Money coaching is a nascent field, and we’re all kinda pioneering and figuring “it” out as we go along, but the money coaches I’ve met – Sheila, MillionDollarWomen to which a former mentor of mine, LA, belongs, and Steve share one thing, that’s for sure: we want to see people handle their money effectively in a way that leaves clients empowered and confident.

And now I’ve met another! Her name is Michelle, and she practices out of NorthVancouver. She, like me, has a frugal streak (but don’t worry! I don’t think everyone has to frugal – and I’m sure not frugal when it comes to my daschunds), all to achieve the greater good, financially. Here’s a little introduction to her:

I was out for a run this gorgeous morning and was thinking about what, if anything, to write for this blog (having never written on one) and my mind quickly wandered off, as it does when I am running, to a whole stream of thoughts and much of them were to do with money.

I was thinking about book club last night and discussing Eat, Pray, Love and then moved on to an upcoming trip and then my mind meandered over to our trip two Junes ago to Italy. For some reason, instead of remembering the great times we had with friends eating and drinking and taking in all the sights, I was thinking about one of our friends on this trip who peppered me with comments throughout the two weeks about how “frugal” I was. He’d say things like, ” how many times are we going to see you in that shirt this trip?” or, with much sarcasm, “hey Michelle are you going to take that roll home with you and make a sandwich out of it for lunch?” It was all in good fun and didn’t bother me a bit (although it irked my husband after about the tenth jab).

Anyway, then I started thinking about yesterday morning, it was cold, and I was really feeling like a steaming cup of coffee at the coffee shop but I thought, no, I can go home and make myself one just the way I like it and drink it by the warm sunny window…ahh, heaven.

Then my mind went to Sunday night and I was meeting my business partner at a local coffee shop and I ordered a decaf coffee misto. As I sat at the table waiting for it, I heard two of the employees talking about how I had ordered a “poor man’s latte”. I laughed to myself.

What do all these thoughts mean? Well, I was really aware of how much “mental accounting” I do on an ongoing daily basis. And why I do it. That is the key question. For myself, travelling is of huge importance to me. It gives me great joy, satisfies my need for adventure, my curiousity about how others live, and adds spice to my life. It is a Big Goal that I am committed to making happen every two years.

And how do I make that happen? By constantly doing mental accounting. I use my goal as the gauge and all my spending gets scrutinized in light of that goal. If I buy that “thing” then X dollars is now out of my + side and over into my – side. Is it worth it? Will it help me to get closer to what I really want? It is something I do almost unconsciously, like tying your shoes. It has become a habit and it seems to really work for me. I will be in France in June for two weeks taking in the sites and food and people.

Au revoir and thanks for reading my first blogging attempt!!

Welcome to the blogosphere, Michelle!

Michelle can be reached at 604-985-9391.

Check out her gorgeous website too!

Over to you, readers: Do you have any methods that help you reach your goals involving money?  We’d love to hear! 

1. Yeah! Having been sans cel phone (yes, it’s possible) for over a year, because I so HATE getting into 3-year-freaking-locked-in-anythings Peter, who gives us Useful Crap (sic) found what sounds like the best celphone plan in Canada. Believe it or not, it’s offered through I’m going to check it out, and once again I may be accessible by cel.

Totally dumb question: does anyone know, could I use an I-phone on this plan without too much crazy hacking (of which I know nothing)? John?
or Dave the iVacationer?

2. BC Hydro found an extreme frugality hack using bread clips to cut down on your hydro.

Umm, thanks. I guess.

3. And Apple shares tumbled 11% today along with all the others. Hmmm…. to buy? to buy? I wonder what mariam would do?

ps:  if you’re going to Hawaii, say aloha to WoolyWoman’s Blog, where she posted on how to get better meals for less money on Kona.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

1. Our loonies caught fire, literally, at the Canadian Mint.

2. The Bank of Canada lowered its rate to 4%. Hallelujah, my mtg loc went down again :0.

But here’s the blood-curdling part. Royal Bank made murmers that they might not lower their rate (banks don’t have to, but they do, to compete with one another). Why should that make your hair stand on end? Because the Bank of Canada moves its rate to ensure our economy stays on track. Banks lower their rates to be competitive so they can make their global shareholders high profits. If all the banks colluded to keep their rates high, they would essentially be controlling our economy.

ps: I like to think that Citizens Bank (for whom I work parttime, and owned by a credit union) would have been Canadian and Citizenship oriented enough that we would lower ours… and everyone would leave the BigBanks to do business with us instead.

3. A physician at St. Paul’s (Vancouver) Hospital describes his fight to save a homeless man’s life, and pleads for housing – stating this death should be explicitly listed as ‘death by homelessness’.

4. And just when I was tempted to believe the sky was falling, ie., recessssssssion, it turns out it’s not:

On Saturday, a conversation with a money-coaching client strayed into the realm of worldview, philosophy and religion. It happens more often than you’d think. We start out figuring out how to get out of debt or how to save for the kids’ tuition, and in the mix talk about financial anxiety and somewhere along the way we often start to frame those questions in a larger picture. Me included.

I’m one of a dying breed – someone who is, dare I say it, a practicing member of organized religion. Unfashionable but there you have it.
Specifically, I am a parishioner of St. James Anglican Church - socially liberal (yes to gays), theologically conservative (yes to Jesus being God-in-the-flesh not simply a good moral teacher), and politically activist (lets feed the hungry and house the homeless already).

I believe that some day I will be asked (gently, but still) to account for my life. I imagine the two main questions will be something along the lines of,

1. Nancy, I went to a lot of work to create the earth. How deeply did you enjoy it?

2. And, you also shared the world with a lot of other people just as inherently valuable as you. How well did you love your neighbour? (and anyone who knows the story of the good samaritan knows that ‘neighbour’ doesn’t just refer to your friendly summer rooftop bbq with the people in your condo strata, but the people who your culture tends to easily dismiss and despise. In my case, I interpret that as my literal neighbours, the homeless who are addicts and often mentally ill).

Re: #2: I hope I’m inching my way towards allocating my money towards caring for my neighbours. I’m not going to disclose specifics, but a few more people get practical care than otherwise might, and I’m also learning, when asked for change, to overcome my awkwardness and buy the person some groceries at a nearby shop. This doesn’t happen often, but it feels right when I do it.

Also, I’m changing how I eat for my own good, but also to better respect the inequities in access to food (ie. it’s not right that I’m carrying excess kilos while the homeless lunatic across the street is malnourished).

On the first question, my 2008 goal is to slow down and absorb the simple pleasures in life. I had one this weekend – discovering a sweet little song, innocent, youthful, lovely. Catch the lyrics – they’re worth it. Here it is:

If you haven’t virtually-or-otherwise met the fabulous Carol Sill or Isabella of AlphaBlogs, here they are, teaching my fellow-rookie Craig and me the 101s of blogging (whatever I’m doing right is likely thanks to them):

ps – do either of you happen to know the answer to this:

I know for sure I’ve had a bunch of good incoming links recently (eg., Isabella, when you listed a bunch of your commentors on your blog, recently) but they’re not showing up on my wordpress dashboard as incoming links.

Incoming links = a bit of googlejuice so I’m dismayed by this. Any ideas what’s (not) happening?