“When you focus on lack and scarcity and what you don't have, you fuss about it with your family, you discuss it with your friends, you tell your children that you don't have enough – ‘We don't have enough for that, we can't afford that' – then you'll never be able to afford it, because you begin to attract more of what you don't have. If you want abundance, if you want prosperity, then focus on abundance. Focus on prosperity.” – Lisa Nichols
It’s payday !
I know many of us have money goals and I believe something about being in this new decade is having us move differently.
Now that the holidays are over, it feels like I’m finally able to get a breath of fresh air to replenish my bank accounts from the seasons of thankfulness, sharing and gift giving. I always show out for my loved ones so Christmas, anniversaries, birthdays and Valentine’s Day are huge holidays for me financially, and of course they all seem to roll into each other. I’m not hurting, because I refuse to claim any lack, but I’m definitely looking forward to this upcoming season for expected blessings to hit my bank accounts.
I’m fortunate enough that my job provides a bonus to reward us for all of our hard work throughout the year, and let me tell you, I earned that. Tax season is also here and for some of us, it’s the perfect time to take advantage of the benefits and credits we can get from filing our returns on time.
By praying, planning, and manifesting an abundance of cash flow and believing in what I deserve, I’ve been able to save throughout the year enough to add to my bonus and pay off the last $10,000 of my car note, and still have my tax return refund on the way. How did I do it?
I saved. I’m still saving - and it won’t feel like so much of a burden if I cut it from the top. If you’re saving to pay down debt, purchase a home, or to take more time to enjoy life overall, these methods will work for you.
Pray: My number one goal for 2020 is to use prayer as my first line of defense. The Bible says you can pray about anything, for anything, why not pray about your finances if they are causing a worry over your life?
Manifest: If you believe you receive an abundance of cash flow then you will not be in a lack. To an extent, you have control over the things you bring into your life. Don’t speak on things you do not want to bring to fruition. Prolific Life Magazine has provided 25 money affirmations to attract wealth and abundance, with my top half dozen as follows:
I am a magnet for money. Prosperity is drawn to me.
I move from poverty thinking to abundance thinking.
I use money to better my life and the lives of others.
I am the master of my wealth.
I can handle massive success with grace.
Money expands my life’s opportunities and experiences.
Say these out loud. Believe in them. Own them. You have the power of life and death in your tongue, I’m definitely speaking life over my finances. And watch the funds roll in effortlessly when you begin to believe you deserve it.
Do the work: 2 Thessalonians 3:0 says, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” (ESV). By doing the work, it is not just limited to increasing your hours worked if paid by the time, or increasing your number of client sales, this can mean a number of things to do, which may include:
Change your withholdings
Save bit by bit
Manage your spending
CHANGE YOUR WITHHOLDINGS
I enjoy tax season because in my time of filing my own as well as preparing others’ returns, I’ve learned the power of research and record keeping well ahead of time. Some of us may owe money after filing our taxes right now, but we can absolutely make this the last year we do. In order for you to identify ways to reduce your tax liability, you can:
See how much you owe in total for both Federal and State
Identify the frequency of how you’re paid
Update your W4 withholdings
Some people would prefer to maintain all of their money to invest on their own, get their interest and make more on their hard earned money to make it work for them throughout the year. If you’re like me, while I like to think I’m responsible with money (it doesn’t hurt that I’m an accountant for my 9-5), I also like to treat myself, so if I have the money available in that moment, it’s mine, I spend it (2 Chainz's voice). I don’t mind Uncle Sam holding on to my savings until the beginning of next year if it means I get a nice return in one lump sum. I set myself up for this huge pay day by updating my W4 form. I usually always claim Single and 0, to ensure that the most taxes that can be withheld, are withheld, and for many consecutive years in my younger years, I’ve owed money to the State. It only took me two years in a row of owing to want to update this going forward, and I updated my W4 to indicate that I would prefer for my semimonthly pay to include an additional $20 per pay to be withheld from State. This way, if I’ve owed $400 additional to Delaware, and I’m paid 24 times in a year, by paying an additional $20 per pay I have paid in excess $480 toward my tax liability for that year, and I won’t have to come out of my pocket at the time of my next year’s filing to pay off the remaining money owed (depending on tax increases, pay increase, etc.). You can complete your 2020 W4 form and remit to your HR department similarly by following the steps below:
The ideal way to fill this out is to have either “0” (which will result in the maximum amount of taxes to be withheld from your paycheck) or “1” (which will be the next highest amount).
You can also indicate if you want to have additional money withheld from Federal, State or both – and can indicate how much additional you would want to have. DO NOT CHECK THE BOX THAT STATES YOU ARE EXEMPT FROM TAXES – This is saying that you will be completely responsible for paying ALL amount of taxes due at the end of the year, and you do not want any Federal taxes withheld. This is not what you want to do! This form can be confusing because it asks you to fill out “1” per each line that may apply to you, or “1” for each number of children you may have, but the higher your total is in Line H, the less tax that is withheld, resulting a lower refund (if any), and you potentially can owe!
Of course, I am single, with no kids, so by withholding the maximum amount it works for my lifestyle, but if you have any questions or concerns about what applies best for your life, feel free to schedule a call with a tax professional or a local CPA, the cost of a consultation, if anything at all, could result in major savings and the ability to plan your tax year accordingly.
SAVE BIT BY BIT
Funny enough what started this entire blog post was finding the most adorable adventure fund shadow box piggy bank at my local Dollar Tree. You can’t manage $10,000 , $100,000 , $1,000,000 if you can’t manage $1,000 , even $100. Every bit counts, so if you can manage to save $25 per pay and you’re paid biweekly (26 pays per year), that’s still $650 at the end of the year that you don’t even have to think about. That’s a flight and hotel/air bnb stay for a getaway. You increase that to $50 per pay and that’s a fantastic all inclusive trip for a few days out of the country, available and ready to use to treat yourself. You can break down your money goals into manageable payments by identifying how frequently you are paid, how much you want to save, and how long you plan to save.
Pay / Savings Frequency
Savings per Pay
Total Pays per Year
Total Savings per Year
I am committed to adding $25 per pay to have in this piggy bank, and an additional $250 per month in my savings account with my new found funds from paying my car off this month. I know that $25 per month is going to feel like nothing since I spend that on a night out easily, and make it so much simpler to plan a getaway that I don’t have to worry about adding to my credit card.
MANAGE YOUR SPENDING
Of course there are a ton of articles and resources out to say the same thing, “How can you reduce the funds spent to increase the funds saved?”. This ranges from investing in your own coffee maker for $15 to make coffee for the year rather than spending that $6 per day from Starbucks that turns into $30 a work week, and of course a potential $1,560 per year. But there are other options as well. I enjoy eating out, a lot. But I’m budgeted to do so and if I go over my allotted budget, it eats into the funds that I have to save for later. There have been plenty of times when I’ve chosen to go to a byob rather than a typical restaurant because I can use my $10 bottle of sparkling wine (I’m bourgeois, but I can be that on a budget too!) Rather than $11 per glass of prosecco, and leave the venue feeling noice ! Finding places where there is ample parking to avoid the costs and carpooling with girlfriends is always a great option too.
Even your credit cards can be a tool whether to keep the balances low to not incur a large interest charge for borrowing money, or to gain rewards points from purchases that you were going to pay for anyway and get the cash back. I’ve been able to use rewards points to pay off some debt as well as pay for Christmas shopping, it’s a great way to make your money work for you.
Another option for receiving cash back are utilizing websites like Rakuten. It’s a simple website that allows you to receive a percentage of your purchases as cash back by shopping through them to your favorite websites, including Groupon, Hotels.com, Macy’s, and a whole bunch of other options. So far from using it, I’ve received over $240 cash back and the funds get automatically paid to my Paypal. Not to mention when you invite friends and they use the service to shop, you get $25 for each of your friends once they've made their first purchase. I’ve included my link to sign up here.
Think about the areas where you are spending money, and identify if there are options to reduce those costs. Give it some thought, brainstorm, the results may surprise you.
“The spiritual substance from which comes all visible wealth is never depleted. It is right with you all the time and responds to your faith in it and your demands on it.” – Charles Fillmore
I want to always add value for my readers’ lives, and aide and encourage you to live your best, Bourgeois life possible. I’m no budgetnista, but if there is a way to increase wealth then I’m absolutely here for it. Wealth is a mindset, and we can’t be broke and Bourgeois, not in this decade, and not ever.
I've created a spreadsheet that you can create your own savings goals and see what works best for you. You can track what you've saved so far, and have the full 25 mantras provided by Prolific Living Magazine, as well as a note from yours truly. Be sure to sign up for our mailing list to receive this spreadsheet directly to your inbox!
I’m looking forward to seeing what all you manifest in your own journeys. What are you saving for? Any travel plans you want to see come to fruition this year? Head to my insta @alexispjordan and let me know in the comments !
Happy Manifesting ! 🌷 🍁
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