How To Spend Money Once You Start Making It

I'm opening up a can of Q & A Tuesday! Yes, I am! Hmm.

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Q: Today's question comes from the lovely Ainsley in Australia and she writes: "I'm slowly building a nice income online and I'm wondering what to do with the money? Do I reinvest in my company, pay myself, or save? PS. I love your team approach. I can tell the love you have for your girls." 

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Thank you, Ainsley! I do love my girls! I love them hard, not that hard but I do love them hard.

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A: Ainsley, this is a rad question! I love to hear about entrepreneurs like you who are making money online. So great job, baby! So here's the thing when it comes to money, money is a fantastic tool that can help you create whatever you want in your life. But first you need to get clear on exactly what you want that money to do for you. You mentioned reinvesting in your company which generally speaking I totally recommend but here's the thing, before you even think about that you need to be clear on your vision for your company. 

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So do you want your company to grow bigger? Do you want to hire more staff? Do you need more equipment or better equipment? You need to answer these questions before you think of about really reinvesting in how you want it to grow. You should also have a really good accountant, someone who can advise you on how to save money on your taxes, how to figure out what to do with retirement money, how much you should save and where you should actually put it; and also what you can afford in terms with hiring staff.

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Next up you mentioned paying yourself and saving which both fall under the umbrella of your personal finances. Paying yourself and saving are hugely important but once again it depends on what the rest of your financial life actually looks like. So do you have credit card debt right now? Do you have existing savings? What are your personal financial goals? Look, as you know no one teaches us about money in school. At least they didn't teach us about that in my school. So it's up to each of us to get educated about money, how it works and what to do with it once we have some.

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So to give you some recommendations, here are three financial experts that have made a really big impact on my financial life. First up, we've got Mr. David Bach and specifically two of his books, Smart Women Finish Rich and The Automatic Millionaire. Now you may have heard of David before because he's appeared on Oprah lots of times, very smart gentleman. Specifically what David taught me and what I really took away from his teachings was how to automate my savings. I put that into practice a few years ago and have never looked back since.

The other thing that he taught me which was amazing is how to legally cheat the banks out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in mortgage interest. Now to be fair my mom and dad did introduce me to that idea when I was little but it was David Bach who got me to put the idea into practice which of course is all that matters. 

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Next up is Ms. Suze Orman, another Oprah darling. Now love or hate her, Suze knows how to make an impact and here's what she did for me. That woman scared the bejeezus out of me especially when it comes to things like wills and trusts, and making financial agreements with the people that you love. 

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Last but not least, my dear friend and who I affectionately call my Indian boyfriend, Ramit Sethi. He's the author of the New York Times bestseller, I Will Teach You To Be Rich. Now here's what I love about Ramit, he is so No BS! He does not tolerate whining or complaining, or anyone just being a wuss about their money. It's kind of amazing. Some people think he's slightly abusive or maybe even a little bit belligerent. I like that kind of thing! That's how I like my advice, like straight up, hardcore! This is what you do, that's it! So you should check out Ramit, if that style works for you.

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Now again there are loads of financial gurus out there with really sound advice but if I were you, Ainsley, I would brush up on some of the personal financial basics and get some clarity around your money goals. Then you know what you can do, you can take all that jingle from your hot online business and you can put it to good use. Cha-Ching! 

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So that is my A to your Q, woman! Thank you so much for asking. Money is such an important topic and I'm so glad that we started to dive into it today. If you have personal favorite financial resources to share, leave a comment below this video! Let me know what you enjoy. If you like this video, like it! Share it all around the interwebs because that would be great! If you're not yet on the newsletter list and you never want to miss another episode of Marie TV, get your butt over to marieforleo.com. Jump on that newsletter list and I will catch you next time! Thank you so much for watching!

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(Let's open up a can of Q & A Tuesday! Whatcha say?)