As the year’s final quarter quickly approaches, Affinity Federal Credit Union AVP and head of wellbeing Grant Gallagher joins Wealth! to break down how investors can best prepare for a fall financial reset.
Gallagher believes that the start of the fall season is a great time to get your finances in order, as summer vacations come to a close and kids return to school. He encourages looking back at all your spending throughout the year and noting any surprise expenses that should be worked into your budget moving forward.
Gallagher explains that by taking a look back, you can better anticipate what expenses lie ahead and plan accordingly.
“This time of year is when those expenses are going to normalize and kind of set for the next six to nine months. Let’s take advantage of that,” Gallagher says. He notes that financial planning can often be stressful.
“People typically tend to veer away from figuring out what their budgets look like because it’s a painful process. They don’t like to see that cost go up. They don’t necessarily want to have to cut things out of their budget. But the reality is, is there’s tools out there and there’s resources that they can use. “
He explains that working with your financial institution can make your budgeting process easier. In addition, he highlights mindfulness techniques that can help you get stress under control.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!
This post was written by Melanie Riehl
Video Transcript
As we enter the final quarter of the year in just a few weeks here, it might be a time to take a closer look at your finances.
Our next guest is here to discuss how you can approach a quote fall financial reset with more.
We’ve got Grant Gallagher Affinity Federal Credit Union A VP and head of well being.
I mean, I’ve, I’ve already kicked this off and I’ve just decided to say, you know what, I’m not gonna buy a PSL until I actually see some pumpkins out there grant.
That’s where I’ve begun.
It’s tiny steps that make the difference here.
But where else can people really kind of start the mindset about a fall financial reset?
Yeah, I mean, now is the time of year and there’s a few things you need to think about.
We’re back from summer vacations.
Kids are back in the classroom.
You know, you need to think about what those surprise expenses you saw over the last year.
You need to work those into your budget.
You want to improve your financial well being by managing your financial stress and focusing on your healthy spending.
You know what happened in the last year that you did not expect.
I mean, let’s be real.
We, we all see those things, for example, those soccer jerseys.
Um, you know, we’re seeing that people have things that they forget about that pop up, those annual insurance premiums, those annual memberships, these are all things that could be hundreds of dollars that people don’t even think about.
Um, you know, we want to make sure that you’re looking at those big bills that have came in through the last year.
The reality is prices are up, bills are going up.
Um personally, for me, my kids uh daycare tuition went up 10% this year.
You know, that’s officially my largest bill.
And if I’m not going and budgeting for that, I’m going to set myself up for failure, I really need to take that look back, anticipate what’s coming up and then look forward.
You know, it, it can be extremely stressful if you’re looking at your finances and you go through this reset and you say, man, I’m way behind the eight ball here or, or at least the plan that I had set up earlier in the year.
How can you make sure that even as you’re doing this reset, that perhaps you’re creating techniques to, to check in more frequently on the financial health as well of your plan and of your strategy?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, you need to have that be a major part of what you’re thinking about and what you’re considering, you know, just from the budgeting perspective, let’s let’s be realistic.
People don’t do that actively, they don’t go to an ongoing basis.
But this time of year is when those expenses are going to normalize and kind of set for the next 6 to 9 months.
Let’s take advantage of that.
But you also have to remember is the budget just for you or is it for your family?
Do you, you know who do you live with?
Who does your budget impact?
They need to be involved in that conversation.
They need to be involved before you start cutting things.
Um Also the recent fed rates that could have a significant impact on any credit card payments, you have loan payments, you need to build that into, into the new budget.
And you know, what does that look like?
If you have savings?
Can you boost your emergency fund?
Can you work towards that savings goal?
Um Lots of things you can do and then also from the mind mindfulness perspective.
Um Of course, this is, this can all be very stressful, right?
People typically tend to veer away from figuring out what their budgets look like because it’s a painful process.
They don’t like to see that cost go up.
They don’t necessarily want to have to cut things out of their budget.
But the reality is that there’s tools out there and there’s resources that they can use.
You shouldn’t, you know, if, if you don’t mind, I just have a couple more points here, but you don’t want to be afraid to work with your financial institution.
Most of them have tools and resources and experts that can make the process easier.
Uh Here at affinity, we have well being coaches that work with people to get them through this process and focus on their financial well being and what matters to them.
And then of course, there is the traditional mindfulness techniques and you know, those help you deal with financial stress breathing techniques, uh focusing on where your budget went, right?
Focusing on what, where your spending went, right?
Um These are all little things you can do to make the experience less stressful.
No, it’s spot on.
I mean, my goodness intros, introspectively, there’s been a gut check for sure.
Grant here.
I’ve just been kind of boy Maing it through the summer and hoping I come out.
All right.
You know, at the end of the day, as we think about going into the holidays, there are gonna be a lot of households that make some, some difficult decisions.
But how can they make sure that they’re doing it with their financial best interest in mind as well?
Well, I mean, the reality is you have to include everybody.
You need to focus on what matters, you need to set those expectations that can sometimes be ambiguous.
Um You know, if you don’t understand what matters to people, you won’t know what you need to keep in your budget and what’s ok to cut.
Um But you also need to think about what alternatives are out.
There are traditions truly been things that matter to you or is it something that was too expensive and not worth it?
And you know, you really need to be intentional and thoughtful in how you’re spending.
Yeah, this was a true therapy session for me here, Grant.
Thanks so much Greg Gallagher, who is the Affinity Federal Credit Union A VP and head of well being a lot of good nuggets for our viewers to take away there.
Appreciate the time.
Thanks Brad.
