Financial Goal Setting with Mike Poulin and Terri Bennett
On this episode of Financially Naked: Stories from The Financial Gym, our host is Mike Poulin, Level 2 Trainer based at the DC Gym, and he is also a Sergeant in the Army Reserves. He is joined by his coworker, Terri Bennett, Financial Trainer in the New York office, and they are going to discuss financial goal setting.
Podcast Notes
If you are trying to make changes in your life, it is important to form new habits and create space for them. At The Gym, Trainers help clients create new financial practices and systems to monitor that the practices are happening.
A SMART goal means that it is Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time bound. The difference between a SMART goal and other goals is that other goals are more like wishes.
Terri previously worked in education and she found that when students used SMART goals, they were more successful. They were able to tackle big projects with more ease than others who didn’t set them.
Setting goals and figuring out the details is the most important. Sometimes clients come in and they are nervous and have unrealistic expectations. SMART goals provide realistic steps to accomplish what they want to do.
When Terri started working at The Gym, she noticed that a lot of the Trainers were using notebooks or bullet journals with habit trackers. One of them had a notebook with a goal of cleaning her house for 15 minutes every day, so she didn’t have to spend all weekend cleaning it. On her calendar, she had a checkbox on every day, which was a system to check her progress and it made it measurable.
It is easy to spend 15 minutes a day doing something different than what we are used to. You need to do something over and over again to make it a habit. Work on small things and keep doing them, so, over time, these behaviors become habits. You need to train yourself before something becomes second nature.
Mike was recently away from home for about six months, between training with the Army Reserves and family obligations. He found that it was easier to reset habits quicker after he returned, because he could jump right in.
We need to think about the things that feel overwhelming to us. Terri decided to take advantage of working with a trainer and it was helpful to have an objective person look at her finances. Terri recently started tracking her spending and she decided to write it on a piece of paper, because it is effortless.
Mike and his husband only use one credit card for spending, because it is easy to see how much they spend each week by looking at the app. Find what works for you and figure out what is important.
It is okay if you don’t always hit your goals. You can fall off the wagon, but you will only fail if you don’t get back on. Maybe you need to get on a different wagon.
Terri tries to create space for clients for a fresh start, if they don’t meet their goals. Find a balance between holding yourself accountable and giving yourself a break. Create a system that allows you to work toward goals incrementally. You can do something for 30 seconds a week, three times a week.
Create small rewards for yourself along the way that are not totally contradictory to the goal you are trying to reach.
Terri is working for more headspace and she is doing digital decluttering. The reward of going through the financial journey is not having to look at your bank account every day and she wants to simplify.
Terri would also like to be more tuned in to her health. Being out of her old routine took her away from some of the stuff that was good and she wants to incorporate those back into her life.
Mike stress eats, and at the beginning of quarantine he was working 14-hour days. Between March and June, he gained 30 pounds. Being in the Army Reserves, he has standards he needs to follow and he bought a Peloton bike to help him be more active.
By the end of 2020, Mike’s goal is to stand on the Physique Competition stage, because he has never been able to do it. He is working with a coach and he has a plan. He also bought some gym equipment so he can continue to work toward his goals.
Mike is also working for his Boston Terrier dogs, Bella and Ruby, because they are a priority, and he has a long-term goal of being self-employed. He has a patented valve design for musical instruments and he eventually wants to build his own, but it has a very high startup cost. He is six years in at this point. He has a timeline and small, achievable goals.
Mike doesn’t use New Year’s to set goals, he uses it to reflect. It helps him be more in tune and it helps him refocus.
Resources Mentioned
Podcast: Afford Anything, with Paula Pant