Welcome to the Bright Ideas by Brighter Together (BIxBT) resource page! We thank you for your generous contribution in sponsoring a woman with basic business skills! As a special thank you for your generous donation we are including videos, resources and worksheet for you to get started.
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In Seminar #1 we meet Financial Advisor and Houston Chapter Member, Amy Ryba. Amy walks us through the steps for your Financial Empowerment journey. Whether you already have started and need some extra motivation, or you are ready to start your financial empowerment journey it’s packed full of information for taking action! Watch Now
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Watch this 3-minute video with co-Director, Meredith De Leon, and how she discovered little action steps that count up in a big way!
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Listen how co-Director, Jenny Seal, turned her ordinary Mondays into “Money Mondays” starting a new tradition of financial conversations with her daughters! Watch Now
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For this interactive session we have curated questions from fellow participants that will be answered live by our honoree speaker, Amy Ryba. Additionally, we will get into some information about the ‘Beyond’ —creating a new chapter in your financial story and how you can find empowerment in leaving your legacy.
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Your feedback to the videos is so helpful to guiding future events. The survey is about 3 minutes. Thank you! Survey
Resources
Did you take our survey? Your feedback is very helpful for planning of future events.
Below are helpful tips and you can download the worksheet as well! We thank you for joining in our first Bright Ideas by Brighter Together event! As mentioned, we are including information to help you in your financial empowerment journey! You can also download a helpful worksheet to get you going!
Your Resources for Creating Action!
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Action for Today:
My Action Steps for Financial Empowerment, TODAY
Focusing on Today is about creating steps that will help you develop new habits to get you where you want to be Tomorrow and Beyond. Below are a few ideas of what you can do!
Suggestions of Financial Empowerment Goals for Today:
-Put a plan in place for an emergency fund and allocate a specific amount each week to it
-Create a spending goal for groceries
-Meal plan & create a shopping list -only shop off the list!
-Address outstanding debts and create a plan to pay them off
-Look at your transactions for the last three months and find areas to remove unnecessary/impulse spending
-Look for opportunities to spend that will help save you time and stress
-Talk to your partner about your goals & listen to your partner about their goals
-Spend time with your partner looking at your collective spending habits, and categorizing them
-Talk to your partner/family about financial goals
-Talk to your children about family financial goals
-Reduce dining out spending
-Create conversations around impulse spending
-Identify all credit card accounts and determine if you want to continue or cancel, once it is paid off
-Focus on one credit card debt at a time, with the highest interest rate, and pay it off.
-If you are not the bill paying/investing person in your house, create a shared ‘Accounts’ document including account numbers, passwords and the purpose of each account
-Maximize any matching programs your employer may offer
-Meet with your Human Resources manager to understand your financial benefits clearly.
-Meet with your employer to discuss a path to an increase in pay. Establish measurable outcomes and evaluation timelines.
-Look for everyday areas to save -even if it is small
-Identify your credit score
-Understand what your credit score means
-Take steps to improve your credit score
-Revisit subscriptions and determine if you want to continue or cancel
-Utilize your library instead of buying books
-Open a savings account
-Create an autopay to yourself in a savings account that you do not use
-Use your tax refund to start or grow the emergency fund
-Call your credit card issuer and ask to have your due date moved to a couple of days after payday.
-Cook on the weekend and make lunches during the week.
-Have semi-annual yard sales.
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Planning for Tomorrow
The habits you take on today are what will get you to where you want to be tomorrow. But do you know where you want to be and are you prepared for it?
Below are some examples to get you thinking about how you can plan for your future:
-Write down where you see yourself in five to ten years. What do you want your life to be like? What do you anticipate your life being like?
-Is there opportunity to pick up extra work or generate additional income to contribute to a short term life goal (down payment on a house, saving for a child, planning a wedding, creating more investments?
-Pay yourself first- inquire with your employer about a 401(k) retirement program or establish a Roth IRA or a traditional IRA.
-Establish a budget and stick to it for 6 months….re evaluate.
-Select a life insurance plan for you, your partner, children
-Research a 529 college savings plan
-Establish savings accounts for your children– birthday money goes into savings immediately.
-Meet with financial advisor or financial consultant
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Going to the Beyond
Planning for the Beyond means 10+ years in the future. Where do you see yourself and what is your desired lifestyle? What life events do you need to plan for? What do you want in life, but think you cannot have? Watch Seminar #2 for all the details!
Read more of the Q & A that were not answered in Seminar #2.
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Additional Resources
Below are a list of sources used for the seminar and additional resources provided from BTF chapter members:
Podcast: Eight Qualities to Create A Life of Wealth
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