Lindsey:
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Hello, hello and welcome to the season one finale
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of the Money Clarity Podcast.
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I am your host, Lindsay Ciarrocca.
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YNAB certified coach,
certified money coach.
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And as you probably know by now, total
budget nerd and very proud crazy cat lady.
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Before we get into today's topic,
I just wanna take a moment to say
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a massive thank you, whether you've
been with me since episode one, or
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you just found me recently, I am.
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So grateful you've spent part of
your days with me this season.
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My mission is to help you use money
as a tool to live your greatest life.
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And it has been such an honor to
hear your stories and to see you
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gaining clarity around your finances.
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So thank you.
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Thanks for being here, and I
appreciate each and every one
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of you listening every week.
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All right.
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As we are wrapping up this season,
I wanted to leave you with one
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of my favorite budgeting tips
that might just give you a little
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bit of instant peace of mind.
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I've talked about this before,
but I wanted to leave you with
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this reminder on sinking funds.
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If you've ever felt like your budget was.
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Broken because an annual bill popped up
or your car needed new tires, sinking
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funds might just be your new best friend
In the YNAB world, we call this Embracing
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your True Expenses, and I talk more about
YNAB's four original rules in episode 14.
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So go ahead and go back and listen
to that one if you haven't already.
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Basically what this means is that.
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We are taking those big,
scary non monthly costs.
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Maybe those ones that are going
to happen someday, but we have no
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idea when, and breaking them down
into manageable monthly bites.
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So I'm gonna give you
a cat example for this.
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As you might know, I have three cats and
while, they're basically my children.
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The last thing I want is to end up at the
Emergency Vet with a $1,200 bill where I'm
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just handing over my credit card thinking,
I know I don't have the money for this,
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but I literally don't have another option.
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And trust me, I've been there.
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I remember that exact moment
in the ER vet years ago.
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I can see it.
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Standing there at the counter, leaving
and handing over my credit card and
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just knowing we didn't have the money,
no idea how we were gonna pay for that.
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You know, maybe you've experienced
something similar with one of your pets
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or your kids, or maybe just a car repair
in the past when you don't have money set
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aside for those expenses, that Bill might
have felt like a financial emergency.
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But now I have a cat medical sinking
fund right there in my YNAB budget.
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This is where I set aside a little
bit of money every single month.
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And since I'm not spending from
this category regularly, the money
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just sits there and adds up waiting
for the day when it's needed.
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Like last year we had another ER
vet for one of our other cats,
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but this time we had over $700.
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Just ready and waiting
for that specific expense.
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So we were able to focus on
our kitty rather than how
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much the bill was going to be.
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And fun fact, the bill actually
ended up being just under the total
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amount we had in that category.
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So it was such a relief just knowing
I'm gonna hand over my card, but I
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have the money waiting to pay the bill
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that is the power of a sinking fund.
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It turns a potential crisis into
just another Tuesday afternoon.
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Inside my membership, the Empowered
Money Circle, sinking funds are
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going to be our topic of the month.
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For April,
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we are going to be diving deep into
identifying those hidden expenses
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that usually trip us up and get
them set up so that you'll never
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have to stress about them again.
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If you're looking for some support to
help set up your own sinking funds,
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I would love to see you inside the
membership, and if you've been thinking
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about joining us in inside the membership.
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I wanted to give you a heads up that
the price for the Empowered Money
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Circle is increasing on April 1st.
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So if you are listening to this
in real time, right now is the
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moment to lock in the current rate.
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If you join before the price increase,
you will be locked into the current rate.
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As long as you are a member,
you'll be able to jump into
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learning more about sinking funds
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as well as all of the core course
material, and this is exactly what I teach
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my clients in my one-to-one coaching.
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I've taken it all and put it all
inside the membership for you.
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Plus I'm also just about finished
with a 90 day plan so you
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know exactly what to work on.
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As soon as you jump in.
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Head over to theexuberantelephant.com/emc
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for Empowered Money Circle.
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To join us now.
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All right.
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A few final thoughts as we
wrap up this last episode.
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Like I mentioned, this is the end of
season one and I'm gonna be taking
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a little bit of a break in between
seasons, but I will be hanging out inside
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the Empowered Money Circle every day.
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You can also hop on my email list if
you aren't already, and you will still
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get to hear from me every single week.
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But again, I just wanna say thank you.
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Thank you for joining
me on this first season.
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It's been a wild ride.
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It's been fun, and it's been a
pleasure to be able to get to talk
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to you about this stuff every week.
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And remember my final thought.
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As always, money should be a tool to help
you live your biggest, wildest dreams.
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I want you to go out there and
spend and save with confidence.
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I will talk to you next season.