How I'm Becoming the Best Version of Myself: Financially

Alright, let's talk money. Setting myself up for a secure financial future is super important to me, so of course one of the categories I'm focusing on during this journey to becoming Brittany (aka the best version of myself) is finance.

When I was very young, my family was far from wealthy. I can remember a period of time after my dad got out of the military where we basically had to live on mac n cheese, hot dogs, spaghetti, rice-a-roni and hamburger helper. My parents always made sure we had what we needed, but looking back I know that it wasn't always easy. There was a period of time when I was a little older where my dad got a great job and we were able to go school clothes shopping at "fancy" stores like Hollister and Abercrombie and we were ecstatic. To us, those were clothes that "rich people" wore.

As a child, I saw the struggle and I always knew that wasn't what I wanted for my future but I never learned anything about finance. The first time I enrolled in a 401K at a job, it was like a foreign language to me. When I got my first few credit cards, I racked up debt and learned the hard way why that's a terrible idea. It wasn't until my mid 20s that I decided to take it upon myself to learn how to become financially successful and prepare for the future.

In the last few years, I've learned about personal finance through research, blogs, YouTube videos and podcasts. (I have some awesome recommendations if anyone is interested!) Using everything I've learned, just as I've done with all of the other categories, I sat down to visualize what the best version of myself financially looks like.

The future best version of me is financially secure. She has become completely debt free. She has an emergency fund of six months of expenses and has saved at least quarter of her goal for a home down payment in 2021. In addition, she is on track to be a millionaire by the time she is 35 and contributes enough to her retirement to be able to retire early while continuing be financially secure. She uses her money to be outrageously generous with her family, friends, and those in need while also saving for future needs such as paying off her home early, paying for her future kid's college, etc. Her career allows her to make passive income to achieve her financial goals while remaining focused on her passions and priorities.

In order to achieve financial success, she is frugal and sticks to the monthly budget she creates which includes debt pay off, savings, spending, money to be generous with, etc. Her retirement is kept in a Roth IRA that she maxes out yearly. She has savings accounts for her emergency fund, home down payment savings, kid's future savings and regular savings. She is determined and committed to reaching the financial goals she has set.

The future me sounds pretty badass if you ask me. To become my most badass self financially, I've set some goals.

1. I will create a monthly budget and stick to it. It will include a specific amount to save each month.

2. I will open a Roth IRA and contribute the maximum amount to it in 2021. I will also roll over my 401K from my previous job.

3. I will complete my emergency fund, which will include six months of expenses, in 2021.

4. I will be debt free by the end of 2021.

5. I will open a savings account for my home down payment fund and contribute to it monthly.

6. I will do something generous with my money at least once per month.

What financial goals do you have for yourself?