on the show with me now is life coach cathie joh public how are you today cathie joh out to rekha you call and i'm doing pretty good and uh... topic that's always on a lot of our minds financial stress worry i did cause a lot of stress and worry kind of going to come up with people with that today well we are and you know we haven't i'm kind of being retrospect retro help me with that word retrospective or i'd say retroactive i don't think that that retro and i'm thinking we need to go back to the fact that i feel like we find it too hard and i'm thinking looking at some statistics i'm thinking let's talk about it some more and i'm a little concerned and i'll share with you why i shot you that let's talk about financial stress specifically because american workers are more stressed over their finances than ever before yeah it seems like more reports that come out that seems to be the case yet and it's in it's ninety percent are worried about either their uh... finances of their families ninety percent that's huge in something i'm thinking of this may be what we're talking about it but you know we have our current finances we have to worry about but there's always that you know you have to say for the future retiree you so you're not only have to take care of now but you have to take care of the future you do and it's many that's it exactly and then if you have children if you have older parents uh... if maybe you have uh...
people are thinking i don't know if i'll ever be able to retire i got work the rest of my life so it either so many things to look at and with the data that i'm reading it was from a well-known wellness company and they had done the survey and even on the seventy percent are taking care of financial issues while at work so it is even impacting the workplace that's pretty happy that's pretty serious with you know we talk about stress we talk about the spillover effect when one area filled over another area and you can see that one he's a threat affecting another area it's really snowballing it's causing quite a flood there are in how what can we do to help well i thought that kind of like what we like a little bit but take a deep breath and let's start thinking about what financially causing our stress maybe credit card debt could be but let's listen to them i think i think i'm going to be purely you know let's throw something down so we can get people think it's by them to take control and there are many many many resources people can reach out to me they can reach out to you we love the word reach out and get some help there's no i guess i feel so bad at thinking that somebody might be sitting there listening struggling with their finances and not knowing where to turn you feel stuck you do feel trust me i don't know about i felt like that unless i don't think well they you know he doesn't know what i do i trust me it's not a walk apart from either now and it hasn't been for me twenty years ago a long haul to get myself financially independent and it does it takes work it takes time at it time and work well spent and anybody can do that if they put their mind to it so we're here to support people that's why we talk about that so let's brainstorm what could we or are we worried about financially credit card debt okay that credit card debt what else retirement retirement health care health care savings does that qualify absolutely anything financially you know maybe you know you need repairs to your house you can't take care of your your home because you don't have the money because you don't have the money to go to see expenses repairs exactly right you have you know maybe your furnace is making noises and you're thinking oh i don't know what i can do with this i don't have money saved um if you're arguing there you see a strain on relationships and that's i think probably finances are the number one cause of um arguments and divorces are pretty near the top uh... your arguing it's affecting your your relationship i'm thinking of somebody now this may be going down maybe another branch of a road but i i thought about this on the show before if somebody that they have uh... maybe any kind of addiction gambling addiction that can be i mean that may be kind of awful bit what were but i think that could affect you financially and when you do that then when you have moments that you're kind of sitting back looking at things are thinking what did i do and i get you what i do and maybe people with college maybe their education you know student loans right student loans yes absolutely there's a bunch of them they are your bill and you're worried that that collectors are calling you uh... you're skipping one bill to pay another bill uh...
you're using your credit card too much because you don't have the cash and you think i'm i got getting further and further that's a mental thing it's almost like if you get a credit card and let's say your credit limits ten thousand in your mind a lot of people's minds and i've been guilty as this you would think uh... i've got ten thousand dollars to spend you don't look at it as this is just somebody you know i i've got to pay this back plus interest i'm going to be paying more back exactly you just think you have that at your disposal just to use however you want freely throughout my day that might be on people's mind and i'm going to be a really think about are you stressed over money money-caught in you don't worry and lose sleep you know and we talk about saving so whatever is jotted down uh... and i know we talk about this a lot from any minute years that we may be we need to sort of reframe it specifically stress about finances i look back in a couple years since we talked about specifically financial has been a while you're right it has we talk a lot about finances but not specifically about stress though let's talk about some of those things that we're going to walk through this so you are stressed about pick up one of those areas i will say maybe i'm stressed about uh... having money for retirement for the future okay retirement and future and i would say make sure you have a little emergency question there was a study that i love uh...
many years not that many years ago but i'm dating myself it seems like it was more recent but they were the really good study about if you can build up that first five hundred dollars emergency fund you're gonna sleep better and you'll be able to keep that going so that little on that question you need a little bit of question and i think that you go actually about that first five hundred dollars and put it under the mattress put it behind a picture put it in a savings account know your habits know what works for you because i can tell you what i do and maybe i don't like that okay so think about what works for you so you mentioned retirement and future and i would say do you have an emergency at least that five hundred dollars emergency question okay ready and what would you say to me i would say yes and i would say great let's go to the next level but a little flow chart dot you don't have that emergency five hundred i would say think about where you can free up five or ten dollars a week that you know that that five hundred dollars i would say have you talked financial advisor if you're working to have a 401k person who could you talk to who do you know that very good with investing in retirement okay and other than you i've never talked about finances with anyone like that uh... i'm glad that that's quite a compliment and let me ask you real quick to before i don't mean the side track here i would talk about savings you obviously have a my main bank account checking savings you know but that's all accessible do you recommend maybe looking into how do you feel about credit union i love credit you do and i'm glad you said that and i hope you were listening you and i don't have anything scripted we talk we've found things off we know what our topic is but i'm glad you brought that up because many many credit unions have also gotten into i'm helping with retirement as well i'm not a retirement uh... another retirement specialist i'm not an investment specialist or certified financial planner so i would certainly and after great great idea when you look at your credit union they can help with your savings you might want multiple savings accounts where you can put money in and forget about it so you're not having a new in your checking account but i don't if your credit union has any kind of retirement services and i can either help us they are not a lot of their own by us the members and generally that is go well it and i'm glad you answered that because if you you may say you're not sort of but when i look at you like what you know what but she can give me the tools at least it you can you can kind of not just to work the direction we need to kind of go so that's where you know your expertise is greatly appreciated on that and when it comes to the 401k part and like contributing to that i've always been somebody and i might my mind has shifted on this a little bit but when it comes to option contributing to that i've always said no because i think i don't want to give up any more money coming out of my paycheck i i always think that's not going to be me i'm not going to need that but as the age starts to creep up and things are happening like right you know twenty years ago i should have been contributing to that because i would probably have a nice little uh... chunk of money by now and bingo you got it earlier you can start taking for retirement that better and if you're in your twenty please start putting away try to put away at least five thousand towards retirement keep that going the longer you start the harder it is that you brought up so many good things there i don't know all the answers nobody knows all the answers but when you and i talk about a mini coaching session with the brain stormy to get ideas and resources and become a bit idea that maybe we would not have thought of if we hadn't combined our our efforts and there's plenty of people out there they can help but with a 401k plan at work if you're employed look into your for a one-day plan talk to human resources and what i think is it really is a win-win normally employers will match a certain amount at least contribute enough to get that matching sure that is i really really smart smart thing to do at least contribute enough to get the matching if you can do more certainly great and you have to tax advantage because of the when you contribute then that is left money that you're paying income tax on paying your tax on that comes right off the you have to have that tax savings and saving that money for retirement right right and caddy joh what we're talking to you get us out your website and contact information for you to reach out to you absolutely at caddy joholic dot com k-h-y j-o-l-a-c-k dot com and the contact me link right there you can email me you can call me i'd love to hear from anyone everyone so we can talk have a real conversation about what can you start doing what is one thing that you can start doing to make you feel better sleep better and feel less stress because stress is dangerous it sure is it can lead to a whole string of issues and even if it's just means starting that savings account out small just rest assured just don't uh...
baby steps don't have to do anything like a big here this amount of here just a little bit today will go a long way tomorrow take one of those things that you've lifted and i'm thinking that that maybe it's calling someone that you think it's very financially savvy and then what's your secret can you can i found something off of you calling someone going to talk to your credit union about saving about retirement uh... planned many times they have a specialist for free to you can talk to talking at work about their for a one-day plan and getting to do that now think about that if you haven't been saving and you're thinking all of the retiring and i have nothing saved what is one thing that you could do right now that would give you a little bit of peace of mind that's a good cause i'm stopped if you're waiting for me i'm stopped now and i think that the question that i'm going out there for people to think about and that might be one of those things example you got the credit union calling your credit union saying you have someone right now talking about my retirement plan is the only of some sort of being a hot seat catholic jose that i was trying to i get myself out of the hot seat real quick that i thought that that i know i know i know i know that i would have all the answers either we don't have all the answers that we start asking that's the key so maybe if we shift and start thinking about asking and not thinking we should have all the answers because none of us do just don't be complacent uh... you know just making that phone call uh... putting that little bit of extra that account that's that's starting now that that's great to start your being proactive and something simple and maybe it's going to your wallet right now taking five dollars out of ten dollars out hiding in a secret little place what you get the nail on head because hiding it that's that's what i need to do i need and i've actually been thinking about credit union obviously i'm i'm pleased with the bank that i use i am happy with them with them for years of being a my savings checking through them but i see that i need a way that i can't have really the access like a credit union if i have that money i have to go there get that i don't really want to be able to just go online and transfer money from savings over to checking when it's great to be able to do that but there has to be some of that money set aside that you don't see while i will tell you what i did and it goes back many many years ago probably goes back fifteen sixteen years when i really didn't have any savings i was trying to build up to that five hundred dollars and magically when i got to that five hundred dollars i wanted i did not want to have access to it i i didn't want to make it easy to get it so what i did and i know interest is low interest rate or low but on cd at the credit union i then got a five hundred dollar cd and there's some penalty involved if you need that money but it's minimal but it at least locked me and i started small like three months and six months before you knew it i found that i was doing fine without tapping into that and then i started building up a second five hundred dollars wow that's all that's incredible and it's it gets easier because you forget about that you know longer because i was trying to even factor my savings into my name and you can't do that you've got to be able to separate and that that's one of my weaknesses you're always asking work and i improve that's something that's been something that's been ongoing for a long time so that didn't just happen overnight but if you ask me right now what i need to be more mindful or do better that's what i would need to do better to help me financially in the future down the road then i would say to you you know your habits you know what works for you if that doesn't matter to me that i'm not getting any interest on that five hundred dollars because i spend that five hundred dollars because it's so accessible that's a lose lose i've been blocked my five hundred dollars i'm stressed now because i spent it so think about what would help you to be able to save that and keep that set aside for emergency and then keep building because you're going to be motivated when you get that first five hundred dollars you're like wow i can keep on doing it gets easier and it gets easier it does it does it really does so think of little things like that and again know your habits i have a lot of great links on my website and i dive a section called links products and resources and you'll see information on there about credit unions as well there's a lot of financial information and we talk about this a lot to go to my ten question quiz and see exactly where you're coming up short and to do that it's free to go to your website and do all of that absolutely it's right on there and you can check out so many things and give us your website address again Kathy Jo it's Kathy Jo Pollock dot com k-a-t-h-y-o-p-l-l-a-c-k dot com and perfect and again life coach Kathy Jo Pollock with us today on weekend focus and very very uh good conversation we're having hopefully everyone else is feeling like i am that we're getting somewhere just by throw i love the brainstorming sessions oh i do too and i want to inspire people to have their own brainstorming session do it think about it and also let me just flip back to another another one so we talked about savings we talked about retirement we talked about little things leave a big thing you know you're not going to say i'm going to put aside ten thousand dollars twenty thousand dollars today oh i'd love to be able to do that right is that real no probably not probably not so think of what is achievable and work from there and little things do add up but you know something that i hear a lot about is debt and credit card debt people go there when they're running short of money they tap into the credit cards and they look and they see how high their balance that's a vicious cycle it is and they think how am i ever ever ever going to get out of debt well you can for sure you absolutely can so let's just brainstorm if somebody because again i don't have all the answers i can make suggestions but i don't know your habits um so tell me okay so let's say i've all this debt i've always credit card debt if one thing what are some of that's brainstorm what are some of the things that i could do if i'm overwhelmed and debt or credit card debt this may be a hit on your credit score but can't you call and cancel some of those and obviously you still have to pay them off but just to stop that cycle well you're not advisable very good you are going to take a hit on that be on your credit score by closing them because that does not help your your score um if there was something psychologically that you could do so you don't keep using that what happened to be it yeah what you might want to do is do a balanced transfer okay and i would talk to my credit union um and see if you could do that but hide that card um put it in the freezer do something so that you don't continue using it i thought it you Kathy Jo and again maybe some people like i can't believe you share that you know me i share and a credit card that i had and i don't know i looked at it i think you know i'm paying you know paying this because the balance is a little higher than i'd care for it to be uh let's just face it i'm honest but here you are the interest rate 36 some dollars oh i looked at that and i thought why don't then i'm thinking that then i get mad i'm like i have no one to blame but myself they're getting this but you know they're they're profiting off of me that's why the credit card companies love us because if you put just that minimum payment toward that and if you're paying a hundred dollar payment on that thirty six dollars is going to interest there tells you what's left is actually going on so it's almost it feels like a no win then i'm thinking well can you call and negotiate some of that interest i don't think you can maybe it doesn't hurt to be one thing you can do make the phone call you brought up so many wonderful things there and i have some financial calculators on my website on that links and resource site that you can actually look at what you're paying and if you're looking for ways to save that's 36 percent or 20 percent or 28 percent think about that that's 28 dollars on a hundred dollars that you are losing that you could redirect so if there is a way that you can stop using the credit cards pay down those balances and i would negotiate and if you and even think about a debt consolidation wow was just you just read my mind and i was almost going to stop you and say how do you feel about debt consolidation if you call and you i have i know friends that's done this they've had got a little out of control seem to be doing better now they may have had five or six credit cards it just got a little uh...
have that out of the years lumped them all together it seems like kind of a big payment but when you realize what they were paying on each individual card they're actually saving uh... do you recommend that i'm sure your credit sports still takes a hit but um... no it depends on if you've fallen behind on your payment so anything that you can do to keep making all payments on time all the time is a benefit so you want to look for knowing your habits what you've been doing might be very very careful of consolidation companies you need to talk to a trusted do you know with any other and i know you you always have a lot of suggestions i don't know what you have first look and see if where you work have an employee assistance program anytime they have a financial component where you can speak to a financial counselor free and confidentially that is legitimate look at your budget that look at your debt and they will make helpful suggestions or i also suggest the national foundation for credit counseling the n f c c and i have that link as well on my resources on my resource page or your credit union a lot of time they also have someone and try to give you places that are not out to make money off of you because the credit industry is a business it's not there to be nice is there to make money off of you and you've got to be smart so look to non-profit places places that are there to help you without anything to gain such as your credit union your if you have an employee assistance program where you work or the n f c the national foundation for credit counseling um... get your options think about it be very weary of that pure debt consolidation companies and i always say if you don't know who you're dealing with or they're far away i hear people in florida or they're calling common in florida they're sending their money to florida and their bill to have been paid so you've got to know who you're dealing with you've got to do your homework uh...
and be very careful that you can to a consolidation you want to make sure that all bill for paying paid on time all the time and i would if you could leave those accounts open okay while paying down your debt whether you can follow the date of them through another source or you're just making more payments but always try to make more than a minimum payment maybe i some of it if you've got multiple credit cards look at the smaller balances because some of them are if psychologically um... you want to try to guess it look at it either way maybe start paying try to get as much of the bigger balances paid off but even if you've got one maybe got just a few hundred dollars pay that one down first at least you can look and say you know i have a zero balance on this one it's a step in the right it'll it builds that confidence and maybe if you see what it looks like to have a zero balance on one it'll hopefully encourage you to work a little harder on getting those other balances down that's right if you can quickly pay off some small balances take that money and then put it on a high interest uh... that is really where you're losing the money but if you can free up some smaller debt to then redirect it to the bigger uh... balances that is that is right on so i would really suggest think about what we're brainstorming could you call your credit card company and negotiate uh...
lower uh... could you look at the credit card calculators or the online calculators that are free on my website and really take a look at the money that you're you know kind of throwing away that you could redirect could you call your bank could you call your credit union and get some help at least they should be able to offer a free consultation perfect and like coach capi joe pollock today on the show one final time here almost out of time i'll give us your contact information and i can't have it sure capi joe pollock dot com k-h-y-h-y-h-y-h-o-p-o-l-l-l-a-k-dot-com and we need to remember that we are the master of our own money we know our habits we can right now start taking control think about what causing our stress financially and then just brainstorming pulling in other people resources getting help asking questions and don't worry about feeling down or feeling stupid nobody knows everything and never never feel that way there's no question that is really and should not be asked anyone's ever wants to feel like that if you feel like you don't know enough and just spend the day with me walk away feeling better about yourself thinking uh... i learned so much from you paul and i am grateful and it's wonderful that we have the opportunity to be able to share here think so openly and you know we have about just about thirty seconds left but i want to say recently i'm a sierra listen to listen to her and i knew that you know about this prior you just told me this after that uh... she made a surprise appearance here recently in the station got the meter in person brought some really wonderful cookies night never did get to say on the radio thanks to her for that i want to say nancy this cookies are delicious and anytime you want to make some more uh...
more than happy to take those off your hands for you i'll help with it a sweetheart so you shout out to nancy absolutely and life coach catholic will be talking to you uh... next month uh... wonderful thank you so much call a great day you too