3 Mistakes That Will Keep You Financially Stuck

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Summary
In this episode Louisa Larado discusses the three major financial mistakes that a re probably keeping you stuck in your financial situation. She emphasizes the importance of shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset, stepping out of comfort zones, and taking responsibility for your financial actions.

Takeaways

• Many people struggle with a scarcity mindset around money.
• Shifting to an abundance mindset can open up new opportunities.
• Staying in your comfort zone limits your financial growth.
• Taking responsibility for your financial situation is crucial.
• Learning from experts can accelerate your financial success.
• Recognizing and overcoming limiting beliefs is essential.
• Financial setbacks can lead to a negative mindset.
• It's important to focus on solutions rather than blame.
• Investing in financial education can yield long-term benefits.
• Setting clear financial goals is key to achieving success.

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Disclaimer: The information contained on today’s podcast has been provided as general advice only. The contents have been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or individual needs. Before making any decision regarding the information, strategies or products mentioned on today’s episode, please consult your own financial advisor or other professional first.

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Financial Mistakes Keep You Stuck
• 10:06 Overcoming a Scarcity Mindset
• 18:55 Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone
• 23:39 The Power of Taking Responsibility

Transcript

Welcome to the Living My Life Like It's Golden podcast. I'm your host, Louisa Larado And today I just wanted to talk about three of the biggest mistakes I see people making time and time again that are just keeping them stuck with their money and just aren't helping them reach any financial goals they set. And it's almost the end of 2024. We've only got two months, just over two months to go. So I want you to end this year.

in a really strong financial position. So hopefully these tips are gonna help some of you shift through these things that you might be doing without realizing it and really help you end 2024 in a really great financial position.

So I'm going to dive straight into some of the most common mistakes that I see people just making over and over again. And I know because I used to make these exact mistakes too. And it wasn't until I realized how these three things were really keeping me stuck. And before I did this, we were earning decent money. We had a great jobs that gave us lots of perks

We should be doing really well financially, but we staying stuck. We kept living paycheck to paycheck. And I just couldn't sort of figure out why we had friends that were earning, had similar jobs, earning similar money. And they seemed to be just getting that bit further ahead. And I just couldn't work out why we were staying stuck. Why every time we had a bit of money saved, we'd have to then go into it for unexpected expenses that came up.

And it just felt like our money was not working for us, no matter what we did, no matter how much more we earn, no matter how many different side hustles I was doing to try and generate more income. It was like we've reached this plateau. So these are the three mistakes that I realized that we were making and that were really holding us back. And the first one, which was probably the most important one, was just getting stuck in that lack or scarcity mindset.

Early on in my life, in my 20s, I used to have a really good mindset around money. I knew that there were all these opportunities to create it and I felt really good about our money. But then after a few bad decisions and a few bad investments and a few different circumstances, we had to file for a bankruptcy. this was the catalyst for overhauling my mindset around money. And after we went through bankruptcy,

My new mindset was that money is not all around us. It is not easy. I'm bad with money. We can't afford things. I had that fear that I might lose money again. So there were all these new beliefs and ideas that I'd created about money and I didn't realize at the time, but these were what keeping me stuck in this lack mindset. So let me just quickly explain what that actually is first, if you're not sure.

So these are some common feelings you might be experiencing if you're in a lack mindset. So feeling worried or dread about your finances or spending. You might be stuck comparing yourself to others or feelings of jealousy and envy when you're seeing what your friends or family are doing on social media and you're thinking, why can't I do those things too? And that sort of feeling of resentment towards those people. They're all really common when you're in this sort of mindset and

For us and for a lot of people that have experienced any sort of financial setback, it's really common. It's really common to be in this sort of mindset. And even if you just look at the way our society is set up, it sort of sets people up to think that you've always got to be keeping up with everyone else and it's very materialistic and we never feel like we're good enough or have enough. So...

justify what we're consuming and what we're viewing. So it's setting us up almost to fail. So it's a matter of being able to shift through this mindset. And what a lack or scarcity mindset does is it makes you feel bad or stressed or worried. Any of those sort of negative feelings when you're in that sort of head space, that's when you're in that lack mindset. Not necessarily to do with money, but any aspect of your life. On the other hand, when you're in an abundance mindset, that's when your feelings of a bit more like,

gratitude and joy and happiness. It's all the good feelings basically. And for a lot of people, especially this time of year when there's lots more expenses, there's a lot of things happening. There's a lot of pressure on you to, you know, buy the gifts and do all the fun events and things like that, that it's a tricky time of year. Lots of people go away over Christmas or maybe off work and maybe not getting paid for it. So it's a time where

Money can be tight for a lot of people. So it's really common to find yourself falling into this lack or scarcity mindset at this time of year, regardless of your financial situation. And for me, the most common way I knew that I was in that mindset was by what I was saying. So I was constantly telling my family, no, we can't afford that. Every time I get a bill, I would be dreading it. Every, you know, unexplained expense, I'd be like, my gosh, how are we going to do this?

So always felt restricted and like a struggle basically for money. And in any given situation, no matter what your current financial circumstances are, you have the choice to view what you are dealt with, a lack mindset or a scarcity mindset. So even if you don't have enough money to pay for the bills or you're not sure how you're gonna make your rent that month, there's still ways you can.

switch slowly into that abundant thinking. And the reason that this is so important is scientifically proven that whatever you are putting out there, whatever you're focusing on, you're attracting more of that into your life. So if you are constantly focused on lack and worry and stress and money being a struggle or money being hard for you, you'll find more reasons in your life that that will come back to you. So things like unexpected expenses always coming up.

you might have something that needs repairing. All these sort of things that are gonna keep money a struggle and money stressful to you. But when you switch into an abundance mindset, and this could just be a matter of taking a few moments each day to look around you. And even if you've only got electricity and you've got nothing else in your life that is going well, that one thing that you're bringing that focus on,

that is gonna help slowly shift you into that abundance mindset.

when you find yourself switching into this abundance mindset instead, what you'll start to notice is you're opening yourself up to more opportunities for money to come into your life. And I know it sounds a bit weird and it might be a bit like woo for people out there, but it's actually been proven. And you look at any successful person, like the top business people in the world, everyone that's made it, know, the people on the Forbes top 100 richest people is.

Every single one of them talks about the importance of mindset and talks about this concept. So it's not something that is just for people that are a bit more spiritual or that work with mindset. It really is the foundation for everything, every single aspect of your life. And I like to compare it to a garden. So if you've got a garden that's full of weeds and it's all dead and overgrown and you want to transform that garden into something beautiful. If you just started like watering your garden and

fertilizing it, it's going to green up, but you're not going to ever have this beautiful garden because it's still full of the weeds because you haven't removed them. And in this case, that's your mindset. Your mindset is what is keeping you stuck at that level. So there's some real simple ways you can start switching into more of an abundance mindset. But the first thing is just noticing and being aware of those times where you're feeling in that lack. And then

acknowledging those beliefs and then thinking, okay, well, what is something else I could choose to focus on that is actually going good in this moment right now. So even if you've got a bill that's come up to pay for that you're like worried or stressed about, you can think, well, what is this service for? What is it giving me? And how can I be grateful for that service? Like if it's your electricity bill, you know how much easier that makes your life. Having electricity, you know, if you've ever had a power cut, how much you rely on electricity for our day to day life, all the things that it makes your life easier.

So it's switching from worrying and stressing about that bill into thinking, wow, I get to use this service and that makes my life like a million times easier. I can have access to technology. can have a hot shower. I can cook food for my family. can cool or heat my home. Like there's just endless things that electricity in our lives gives for us.

So whatever the situation is, you can always view it from a different perspective. There's always different options to the way we view any sort of situation or circumstance that we're currently in. But awareness is the key in that one. Now the second mistake that is likely going to be keeping you stuck is staying in your comfort zone. And this is because this is the easiest thing to do. We don't have to think to stay in our comfort zone.

And that's because your brain is designed to keep you safe. It wants to keep you in its little safety bubbles. It doesn't want you to take any risks. It doesn't want you to make any changes because this puts perceive your brain will be perceiving this as a threat and it doesn't want that. So what it does instead, every time you want to strive to do something different or you want to

try something new or learn something new. What your brain is going to do is it's going to give you all these thoughts in your head that will tell you why that's a terrible idea because it wants to keep you playing small. It might make you feel scared or fearful about trying something new. Again, trying to keep you small and in your bubble. But if you are keeping repeating the same things over and over again, you're never going to get anywhere. You're just going to be staying stuck.

So this is definitely what we did, especially after our bad crap. So we decided that it was easy just to keep doing the same things, know, keep going to work, keep paying our bills, keep going through the motions of life, but never really having the bravery to set any more financial goals or not trying to learn anything new that might help us if we did have a goal, reach them. So when you were stuck in your comfort zone, you're going to notice that it feels cozy and safe.

but there's no room for growth. There's no room to take things to the next level. And it's like the saying, know, if you can't keep doing the same things over and over again and expect anything different to happen in your life. So if you're feeling like you are a bit stuck at the moment or your plateau, or even you might just feel like you're in that autopilot mode where you're just going through your days, doing the same thing every day, know, waking up, going to work, coming home, maybe cleaning, taking kids to activities.

watching TV, going to bed, doing it all again the next day. So you might find yourself in that cycle currently. And if this is you, then I know I've been there too and it feels easy, but it doesn't feel good. So you need to be prepared to step outside of your comfort zone and be aware when you do, things are gonna show up for you. There will be fear, there will be...

feeling scared. There will be those thoughts in your head that are telling you it's a terrible idea. And there's that resistance, anything that's going to push you to that next level, there's always going to feel like bit of resistance. But it's a matter of just pushing through and staying focused on what you really want to be achieving. Now, if you're not sure if you're staying in your comfort zone, here's a few things you might want to look out for. So if you don't want to try anything new.

If you find you're doing the same thing over and over again, like you feel like your days are the same sort of on repeat. If you aren't actually prepared to learn anything new, maybe like a friend or a family member have told you about something that could be really useful for you, but you're like, no, stubborn, stuck in your ways and you don't want to change. Or if you do start maybe working towards a goal or trying to get to do something else that you haven't done before and you start doing really well, but then all of a sudden,

it gets too hard or too scary and you're like, no, I'm just going to try and you might see self sabotage or something like that show up. That's when you're getting stuck or drawn back into that comfort zone. So just remember if you want to reach any goal in your life, if you want to do anything new, then it's likely you're going to have to learn something new or do something you've never done before.

And it is scary, it is hard, and it is the unknown. And you might fail, you definitely might fail. There's actually a very high chance you will. But if you don't ever try, are you better off than trying and failing? Because really, failing is, you might have heard it said it's the first attempt in learning. So it's something you can learn from and grow from and try again next time. So.

Sometimes when you do those, step out of your comfort zone. It means you need to learn a new skill or ask for help. And sometimes asking for help can be the scariest part. That can be really, really hard for us. And that's usually when things get a bit too scary and people don't actually take the action and do something. But when you actually do do this and show up and take that step, you open yourself up to so many new opportunities that you may have been missing before.

And then you get to learn like all these new skills that you might have not had access to before that are gonna help you get to where you're going. And the good news is any new learning you do, any new skills that you acquire along the journey to whatever you're striving for, you've got them for life. Like a really good example of this is when I set my, one of my goals was to learn how to create additional sources of income in our lives. And that was something I really wanted to work on for my family. And I knew one of the ways

through what I've been learning and researching was through shares and shares had been something. And I'd always sort of viewed myself as someone with a pretty good knowledge of money. But this was the one thing that every time somebody spoke to me about shares or trading or the stock market, it just went over my head. And I'd sat through some different trainings on these over the years trying to get better at it. But every time it was like I just zoned out and I couldn't like have the information coming in.

So I decided in my head, she has something that I don't want to part of, it is too hard for me. And that was a limiting belief that I had, and I had my whole life until a couple of years ago. And then I decided, you know what, if this is an area that I can see that I can definitely have a benefit for my family, it's something I need to actually learn and step out of my comfort zone and take that risk and have a go at doing something. So I decided.

This is something I need to work on. So I did some research and I found a really great course in share trading that just gave me the knowledge and broke everything down really easily. And I had to do assignments and there was all this, it was a lot of work that I had to put in to complete this course. And I had to learn a whole lot of new things and it was so scary. It was so hard at first, but the hardest part was not doing the course. The hardest part was actually deciding I've got to sit down and make this

And once I got over that part, I'd had a course, so I had everything handed to me. had like mentors and coaches that could help me through this course journey, which made the whole process so much easier. And like I said, the hardest thing was actually deciding that's what I'm gonna do. I know in order for me to get to have this knowledge in this area that I'm struggling in, and it's gonna be something that I'm gonna have for the rest of my life, this knowledge.

then that's the way I'm going to do it. That's going to be the fastest way to my success. So I did the course, I completed the course, and now I have a really good knowledge of how to trade on the stock market, how shares work. And a whole lot more my financial knowledge has like multiplied by stepping out of my comfort zone and deciding, making that decision that this is something I need to do if I want to reach that goal. And yes, it was scary. And yes, there were times it got hard. And yes, there were times.

I just wanted to quit and not worry about it and just go back to what I was doing. But I'm so glad I persisted because now I've got this whole new knowledge. have invested money in shares regularly now. We've got additional sources of income coming into us. We've got money coming in from dividends and all these new opportunities now that I was close to before when I was stuck on that belief that share trading was hard.

I'm not saying you need to go out and do a share trading course, but for me personally, that was a financial goal I had set and I knew I needed to find a way to reach it and how stepping out of my comfort zone just transformed that area of my life. the next mistake that you are likely to be making if you're feeling stuck right now with your money and another one that I definitely was doing for quite a while without even realizing it.

was blaming others or yourself for your current financial situation. Now, when you're holding on to blame, all this does is it's keeping you stuck in the past. It's keeping you reliving whatever the event is that you're holding onto that blame of. all it does is it builds up resentment and anger and it doesn't serve anyone. It doesn't serve you. It doesn't serve the person you're blaming or the situation you're blaming.

And it keeps you stuck because when you're focusing on blame and you're holding onto that really tightly, you're staying at that moment. You're focusing on what the problem was and not what the solution is. It's like you have a blindfold on and you can't even see how you can actually solve this problem. So the biggest thing I found for me was when I went back up, there were people I blamed. I blamed

the circumstances about the property market crash. I blame my husband for spending some money. I blame myself for the way I manage my family's money. And then I blamed other people. Like I blame my mum for not being in a good financial position and then having to support her financially. And there was all these different things that I didn't realise until I took the time to actually look and think, what is keeping me stuck?

and realize that hang on, I am holding on to blame. I'm holding on to blame for all these different situations. But the biggest blame I was holding on to was for myself. And all this kept was me feeling that resentment towards myself to do with money or feeling that resentment towards my partner or feeling resentment towards my mom and staying in that.

problem mode and not looking forward to what is the solution or how can we get past this? And this all comes down to taking responsibility for your actions. Now there is such a big difference between taking responsibility for something and blaming yourself. When you're taking responsibility for your actions, what you're doing then is you're thinking, okay, well this is what's happened. These are the circumstances that led me here. Now how can I fix this?

and you're focusing on the solution. When you're blaming, you're just focusing on that problem. And that's for any area. So if you're not sure if you're holding on to blame or resentment, here's a few things I want you to look for. So you might be pointing the finger at others around you, your loved ones, family members, friends, anyone other than yourself to deflect the blame of your current situation that you're unhappy with. You might be blaming circumstances for your current situation. So for me, it was...

the property market crash or might be like a stock market crash or your job. So you might be blaming another situation and not thinking for yourself. Or a really good key is are you feeling any anger or resentment towards the person or circumstances right now that are leading you to your current situation? And if you answer yes to any of these, then you are very likely holding onto some blame that you need to work out how to shift.

All this does though is it's putting a big strain on relationships and keeping you holding onto that anger and resentment. It makes you feel bad. It makes the other people that you're blaming feel bad. It doesn't save anyone. It just keeps you stuck. So until you can release and forgive these people or circumstances that you're blaming, you're not gonna be able to free yourself from the burden of the past and actually move on with your life.

And that's even if the person, and especially if the person you're blaming is you. So you need to let go and forgive. So when you start the process of actually becoming accountable for yourself, you begin to recognize you have the power to change your circumstances and actually have the power to create the life that you desire. if you are still,

staying small and staying in your comfort zone and not prepared to take risks. And if you're holding on to blame, then these three things are really going to be making you stuck and making you not ever get to where you want to be. So the bottom line is you're never going to reach any of your financial goals if you don't stop making these three mistakes. And this all comes down to fixing your mindset first around money.

Now you can see, you can either try and figure this out all on your own. And that's exactly what I did at first. And nothing actually started to shift though significantly. I was making little bits of progress here and there. It was like I had all the pieces of the puzzle now, but I just couldn't find the right positions for them.

And it wasn't until I enrolled in some online courses and I had got my own coaches and mentors that could actually show me how to put the pieces together. And over the last few years, I've done many different courses in money management, money mindset, the share trading course and a whole other range of different education and figuring out what

was the easiest and quickest way. So now I've got a program that's gonna help you find the fastest way to your success.

So let's go back to that garden example for a moment.

I want you to imagine I was gonna give you $20,000 and I said to you, in eight weeks time, I want you to see if you can convert that really weedy overgrown garden I was speaking about earlier into the most beautiful manicured landscaped oasis of a garden. You've got eight weeks to do it. Now I'm gonna give you two options on

how you're gonna complete this challenge. And if it's not completed, you don't get the money. Option one, you have to do it all on your own. Option two, you can employ an expert to help you. So maybe you've got an amazing gardener or landscape designer that you could have to help you with this challenge. Now, what way would you choose? If you know you're guaranteed that 20 grand on completion.

So option one, you could do it yourself. That would take a lot of time, a lot of effort. If you are not a gardener or a landscaper, you might have to spend a lot of time researching the best ways, trying to figure it out all on your own and trying to find the best way to get this done. Otherwise, you might think, well, a lot quicker way that I know I'll be guaranteed at the end of that eight weeks I'll have it done is if I employ someone that's already an expert in this area. Yes, I might need to invest some of my money.

But I know that once I've completed it, I'm gonna get the 20,000. So that will pay for the landscaper plus then I'll get to keep the rest of the money myself. So what would you choose realistically? Option one, learning the long hard way yourself with the chance of not completing it and not getting the 20 grand or option two, pay an expert, be guaranteed that you're gonna reach that 20 grand but you have to invest a bit of your money into that.

so this is really what it all comes down to. If you want to fast track your financial situation, it's exactly the same. And I found for me the quickest way was finding somebody who was where I wanted to be. And I can, instead of having to make all the mistakes myself and taking ages trying to

you know, figure it all out for myself. I could just follow in their footsteps and fast track my success. And that was exactly when things started to shift for me. So if you are looking at a way to end 2024 in the most amazing financial position and just set yourself up to the best money year 2025, then I'm really excited because I've just opened up enrollment for my Golden Money Blueprint, which is an online course.

that is designed to help you holistically approach your money empowerment journey. it's going to take, it's going to be a seven week course. And what's going to happen is each week, we're going to break down different areas of money mindset, money management, money generation, and all the different components that are going to help you reach your financial goals.

quicker than you try to do this on your own. So if this is something that you think you need a bit of support and guidance and you really are ready to end this year on a bang and you really want to know that you were going to set yourself up to a great year ahead, then this may be for you. this is going to be a really empowering

journey and it's going to be so much fun and I'm going to give you all the tools, the strategies, every little step that I've taken and I've learned that I know will is the quickest way to have that financial success and to empower you to have that, to take charge of your finances and feel great about your money and save and invest and all the things. So how this is going to work.

It's going to be a seven week program. It starts on Monday, the 4th of November. And what we're going to do each week, we're going to do a live recording of each of the modules. So you can get on and ask questions and hear all the content. And we'll be talking about different topics each week. So each week, a new module will be dropped. You'll learn things like mastering your money blocks, mindset mastery, wealth creation.

how to manage your money, how to build financial resilience if things don't go well, lifelong money habits so you have these skills for the rest of your life and not just for the duration of the seven week course and then abundance expansion so how you can really take things to the next level. So if this sounds like an area that you think you will be interested in learning a bit more about, you can head over now while enrollments are open.

They're open until the fourth. So only a few more days left to enrol in this course. And it's going to really help you just feel great about your money and empowered about your money and just know that you are setting yourself up and your family to succeed. Because right now you are not benefiting anyone if you're feeling stuck with your money.

If you're feeling stressed or worried about your money all the time, if it's just not working for you, then are you really benefiting anyone else in your life? Are you the best version of yourself when you're stressed and worried all the time? So my goal is to make you feel, have these new skills and have this new tool set that you have for the rest of your life that you could pass on to your kids if you have them, that you can show them and be that role model that shows them the

best way to be with your money. a side effect is you're be a much better version of yourself when you have that confidence, when you feel self-assured, when you know that you are feeling good about things flowing into your life. And a lot of the skills I'm gonna teach you, especially in regards to the mindset and the releasing blogs, you can apply in any area of your life that you want improvement into, not just your money.

It's going to be so much fun. So if this sounds like a good fit for you right now, if this is you want to end 2024 on a bang with your finances, you want that cash boost, you want to feel good about your money, then head over to the enrollment page, which is just louisalarado.com slash golden and money, or you can find the link in the show notes below. And if this

doesn't sound like the right fit for you right now, that's fine. Make sure you're listening to some of the other episodes, subscribe or follow along to this podcast. Cause I have given out so many great tips and advice on just how to set you up for a better end of 2024 financially. So you can definitely get a lot of information there, but if you want that extra guidance, that support, someone to show you the quickest way with the exact steps and the exact tools that you need.

and having that accountability as well, then this may be the right fit for you. So thank you so much for listening. I hope that you can see if you were making any of these mistakes now, something might've sort of come up for you while I was talking about those, think actually that may be something I'm doing. So feel free to let me know if anything worked for you by leaving me a review or sending me a DM on Instagram.

Love it to hear from you. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you on the next episode.