1. Download this free app to get the entire picture of your net worth
For the longest time, I only concerned myself with a monthly budget. For one, I didn’t know this amazing free app existed! So I’m sharing it with you. How would I ever reach my financial goals or even know when we were financially set for life if I have no collection of all our assets, liabilities, debts, retirement accounts, real estate, liquid cash, etc? A monthly budget is only able to show a very small part of the picture. This allows me to see the entire picture. You can download it here.
2. Start a “self treats” notes folder on your phone and stop any impulse purchase in its tracks
They say that it’s really hard, nearly impossible to stop a bad habit, like say, impulse purchasing. It’s much easier and more effective to just replace one habit with another. So if impulse purchasing is something you want to stop doing, you can replace the habit with putting your wants into a savable list. I call mine my “self treats” list. It’s on my phone and easily accessible. Anytime I see something I like that someone recommended on tik tok or facebook or a blogger mentioned, I just save it to my “self treats” list. And I save all my “wants” purchases for special occasions like Christmas, my birthday, Mother’s Day, or our anniversary. On my bday, I’ll browse my self treats list and see what I want to buy from there that I’ve saved up all year. Limiting “wants” purchases to special occasions makes it more special and removes the need to impulse purchase. I’m not perfect at this of course, but it does eliminate a lot of would be purchases.
3. Write a day in the life of and a week in the life of your dream life and then ask ChatGPT to write it with more emotion
This exercise is important because if you don’t even have a why to saving and investing, you won’t be at all motivated to sacrifice in the moment. There has to be a future goal in mind, and it has to be very specific and very clear. Not only that, you have to see it in your mind’s eye and feel the feelings you’d be feeling if you were in fact living that dream life in the moment. That’s why I’m suggesting you ask ChatGPT to edit it and make it more emotional. We don’t make changes because of facts. We have to feel like doing it. You have to feel how you would feel in that dream life to cement moving in that direction.
4. Write another note on your phone called “I know I’ve made it when…” and write a shameless bullet point list of everything that would happen in your dream life
Some of mine for inspiration!
I’ve made it when
- I have a driver
- I can look for opportunities to give as my hobby
- I hire a chef
- Nate can retire
- I fly to see my brother in New York every year for our birthdays or alternate he comes or I come and we spend 5 days together from Dec 31- January 4 every year as our yearly “regular”
- I treat every friend I have to a meal on their birthday
- I am someplace warm from Jan-May and in Seattle- June- Dec
- I go to hot yoga every other day in the am
- I have four hours a day of childcare so I can work
- I have an infrared sauna in my backyard that I retreat to every night
- I have a membership with Nate and kids at indoor rock climbing
- We go snowboarding every winter
If you read lists like this and just feel like nothing you write is even worth writing because it all feels out of reach and just makes you depressed writing it, and you wouldn’t even know where to start, the next two things are just for you!
5. Watch this movie asap so that you can start believing that your dreams are possible
The Secret. And no, it’s not scary. It’s the very opposite of scary.
6. Write a note on your phone or journal called “False beliefs I have about money” and write below “What the reality is”
I was inspired by a friend to do this exercise because she did the exercise and shared her journal with me. Sometimes we have beliefs around money that we don’t even know we have! Some of her beliefs were “I don’t like money. I don’t need money. People who have money are corrupt.” So of course if your beliefs are that you don’t need money, money will not come to you. We get what we believe.
I started digging deeper about my own false beliefs, and I’m just going to share my journal entry with you. As a Christian, I decided the best way for me to find the truth was to search the word. Here are my findings:
Old versus new beliefs about money
Old– It’s hard to make money.
New– It’s not hard or easy to make money. The power of getting or making money is not in my power. It’s in God’s-
Verses–
Deuteronomy 8:17–18
“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’
But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth…”
1 Chronicles 29:12
“Wealth and honor come from You; You are the ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.”
Old– If I work hard enough, I will make money.
New– Wealth comes from God and it is He who decides who receives it.
Verses–
1 Chronicles 29:14
“Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand.”
Haggai 2:8
“‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”
Old– I have the power to make or lose money
New– All power to make or lose is in God’s hands. It has nothing to do with what I do.
Verses-
Proverbs 10:22
“The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.”
Ecclesiastes 5:19
“Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them… this is the gift of God.”
Psalm 24:1
“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it…”
Psalm 75:6–7
“No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt themselves. It is God who judges: He brings one down, He exalts another.”
7. For further reading, read how God chooses whom to bless with riches (according to scripture)
1. Wealth is Distributed According to God’s Sovereign Will
God gives wealth to some and withholds it from others in ways that reflect His larger purposes, not human worth.
1 Samuel 2:7
“The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.”
Psalm 75:6–7
“Promotion comes… from God; He puts down one and exalts another.”
This means wealth is never purely random or purely earned—God’s sovereignty is involved.
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2. God May Give Wealth as a “Blessing” for Certain Purposes
Sometimes God entrusts wealth to people because He intends to use them as channels of generosity or leadership.
Proverbs 10:22
“The blessing of the LORD brings wealth…”
Examples: Abraham, Job (restored), Solomon (asked for wisdom, received wealth).
But notice: the “blessing” is not always reward—it is sometimes responsibility.
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3. God Gives Wealth to Test the Heart
Wealth is often a spiritual test, not a reward.
Deuteronomy 8:17–18
God warns that wealth can lead to pride, so He gives it “to test you.”
Luke 16:10–12
Those trusted with earthly wealth are tested for faithfulness.
Some people are given wealth to see if they will steward it faithfully, generously, and humbly.
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4. God Sometimes Withholds Wealth for Protection
Scripture also says God may keep someone from becoming rich because abundance would harm their soul.
1 Timothy 6:9
“Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap…”
God’s withholding can be mercy, not punishment.
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5. God Blesses According to His Larger Kingdom Purposes
Wealth is never the primary marker of God’s favor in the Bible. God distributes resources—spiritual and material—based on His plans.
Matthew 25:14–15
The Master gives “each according to his ability.”
Some receive much because they can handle much; others receive little because God has a different calling on their life.
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6. God Gives Riches Partly Through Principles He Established
The Bible teaches practical wisdom that tends to lead to prosperity (though not guaranteed):
• diligence (Proverbs 12:24)
• prudence and planning (Proverbs 21:5)
• righteousness (Psalm 1:3)
But these are principles, not formulas. Some faithful people remain poor (Hebrews 11).
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7. Wealth Is Not Proof of God’s Favor
Scripture warns strongly against assuming rich = blessed or poor = cursed.
Luke 12:15
“A person’s life does not consist in the abundance of their possessions.”
James 2:5
God has “chosen the poor” to be rich in faith.
In many cases, God blesses His people spiritually rather than materially.
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So How Does God Choose?
Putting all of Scripture together:
God gives wealth to whom He wills,
for the purposes He wills,
when it will accomplish His plans
and not destroy the person receiving it.
Wealth is not a measure of someone’s value—it is a tool God assigns selectively for His kingdom, the good of others, and sometimes for testing character.