Needs budget

Join us on the road to overcoming overload

COVID has played havoc with our work life and financial security. But for those who focus on living their strengths, this can open new horizons and opportunities. Believe me, It happened to me.

This is also the experience of Marco who lost his 6-figure job and the financial security he had from his long-term employment with an airline. Naturally, this made him
fearful of what the future may hold for a man who is almost 55 years old.

Meeting with Marco reminded me of my own experience. I was 59 years old. Work pressures and my workaholic lifestyle had significantly compromised my health and relationships. Then I was fired from my last corporate job. Looking back that was the beginning of the best years of my life.

Building on our experience the following are the three steps Marco is taking to build his post COVID life.

The First Step: Overcome fear. The world holds many new horizons and opportunities for Marco. But the first step on the road to envisioning a better future is to overcome the bondage of fear that comes from financial insecurity. To help Marco I shared our 3-step process in facing the fear of financial insecurity:

• Build a needs budget. The needs budget can also be called a survival budget. How much money does your family need to survive? This includes basic food, lowest cost housing, basic healthcare, public transportation, and minimum debt reduction.
• Trust God. As a child of God, trust Him to meet your needs based on His promise “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus”. Philippians 4:19. Please note. In this verse, God promises to meet the needs of His children NOT their wants. Our little children never have to worry about their next meal. Expensive toys, sweets, holidays, and designer clothes are optional.

Get out of debt. Even with his 6-figure compensation plan, Marco was enslaved to a high mortgage, car loans, and overdue credit cards. The Bible tells us “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.” Proverbs 22:7. A slave can never plan a better future. Any extra funds that Marco can get MUST be directed to getting out of debt.

The Second Step: Dream, dream of great and wonderful days to come. Build on your God-given strengths. Your talents are highly transferable to many different roles and productive work options. With flexibility and adaptability, the opportunities that you can find are more than you can imagine. Surround yourself with people who can help you dream.

The Third Step: Create a wants budget. A wants budget includes all the other items that you had to eliminate to create your needs budget. Include all the extras that will reward your faithfulness. I told Marco, “Your best years are still to come. It happened to me.”