Has your enthusiasm for the game of soccer been kicked into high gear with the recent excitement of the World Cup? Now you too can join in on the fun of getting away from the sidelines and onto the playing field online, while also stretching your financial knowledge muscles!
Take a timeout from your regular routine and get your head in the game - Play a round of Visa's "Financial Soccer" and see how you score!
If you’ll recall, the very first post in this series pointed to the idea that financial and lifestyle changes to improve overall wellness seemed similar because they can appear more like sacrifices and they probably wouldn’t stick in the long run. The post concluded that trying to implement “BIG” financial and lifestyle decisions might be more worth the effort. Since we have covered all of the financial “BIG”s in the last few posts of this series, let’s finish out the series by summarizing the “BIG” lifestyle decisions that could be made to improve your overall health.
1. Plan and Prepare Ahead: Set aside a couple hours every few days (I use Sundays and Wednesdays, for example) to put together a healthy shopping list, buy the groceries, and portion/prepare snacks and meals in advance.
Benefits: No more eating out because “there’s nothing in the fridge”, no more missing snacks/meals, no more microwave meals, no more worry and hassle trying to feed yourself and your loved ones (the stress alone makes me want a brownie). You can eat more healthy and more frequently, which will keep your metabolism going. You could have more time to enjoy the meals with your loved ones, more energy from eating better, and you might even lose some unnecessary pounds.
Effort: Planning and preparing does take some time, and certainly some effort at first if this is new to your schedule, but just like anything else you do on a continued basis, it easily becomes a habit and part of your weekly routine. By having snacks correctly pre-portioned, vegetables and fruit already washed and cut, and meals prepared and ready to cook, you will ultimately save time and stress, which means having more free time and energy for other things.
2. Remove and Replace: Figure out what food items are holding you back from your goals (i.e. aforementioned brownies) and remove them from your diet by replacing them with a better alternative. You’ll be looking for less calories, less fat, less sugar, less carbs, and more protein, fiber, and vitamins. Make small changes in your replacements so it doesn’t seem like such a leap or sacrifice. Keep trying new and different healthy choices to see what works for you. If you drink regular soda, try drinking juice or tea, and work your way to unsweet tea and water. If you drink 2% or whole milk, try drinking 1% and work your way down to skim milk. If you have a sweet tooth, replace those brownies with fruit and chocolate sauce, and eventually work your way down to eating just the fruit. Replace your red meats with poultry by preparing them in the same fashion at first, such as using a chicken or turkey patty on your cheeseburger, or using ground turkey in your chili. Add vegetables where you can, even if you have to add extra seasoning at first.
Benefits: You can try new and different foods, plus fuel your body with better choices which will result in better health, focus, energy, and possibly even put you in a better mood. And of course, you might lose some weight by choosing better food alternatives.
Effort: This might take a little research on which foods work as good replacements and how to prepare them. You should also pay more attention to nutrition details of items, which could take a little longer when deciding what to buy/order. But you will be amazed how quickly your body will adapt to eating healthier food items, how little you will miss the old items, and how much better you will feel every day.
3. Focus on More: When you think about being healthier, do the words "restrict" or "limit" or "diet" come to mind? Why must we immediately go to the negatives when we think about being healthier? Instead of thinking about what you could be missing or sacrificing, focus on what you WILL be getting.
Benefits: Changing your attitude, although listed as the third item in this blog, should probably be your first focus. By focusing on MORE, everything you decide to do from here forward will be easier and seem less like a sacrifice and more like something you GET to do, GET to eat, or GET to achieve.
Effort: This is such a simple change, but it might not be that easy. Pay attention to your attitude when you hear that little voice inside your head, when you talk to others, and when you respond to others. Catch yourself if you veer toward the negative or the less, and steer yourself right back on track to the positive and to the MORE.
And with that, our blog series on Making the Right Decisions concludes. We hope you enjoyed the series and look forward to hearing how you have started making better decisions toward achieving your finance and health goals!
Last week, our blog discussed how making small financial and health decisions and changes might not work, because many small changes are either sacrifices in disguise, or the effort outweighs the outcome. So this week, let’s take a look at the first and most extensive financial “BIG” decision that can be made with little effort and sacrifice, but can have “BIG” results.
Setting up automatic payments for any type of recurring financial debit or credit can be a very beneficial decision for your financial situation. Here is a list of many of the types of payments you could automate.
No more missing payments or making mistakes on payments. Set up automatic payments correctly and your payments will be on time and in the exact amount you want. With direct deposit, your money will be in your account around the same time every pay period.
More time for the other aspects of your life. The amount of time it takes to set up and monitor an automatic payment (which you only have to set up the ONE time) will most likely be less than what it takes to collect, open, sort, and file the bill you receive in the mail (a process that occurs every month), and that doesn’t even include the time it takes to write the check, tear off and fill out the payment stub, stamp and fill out the envelope, and put the envelope in the mail (whew!). Also, setting up a one-time direct deposit or automatic savings/investment payment can save time and hassle of frequent visits to the bank to deposit checks or transfer funds.
Save money. You could save on checks, envelopes, ink, stamps, and the cost of fuel used for trips to the store for these items, or the bank to make your deposit. Plus, some institutions offer better account options, waive certain fees, or supply rewards or other benefits for having automatic payments/deposits or emailed statements, because it saves on their bottom line since less paper and less labor is needed.
Making full payments - on time, every time - will help your credit score.
Eliminating all that paper and driving saves on the environment.
Finally, automatic payments have the flexibility to update, change, or cancel your payments with just a brief phone call or a few clicks of a button online.
If you are interested in direct deposit from your employer, talk to your Human Resources department. For most companies with direct deposit, all you need to do is fill out paperwork and supply them with a voided check, deposit slip, or letter of authorization from your bank.
You will first need the information for accounts you wish to automate (found on your bill or statement).
Next, you will want to either 1) Contact your bank and set up online bill pay, or 2) Contact the companies through which you have recurring payments and set up automatic bill pay.
Any of these steps can be accomplished by making a call to customer service, or setting up automatic payments online.
Where possible, you may want to consider switching to companies which DO allow automatic payments.
Of course, you should monitor automatic payments to make sure they are the correct amounts occurring at the correct time. Log into your online account and look at the most recent transactions. Remember to watch your balances, because you wouldn’t want to overdraft your payment account, or overpay a bill.
For the savvy and experienced auto-payer, you could consider using a rewards credit card to pay your bills, and then pay off the full credit card balance every month. This allows you to earn points/rewards while also making a few monthly payments from your checking account. Again, this is ONLY recommended if you pay off the credit card balance in full every time you make a payment, because you DO NOT want to build up any more debt.
Next week, we will take a look at more of our financial and lifestyle “BIG” decisions that can have “BIG” results with little time and effort. Stay tuned!