How this mum-to-be went from $7/hr to a 6-figure fortune by age 32
Divorce left her broke, but this woman made a $20K comeback in 9 months
This led Shrishti to enrolling in Mastering Money, an online financial education course, run by SkilledSmart, helping adults learn how to save, invest, and manage their money.
The course helped Shrishti overcome her financial fears, taught her how to manage her finances, and helped build her financial confidence. As a result, she was able to save over $30,000 within 12 months of starting her first post-graduate job.
“I have a much healthier relationship with money now. I’m less scared, less stressed about my finances. I feel more confident in my ability to take care of myself. There’s been a lot of change.”
Here are Shrishti’s three crucial money lessons for success.
1. Saving is less about ‘cutting out’ and more about ‘aligning with your values’
Learning how to align her spending to her goals and values helped Shrishti overcome spending guilt, and feel more fulfilled and satisfied with her spending decisions. It also helped her start to learn how to save money without feeling deprived or restricted.
“Before the course, I didn’t know how much I was spending, and I didn’t understand how to save properly. I used to think saving money was just about cutting down expenses and spending as little as you could. But the course changed my perspective on that,” Shrishti said.
“One of the biggest things I learned was the idea of your personal values underpinning how you manage your finances. I started to question whether I’m spending money in a way that aligns with my values. That really changed how I viewed spending and saving as a whole. I like the idea that I can use my financial decisions to support things that I value.”
2. It’s important to know where your money is going
Since doing the course, Shrishti has become better at tracking her expenses, which has allowed her to evaluate her spending habits more closely.
“One of the first things I applied from the course was setting up an excel spreadsheet to track expenses. There were also other budgeting apps, but I stuck with the spreadsheet. So, I started with the basics, like understanding how to allocate my expenses to different categories, and getting clear on what my expenses are, how much am I spending, what’s coming in, that sort of thing.”
“I feel like I’ve come a long way. Before, I’d be scared just to open my bank account because I didn’t want to confront how much I’d spent. I still have ups and downs, but having that clarity on where my money is going helps keep me on track and allows me to see how I’m progressing.”
3. Be open to sharing your goals and boundaries with people in your life
Equipped with greater confidence and clarity around her own values and goals, Shrishti started feeling more comfortable having conversations about money with family and friends.
“I used to feel embarrassed talking about money. It felt very taboo. Now that I have the vocabulary and I have more knowledge, I feel more confident talking about it,” Shrishti said.
“I can express things that I’m worried about, I can ask questions, I don’t feel as scared to tell friends that something is out of my budget. So, I’ve been able to have much healthier conversations about money with people in my life, which has helped me feel more confident.”
Now, Shrishti wants to inspire others to start taking an active interest in their financial lives. She encourages people to start sooner than later, because it’s not an overnight process.
“I’m grateful I made the decision early on to start becoming financially educated. If I’d put it off, even for a year, I don’t think I’d be where I am today, because it takes time. It takes time to change the way you think about money, and start developing healthier habits,” she said.
For those in a similar position to where she once was, Shrishti hopes her story will show that you can overcome the fear, build confidence and create a secure financial future.
“No matter how much your background affects you, or how fearful you feel about the future, there’s so much that knowledge can do for you to remove that intimidation of money and shift your mindset. So, take the first step because you’d be surprised at what you can learn.”
SkilledSmart is a financial education platform helping adults learn to save, invest and manage their money. On their website, you can download a free e-book on “5 Money Mistakes Costing You Thousands”, and learn more about the Mastering Money program.
Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
