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What is a tune-up, and why does it matter?

Most people do a tune up in a reactive way because there is a problem and they need to get things back up and running. 

Conversely, the best way to do a tune-up would be proactively, where you will avoid issues before they happen, and keep the car running well. 

We would want people to move towards a pre-emptive, proactive tune-up so that they can avoid problems in their personal finances before they come up!

 

4 Steps to Tune Up Your Finances

 

Step 1: Evaluate 

Have some serious self reflection. It may be helpful to ask yourself some of the following questions. 

  • What is going right, and what is going wrong?
  • Where are the pain points in your financial situation?
  • What are your goals?
  • Do you feel your financial decisions reflected your faith and trust in God? Why or why not?
  • How has generosity shaped your walk with Christ this year?

 

Step 2: Identify the Gaps

What are the gaps in your plan? If you were to die today, what would happen to the plan? If you become disabled, what happens to the plan? What about knowing how much money you need to reach your goal? If you don’t know how much you need, you won’t know how to save. These things represent gaps. Let’s fill in the gaps with insurances and contingency plans. 

  • The reality is, you don’t know what you don’t know. A Free personal stewardship review can help you identify these gaps, and point you towards the right solutions to meet your needs. 

 

Step 3: Prioritize

What you will find is that you have more things on your to-do list than you have time and attention to do. So you need to prioritize. Do the most important thing first. So what would that be? Do that first. Then, set a goal and a timeframe to accomplish some of the other goals. If you are married, keep each other accountable. 

You will hit bumps in the road. But stick to it! Give yourself plenty of grace. It will take time. You’re not in control of all of the outcomes. Trust in the Lord, who IS in control! 

 

Step 4: Take Action

Now that you have identified your gaps, and know what you need to do next, you need to take action! This is probably going to mean working with (or finding) a professional to help advise you. This could include:

  • Accountants
  • Attorneys
  • Financial Planners
  • Insurance professionals
  • Etc…

Lean on relationships that you trust to gain access to their network of professionals. 

How often do you need to do a financial tune-up?

To answer this question, maybe we need to figure out if a financial tune up is different from a financial “inspection”.

You should be inspecting your financial picture regularly to make sure you are on the right path. This may mean reviewing and adjusting your budget, increasing your retirement contributions, or reallocating dollars as you pay down debt. In an inspection, you are looking for potential problems or ways you can make your plan even better.

Now, we understand that “inspections” have a bad connotation. So let’s change it up, because financial reviews can be a very good and helpful thing! So we’ll call them “reviews”.

Financial reviews should happen at least once a year. Depending on your situation, maybe you can do it more frequently.

 

Call to Action

Schedule a Stewardship Review! We go over the following financial elements:

  1. What is your goal?
  2. We get to know about you and your family & work
  3. Legal Docs & Tax Returns
  4. Income & Expenses
  5. Investments
  6. Insurance
  7. Debt
  8. Review & Recommendations

All For FREE.  The cost for a review like this would cost somewhere north of $1,000. But we do it at no cost because we want to help Christians become even better stewards.

 

Next Steps

 

Material presented is property of The Stewardology Podcast, a ministry of Life Financial Group and Life Institute. You may not copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works, or exploit any content without the expressed written permission of The Stewardology Podcast. For more information, contact us at Contact@StewardologyPodcast.com or (800) 688-5800.

The topics discussed in this podcast are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations.  Investing and investment strategies involve risk including the potential loss of principal. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

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