What's in your bucket? A bucket with a bottle of bubbly is nice, but unnecessary for experiencing a more authentic financial wellness. Making the shift to connecting mindfulness, purpose, and personal finances means thinking differently about how you allocate and spend your hard-earned money.
Introducing The Financial Wellness Buckets
The Financial Wellness Buckets method is a different way of managing your finances to better align your money with what matters to you, leading to a more authentic financial wellness experience. Ditch financial milestones that don't resonate with you and tell you what you "should" be doing with your money. Instead, use the Financial Wellness Buckets method to set your own standards for allocating and spending your money and begin noticing which buckets you overfill or neglect.
Use your financial wellness buckets to get insights and answers to important questions about your financial wellness, such as:
When last did you do something purely for yourself? Something that brought joy or growth?
Are you spending more on things you don't care about but think you "should"?
Is your money causing more stress than fulfillment?
What Are the Financial Wellness Buckets?
To connect mindfulness, purpose, and personal finance for a more authentic financial wellness experience, the five financial wellness buckets developed by Financial Wellness V.I.B.E.S™️ are:
Needs: The items in your finances that are an absolute necessity or a basic requirement.
For example: food, shelter, clothing, transportation, retirement planning, emergency funds, debt repayment, etc.
Wants: The items in your finances that are "nice to haves." They are not a basic requirement but bring joy, happiness, fulfillment, or comfort.
For example: dining out, entertainment, college planning, etc.
Obligations to Others: The items in your finances that are strictly for the benefit of others and which you have committed to provide to them.
For example: financial assistance to relatives.
Self-Care/Growth: The items in your finances that are earmarked for your mental, physical, and emotional well-being, or your personal and professional growth.
For example: gym membership, therapy, massages, facials, mani-pedi, retreats, coachings, etc.
Causes/Interests: The items in your finances that support organizations and causes that matter to you.
For example: alumni dues, charitable donations, etc.
When your financial wellness buckets aren't adequately managed i.e. overfilled or underfilled, it negatively impacts your experience of a more authentic financial wellness.
How to Get Started Filling Your Financial Wellness Buckets in 3 Easy Steps
Step 1: Review your recent spending and budget and put each item into one of the financial wellness buckets (Get access to a free template).
Step 2: Analyze your financial wellness buckets to determine which ones are overfilled. and which ones require attention (Tip: there is no "standard" target amount for each bucket. You decide what should go in each bucket and the fill level.)
Step 3: Adjust the items in your buckets until they align with your values and what matters to you. This might mean eliminating or reducing an item, or introducing a new item. It's ok for this process to take time as you refine and identify the things that matter or no longer matter to you.
Defining and filling your financial wellness buckets is strategy 6 of the 9 strategies introduced in The Self-ish Guide to Financial Wellness.
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