I think that pretty well sums up how most people feel about the issue of finances and taxes. I am not one of those privileged few who actually don’t mind putting together their year end summary. I dread this time of year right along with the majority. However, I do get a head start on it—probably because I dislike it so much, I think I just want to get it all over and done with as quickly as possible.

But as it is the beginning of a new year and our minds are heading in this direction, my local RWA chapter, for its monthly meeting, hosted two great speakers to talk on the subject: Angele McQuade and Donna MacMeans. Both are wonderful writers and professionals (in slightly different aspects) of finance.

This week and next I’m going to tell you what they told us at our meeting. We start with Angele:

Angele is the author of two books about investing, Investment Clubs for Dummies and Introduction to Successful Investing. She also writes YA.

For those of us who are absolutely terrified of finances and stressed by even the thought of putting together all of that paperwork, she provided an easy-to-follow list of tasks and promised that at the end of it we would feel lighter and have so much more head space for our own creativity after completing them.

To begin with, she says, to collect all of your bank and other financial statements including credit card bills, pay stubs and receipts.
Open any unopened envelopes. If this is nerve-wracking, take a deep breath, get a soothing cup of tea and just do it, then go and do something else entirely—preferably something fun.
Sort all your papers into piles: past bills, bills to be paid, account statements, etc. Do this in 15 minute chunks if it’s stressful.
Make a to-do list of anything that needs to be done based on your piles. Take another break, have another cup of tea. Relax.
Create a list of all your financial accounts. Okay, this one is easy. You can do this, no problem!
Create a list of logins and passwords for all of the accounts you can access on-line. If you create the list on your computer, be sure that it’s password protected with something you will easily remember, but no one else will (no, PASSWORD and 123456, don’t work!). Save this list of passwords in at least one, if not two other locations equally secure—you don’t want your hard drive to crash and you have no other means to access your accounts. J
Using the most recent statements and on-line accounts, calculate your net worth. Take deep breaths as you do this, add honey to your tea, or extra cream and sugar and take another fun break after this is done.
Create a detailed action plan of your next steps prioritized by urgency and importance. Take another break, more tea… you get the picture by now.
Create AND FOLLOW new financial routines such as:


Weekly: collect, sort, shred or file all financial paperwork.
Monthly: update your net worth and prioritize next steps in your plan.
Quarterly: sort tax-related receipts and readjust your action plan.
Annually: make an appointment with your tax/financial professional, calculate year-end net worth and be sure to prepare and file your taxes on time.

Angele also had us work through a number of short writing exercises which guided us toward a happier place generally.

Recognizing that we all grew up being taught certain “truths” about finances and money, she had us write down what we were taught as children and then, of those, which you’d like to or have distanced yourself from. Some messages that we might have been taught include “Money should be saved and not spent” or “There’s no point saving because I’ll never have enough money anyway.” Think about what you feel is right about you and your life and make your own decisions.

The one thing you should remember no matter what is that Words Matter. If you give yourself negative messages about finances (for example: “I’m bad at math, I can’t figure this out.”), turn that around to be something positive (“Yeah this is tricky, but I’m an intelligent person, I can get this.”).

Angele’s talk was like a friend holding out their hand and saying “Come on, I’ll help you get across this nasty patch.”

She warned us not to be in denial about what we need to do, but instead make lists about our worries and concerns so that we can face them head on.

She ended her talk by half us do the “Ally Carter Exercise” – write down five big dreams for your career (and smile as you do so). Then write down five more, even bigger dreams. Then write down five that are beyond your wildest dreams. Maybe someday you’ll come across them and find that maybe those wildest were so out of your potential after all. Maybe you’ve even achieved some of them. Go on, dream!

If you enjoyed what you’ve read here, Angele is going to be teaching an on-line class on this topic at YARWA. Click here to register–it will be well worth it, believe me!