Want a Prosperity Boost? — Clear Your Physical & Mental Financial Clutter

How about using some of this at-home time to make space for all the good that’s ahead for you – including money!

Cleaning up the messes in your life can be one of the best ways to boost your prosperity.

And it’s easier than you may think. In this video I describe 3 steps to get you started:

3 Steps to Clearing Financial Clutter

Here are three steps to tackling both physical clutter (all those papers) as well as mental clutter (those things you did and wish you hadn’t, or the things you know need to be done).

1. Tackle those papers!

Even in our paperless world there still may be paperwork you’re hanging on to that you’ll likely never need. If you can get a copy online – toss it! As Marie Kondo says keep what brings you joy and toss the rest.

Puzzled by which statements, invoices and personal financial records you need to keep? This guide will help you sort it out: Financial Records: What to Save, What to Toss.

2. Create your financial to-do list

List all of those things you know you need to get done such as your will, changing beneficiaries, and cleaning out files.

3. Make a list of past mistakes

Write them down, note what you learned from your mistakes, then… burn, tear up or delete your list. The past does not exist. Learn from it and move on!

After you’ve done some clearing out – let me know about any “not-just-a-coincidence” experiences that happen for you! Leave a comment below.

Here’s to your prosperity,

P.S. And when you’re ready and the time is right, let me know if you want to have a conversation about how to listen to and understand your own thoughts and beliefs when it comes to money. Email me at ellen@ellenrogin.com and put “money thoughts” in the subject line.

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Have You Thanked Your Money Lately?

Gratitude is a powerful tool for generating better health, happiness, and even more money. It may seem like a “fluffy” financial strategy but has real benefits.

The tricky part is making sure that it is part of your daily routine. For years I’ve been using my Five Minute Journal to write what I’m grateful for each day. I love this process. I’m also realizing that spending a bit more time writing about and feeling what I am grateful for has an even bigger impact. This is inspired by A Path to Wealth which I’m currently reading. In this book the author, May McCarthy, provides a seven-step process for financial abundance which includes a daily gratitude practice of writing a letter to whatever or whomever you consider a higher power or source.

This inspired me to adapt that process to write a thank you note to Money. I’ve been journaling a lot with Money in the last year. I find it helps me get clear on my next moves in business, who to reach out to, what to share in my workshops and online speaking events, and what to write about in my blogs. I’m now adding a thank you note to the process.

Here’s a format that might be helpful for you too:

Here’s to your prosperity,

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Do You suffer from Self-Impoverishment?

Is it possible to have enough money and feel poor? To have sufficient financial resources but think, worry, and act as if you are one step away from being on the street? You might not want to admit this out loud, especially given the dire financial straits that many are suffering during the pandemic, but deep inside many people have recurring conversations in their heads as if they are impoverished.

The definition of impoverishment is: the state of lacking sufficient money or material possessions.

Your actual financial circumstances might not meet the definition, but does the way you talk to yourself and act reflect that this is how you feel?

One of the key words in this definition is sufficient. What do you believe is sufficient? The amazing author, leader, and philanthropist Lynne Twist talks about the idea of sufficiency in her must read book The Soul of Money. This is the money related book I recommend the most.

When I worked as a financial advisor, I spoke with people who had plenty of money to meet their needs (and wants) and still were constantly worried they weren’t going to be okay. Afraid to make a wrong move or spend money on things that might bring them joy. Worry and fear was their constant state when it came to their finances. Financial projections and discussion helped quell their concerns for a bit, but 2 a.m. worries would surface again. One study revealed that 25% of Americans say they worry about money all the time.

Sometimes you might find yourself in a complicated and difficult financial situation. Factors like job loss, medical conditions, economic events may impact you. This could justify feeling scared and worried, of course. But staying in this state of feeling like there is not enough, and the anxiety that goes along with that, will not only hinder your ability to find a way out but may also be detrimental to your health.

Here are some ideas to help shift away from feelings of impoverishment:

Want what you already have. There’s more on this in last week’s blog.
Give to those who are truly in dire straits. Generosity is an antidote to worry.
Boost your mindfulness. Having a meditation practice allows you to more clearly see your thoughts for what they are … just thoughts.

Just as you can talk yourself into self-impoverishment, you can also talk yourself into feeling abundant.

Here’s to your prosperity,

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Should You do Negative Visualization?

I’m all about the possibilities, about optimism, about positivity. So when I heard about negative visualization on a Hidden Brain podcast I was stumped. Why would anyone spend time focusing on what they don’t want to happen? As I listened it made total sense and actually is a great strategy for building happiness and mental strength.

The guest on the podcast was William Irvine, a professor of philosophy at Wright State University and author of A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy. Irvine talked about the hedonic treadmill. This is the tendency of humans to return back to a base line level of happiness after a really good thing happens.

Irvine goes on to explain that there is this happiness gap that many people experience. This is where you think you’ll be happy when…

when you get a raise
when you find the perfect partner
when your kids are happy
when you lose 20 pounds
when the pandemic is over
when you change jobs

Irvine suggests a better way to increase happiness now is to:

Learn to want what you already have.

One concept he studied from ancient stoic philosophers is the idea of imagining what you currently value going away. For example, if you briefly imagined something happening to someone you love dearly your appreciation level for them will likely rise (and your annoyance at the dishes left in the sink will likely diminish). This type of brief negative visualization has the power shift you from a state of wanting to one of deep appreciation.

Negative visualization can also get you prepared if something does go wrong.

If things don’t work out as you planned, how would you deal with it? This type of contingency planning is very helpful. Even if things do go as you expect, being ready for an alternative outcome can help you be more resilient and flexible.

I didn’t realize I do this naturally until I heard of negative visualization. One of the biggest realizations I had on a 7-day silent retreat is that I have a fair number of disasterizing thoughts. These thoughts happen so quickly that they barely registered before I quieted down enough to notice them. Here’s an example of a typical thought: If I fall on this trail, will anyone find me before it gets dark? Or, if this storm gets worse and I lose everything in my office, including my laptop, what will I do? These types of thoughts don’t stay with me very long or turn into worries. Instead, I think they help me to think of what I would do.

The biggest take away for me is to remember – want what you have!

So give negative visualization a try and let me know how it works for you.

Every good wish,

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My New Year Ritual

The end of the year is a beautiful, typically quiet (especially this year) time to think ahead, create, and envision. Last week I wrote about creating a highlight reel of the past year to remember all the good that happened.

Our family has New Year’s rituals for setting the stage for a great next year. We’ve done these since 2003.

Rogin Family Goal setting:

We write our goals for the coming year. This is a list of what we would love to see happen and accomplished. Often included are savings goals. When Amy was seven years old, she set the goal of saving $100. That’s a huge number for a little kid. Not sure how, but she did it and has been a great saver ever since. We typically set a target of how much we want to give to charities as well. Of course, we also write down other goals. When the kids were in school, they set goals around grades and athletic achievements. There are usually travel goals, goals around friends, etc. I usually have a goal on how many books I’ll read during the year.
We make two copies. One copy goes in the “goal box” which is a special box that holds all of our goals from each year. The second copy we burn in the fireplace to seal in our goals. Not sure how or why we started doing this but it’s what we do. As we place the paper in the burning fire we give it the blessing of “so be it.”
The Goal Box. This box holds all of our goal sheets. It is so fun to go back and see what we set as goals. The benefit of time is that I realize that even if a goal isn’t accomplished in the year I planned, if it’s an important goal, it eventually happens. For Benjy and Amy it is so sweet for them to read their goals from when they were little kids.
New Year’s Day meal. Since I read it was good luck and brings prosperity for the coming year, we always have black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. There’s more on this here. A few years ago we were in Ghana over New Years and our cook Evelyn made them for the same reasons. I loved it! Pretty sure this is the vegan recipe I’m making tomorrow, but I’ll make it in the Instant Pot to speed it up a bit.This year is the first year we’ve ever been apart during New Years, but we’ll continue our rituals virtually (better remind Benjy and Amy to go out and get black-eyed peas!)

My wish for you is a beautiful, healthy, and prosperous 2021!

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Do This Before You Set Your 2021 Goals

This is a year that lots and lots of people did not hit the goals they set in January, and for good reason. Often in December we look back on the year and our goals and maybe we aren’t where we thought we’d be. This feeling of non-accomplishment sucks. It makes it hard to get excited about setting goals for the next year.

What if instead of looking at what didn’t get done or go right during the year, you focused on the things that did go well.

Even amid a global pandemic and much suffering, there are still some things that each of us can be thankful for and feel some sense of growth, progress, realization or benefit.

Here’s a simple way to focus on the good that showed up during the year.

Create a highlight reel of your year in review.

Go through the pictures in your phone and create an album of the good stuff. Chances are you’ll see some things you had forgotten about.
Spend some time with each image and the feelings they bring up.

Here’s part of my 2020 highlights album:

I trust that looking for the good will bring you some smiles too. Have fun with it!

Every good wish,

P.S. When you’re ready and the time is right, let me know if you want to have a conversation about how to listen to and understand your own thoughts and beliefs when it comes to money. Email me at ellen@ellenrogin.com and put “money thoughts” in the subject line.

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Which is Better, to Give or Receive?

I know you’ve likely grown up hearing it’s better to give than receive, right? Well is it really?

Yes, clearly there are many benefits to giving. These include:

Generosity boosts happiness levels.
Generous acts inspire others to give.
Generous people tend to make more money.
Volunteering can be good for your mental and physical health.
Generous people are hot (yes there is research about how generous people are more attractive.)

Here’s my question to you …

If you are always the giver are you preventing someone else from reaping the benefits of giving to you?

Isn’t it a bit selfish to not receive? After all, there can’t be a giver without a receiver.

If you are not open to receiving this could actually hurt your relationships and your business. Who has been offering to give to you that you’ve been saying no to, or pushing away? Sometimes the most generous thing you can do is to let someone else give to you.

My mother-in-law used to always want to send us home with something when we visited her in Atlanta. Sometimes it was a bowl, or cans of tuna, or even a giant box of aluminum foil. The foil actually became part of joke during my daughter Amy’s bat mitzvah speech (10 years ago) … She was finally adult enough to care for this family “heirloom.” We almost always graciously accepted the gifts from my mother-in-law, even when we didn’t need or want them. It made her feel great to give to us. Our memory of her is that of a loving, generous woman.

Need a little practice with being a better receiver?

Try graciously accepting the next compliment you receive. Simply say thank you. Truly take it in without diminishing it in your mind or with your words.

By the way, I think you’re awesome. (Did you take that one in?!)

Every good wish,

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Why Want vs Need is Messed Up

Need vs. want? You’ve heard this concept before … that you should look at your spending and decide if a purchase is a need or a want. Given what’s happening for so many people now, where their needs are not being met, perhaps it’s time for a new view on this concept.

What would it mean to serve someone else’s need vs. your want?

The social contract with cyber Monday and giving Tuesday is so interesting when viewed from this perspective. Shouldn’t the days be arranged the other way around – where you give to those in need first and then you spend money on the wants for you or people on your list second?

We can see the significance of this if we just take a look at food insecurity, one of many issues that has been made worse by the pandemic. According to a Feeding America study pre-pandemic food insecurity had already been impacting 35 million people annually in the U.S. including 11 million children. These were actually the lowest numbers in 20 years. The pandemic has reversed those improvements made over the past decade since the Great Recession. So when Feeding America now projects that 1 in 6 (more than 50 million people) are experiencing food insecurity in 2020, including 1 in 4 children (approximately 17 million), we know that millions more are newly experiencing this basic need, right now.

I’m not suggesting feeling guilty or wrong with purchases and gifting, but instead suggesting you consider how much better you might feel by also digging deeper this year to help others – whether through charitable giving or direct financial gifts to those in need.

In the words of Anne Frank:

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

Every good wish,

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Is Your Money Feminine or Masculine?

Is money feminine or masculine?

That may sound like a weird question but play along with me a bit. If I asked you – if you had to guess – would you say “money” was more like a stereotypical male or a stereotypical female? If you find that you default to “oh, if I were to personify money it would definitely be a guy,” you might be like a lot of people. Why do you think you might say that? Maybe because for a long time money and the financial systems were run by men. I should say they are still run by mostly men. According to Morningstar, women made up only 14% of fund managers across 56 countries (in the US it’s only 11%). And yet, through September of this year women-led funds have actually outperformed their male counter parts.

Maybe you lean toward money being male because your dad was in charge of the money when you were growing up like it was in my home. My mom used to “ask” my dad for a check when she needed to pay someone. It’s not that he was controlling, it was just how they delegated those duties back then.

Possibly a lot of us think of money as masculine because of this fun fact: many languages actually assign words a gender. For example, grammatically in French, Spanish, Italian – money is considered masculine.

The fact is that many more people typically attribute a masculine energy to money.

But what if you simply added some feminine energy to your concept of money?

For the record – I don’t actually believe that money is more male or female. Money’s more they/them than he/him or she/her. However, adding some feminine to the mix will help change a lot. Money fits into our lives best when there is both masculine and feminine energy – a balance. The yin and yang. At their most positive both feminine and masculine energies are important in creating true prosperity.

Masculine and feminine energies at less stable levels lead to a lot of money disfunction. Masculine energies of aggressive competition, control, abuse, avoidance, and withdrawal are bad for your prosperity. Similarly, less than excellent feminine qualities like being overly-emotional, needy, and insecure don’t work well either.

Balance is important in all areas of life. Money is no exception.

We all have masculine and feminine energies and traits. Adding more of the feminine into your money management, goal setting, and your financial life in general will help and could be just what you need to create more prosperity on purpose.

Every good wish,

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Easy Bake Finances

Was there an Easy Bake Oven in your house when you were a kid? I loved mine. I remember taking the mix, adding water, putting the batter in the small round pan, and sliding it into the oven to be baked by the light bulb. I waited… and waited… and eventually a little round cake was created. I still love to bake. My mom being a great baker was likely a bigger influence than my Easy Bake Oven, but it certainly helped.

Ellen’s Thanksgiving pies

Wouldn’t it be cool to have managing money be this easy?

Who wouldn’t want Easy Bake Finances?

Here’s how I see it working. There’s a simple mix (you get to choose the flavor). You just add a bit of money, you let it bake and rise and, if you are patient enough, at the end you have your delicious result.

It actually could be that easy. At least parts of money management could be.

The recipe is simple:

Find the investment mix you like. There are lots of places to do this – either using a financial advisor to help, going with an online service, or doing your own research (the last being less easy bake but may suit your tastes).
Add generous amounts of savings.
Sift through limiting money beliefs.
Stir in abundant thoughts.
Be patient and let it bake. Your money cake may rise or fall but with enough time you’ll likely end up with your delicious treat.

Feel free to share this recipe!

Every good wish,

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3 Steps to Clearing Financial Clutter

1. Tackle those papers!

2. Create your financial to-do list

3. Make a list of past mistakes

The definition of impoverishment is: the state of lacking sufficient money or material possessions.

Here are some ideas to help shift away from feelings of impoverishment:

Learn to want what you already have.

Negative visualization can also get you prepared if something does go wrong.

The biggest take away for me is to remember – want what you have!

Rogin Family Goal setting:

My wish for you is a beautiful, healthy, and prosperous 2021!

What if instead of looking at what didn’t get done or go right during the year, you focused on the things that did go well.

Create a highlight reel of your year in review.

Here’s part of my 2020 highlights album:

Yes, clearly there are many benefits to giving. These include:

If you are always the giver are you preventing someone else from reaping the benefits of giving to you?

Need a little practice with being a better receiver?

What would it mean to serve someone else’s need vs. your want?

Is money feminine or masculine?

But what if you simply added some feminine energy to your concept of money?

Balance is important in all areas of life. Money is no exception.

Wouldn’t it be cool to have managing money be this easy?

The recipe is simple:

What Your Generosity Style Says About You