Mid-Year Money Check-In: Is Your Money Actually Doing What You Want?

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Shari Rash (1:00): July is the perfect time to ask yourself if your money is actually doing what you want it to do. And we're not asking this because you're failing. We're not asking because you need to start over. Also, because the first half of the year was a disaster. The first half of the year could have been just fine.

Shari Rash (1:20): Right? You didn't feel like things were tight and everything was just kind of a well oiled machine. The first half of the year is so important because it gives you real information. And that's what I'm always looking for when I'm working with my clients and talking to them about their money. I want the real information because when we look back to see what happened, we learn from it.

Shari Rash (1:47): You now know more than you knew in January. You know what you earned. You know what changed. You know what got more expensive. You see what you're spending money on and that may not have been on your radar at all in December.

Shari Rash (2:04): You can see what you kept saying yes to. And saying yes to things is okay, but we also want to track it. You know what you avoided. Maybe you didn't fall into some of the traps that you got into last year. And for a lot of women, the issue is not that everything needs to be changed or everything was so different than this time last year.

Shari Rash (2:28): Sometimes the issue is that nothing is changing, but you're just on autopilot. You're still making good money. You're still saving. You're still being responsible. You're still doing what you're supposed to be doing, generally speaking.

Shari Rash (2:46): But the problem is that your same money questions are still sitting there. What should I do with this cash? Should I be investing more? Am I saving too much in cash? Am I on track for my goals?

Shari Rash (3:02): Do I need help with my taxes? Why do I still feel like I don't have a clear plan? And that is the point of a midyear check-in. It's not to give shame. It's not to make you feel bad for anything.

Shari Rash (3:16): It's to create a strategy because a significant amount of time has gone by this year that we can learn from. And then we still have though plenty of year left that we can implement what we've learned. So this episode is not for the woman who needs a basic how to stop spending money lecture. This is for the woman who has money coming in, has done a lot right, but still wonders, should I be doing something more strategic with my money? Will I get to December and feel like I missed an opportunity?

Shari Rash (3:55): Or more importantly, I do not want to get to December and feel like I missed an opportunity. Am I letting status quo autopilot become my financial plan? Something I say all the time is the lack of a decision is still a decision. Just because you're not doing anything doesn't mean you're avoiding your finances or you're just letting things shake out or you're letting XYZ life event go by. If you're doing nothing, that is your decision to do nothing.

Unknown Speaker (4:27): And sometimes with money, the problem is not that everything changed. It's not that you got a new job. It's not that you moved. It's not that your expenses are totally different. A life event happened.

Shari Rash (4:40): Sometimes the problem is that nothing changed, but you still have the same money question six months later. So a mid year money check-in is so important because it's not about judging the first half of the year. It's about looking at what happened in the first half of the year and making sure the second half is reacting appropriately. It's about making sure the second half of the year doesn't repeat the first because of lack of action. We want to make sure we're making changes appropriately and based on history, not just feelings.

Shari Rash (5:26): Welcome back to everyone's talking money. I'm Shari Rash, founder of GWA Wealth. After almost twenty years in personal finance, working with women who are doing well on paper but still do not feel fully in control of their money, I can tell you this. A lot of women do not need to quote unquote get better with money. They are already responsible.

Shari Rash (5:52): They are earning. They are saving. They are thoughtful. They're not reckless, but they need a clearer strategy because making good money and having a plan for your money are not the same thing. And this is where a lot of high achieving women get stuck.

Shari Rash (6:08): They're not in a financial crisis. We're not, you know, spending more than what's coming in, worrying where our dollar is going to come from, worrying if that check we just paid for our HOA dues is going to bounce. But their money is still not fully organized around the life that they want. It may be sitting in cash. It may be going into savings without a clear purpose.

Shari Rash (6:33): It may be getting absorbed by lifestyle creep. It may be going towards convenience, or it may be going towards goals that may or may not be relevant for your life right now. Or it may just be sitting in limbo because making the next money decision feels overwhelming. And none of those things mean something is going horribly wrong. But it does mean it is worth pausing and asking, is my money doing the job I actually want it to do?

Shari Rash (7:05): And that's what we're doing today. This is your mid year strategy check-in. It's not a reset because you failed. It's a check-in because your money deserves direction. So before looking at the numbers, let's ask two questions.

Shari Rash (7:23): What has changed since January? And if there's no answer to that, nothing's changed. That brings us to what has not changed since January, even though I maybe wanted things to change. Because sometimes the issue is not that life blew up or this crazy thing happened, or we had this epiphany, this realization. Sometimes the issue is that everything stayed exactly the same.

Shari Rash (7:55): You are still making good money. You are still saving. You are still being responsible. You're doing fine, but your money still doesn't feel fully organized. Your cash is still sitting there.

Shari Rash (8:09): Your investing isn't happening or it's unclear. Or worse, you're taking advice from talking heads or articles that you're reading that know nothing about your situation. The tax planning that you swore was going to happen after April 15 still has not. Your retirement account from your job when you were in your twenties is still sitting somewhere. Your savings account is one big pile of money with no real job labels categories.

Shari Rash (8:42): And also your same financial questions keep coming up, but no decision gets made. That's the stuff that matters because status quo can feel safe, but status quo is also expensive. And it's not because you're doing something wrong. It's because doing nothing is still a decision. So it is the middle of the year.

Shari Rash (9:07): This episode is coming out on July 7. Ask yourself what has changed since January. And if nothing has changed, what has not changed that I thought would be different by now? Do you ever say to yourself, in my next pay, I'm going to do this. Once XYZ life event is over, I'm going to do this.

Shari Rash (9:30): What decisions have you been avoiding? What money do you have that is still sitting in limbo? And what opportunities are you postponing? Because you want certainty first. I hate to break it to you.

Shari Rash (9:43): Most of the time we don't get certainty when it comes to our financial decisions. There's always pros and cons. There's always lingering questions, but we need confidence more than certainty. What would I be frustrated to still be saying in December? Or come December, what am I going to be mad at myself that I didn't do?

Shari Rash (10:06): What has been on my financial to do list that needs to be addressed? Is it I need to figure out what to do with my cash. I need to start investing more. I need to roll over that old four zero one ks. I need to understand if I'm on track for my goals.

Shari Rash (10:23): I need to make a plan. I need to just stop having everything be a question mark when it comes to my money and instead periods at the end of my sentences. I need to find a financial planner. A midyear check-in should just be a conversation with yourself. It should feel like we're creating a strategy.

Shari Rash (10:43): It's not judgment. It's not coming down on yourself. It's learning about what we did or did not do in the past six months and creating a plan going forward. So the first area we are going to talk about in your mid year review is your cash flow. Where is your surplus going?

Shari Rash (11:04): Where is your money going? When we talk about cash flow, we're talking about we're paying our bills, but then where is your money going after bills are paid? A lot of women make good money, pay their bills, save some, spend some, and then still feel like, I know I'm doing fine, but I don't know if I'm doing this as well as I could be. Or am I doing the best thing with my cash flow? That is the mid year question.

Shari Rash (11:38): Is my money being used intentionally? Cash flow is money in and money out. And at this point, hopefully with the guidance that you've had from listening to me over the past however many episodes you've been tuning in, we're to a point where we have positive cash flow, meaning more is coming in than what's going out. But then that difference, we need to use that difference intentionally. So we're talking about what came in, what money automatically went to savings, what automatically went to investments, what stayed in cash.

Shari Rash (12:20): If you're like, well, nothing went to investments, nothing went to savings. It's all in cash. Then there's an opportunity. If you're listening to this thinking I have money, I'm doing a lot right, but I don't know if all the pieces are working together. That is exactly where financial planning matters, because your cash is not separate from your investing.

Shari Rash (12:42): Your investing is not separate from your taxes. Your taxes are not separate from your income. Your income is not separate from your goals, and your goals are not separate from the life you actually want to live. At GWA Wealth, I help women who are doing well on paper build clear, personalized financial plans that connect all of the pieces cash flow, reserves, investing, retirement, taxes, income, goals, lifestyle, flexibility. The point is to not make you feel bad about what you have not done.

Shari Rash (13:14): The point is to help you make stronger decisions with the money you already have. Because sometimes the real reason nothing has changed is not because you do not care. It's because you need a plan that turns vague financial questions into actual next steps. You can learn more about how I work with my clients at gwawealth.com or through the link in the show notes. How much of your money do you think got swept up in lifestyle creep?

Shari Rash (13:40): Because you're seeing this extra money in your checking account. So like, hey, I can afford this when maybe I wasn't able to before. Are you spending your money on things you value? What money did you spend on things that you barely remember? If you look at your credit card transactions, you're like, I have no clue what that is.

Shari Rash (14:01): What is your monthly surplus? On average, how much is being left over after your monthly spending? And do you know where that surplus is going? And it could be it's just sitting in my checking account. For women that make good money, the issue is often not that there's no money.

Shari Rash (14:20): The issue is that the money does not have a clear job. It sits in checking. It piles up in savings. It gets absorbed by lifestyle creep. It gets spent on convenience.

Shari Rash (14:30): It goes towards random upgrades. It goes towards being generous. It goes towards I work hard. It's fine. I deserve this.

Shari Rash (14:38): And some of that is okay. Right? But the question is, did you choose it or did it happen to you? Because cash flow is not just about whether you can pay your bills. Cash flow is about whether your money is moving toward the life you say you want.

Shari Rash (14:57): So here are some mid year cash flow questions. Am I saving by accident or by design? And going forward, the answer should be by design. We want to save by design. We don't want to save by default.

Shari Rash (15:13): Am I investing consistently? Am I letting extra cash pile up without direction? Am I letting lifestyle creep absorb money I could be using more strategically? Am I building flexibility or just letting money move without much direction? Am I spending on things that actually matter to me?

Shari Rash (15:31): Am I spending on things I barely remember? The goal is not to cut everything. The goal is to direct your money with intention. You can have positive cash flow and still lack direction. So it's like you're doing the right thing by having positive cash flow by not spending more than what's coming in.

Shari Rash (15:52): But then you're not taking it all the way by having direction for that cash that's left over. You can have cash left over and not have a strategy with it. We want to fix these things. We don't want our money to happen to us. We want us to happen to it.

Shari Rash (16:11): We want to plan for every single dollar. If you are wondering why your money is not building the clarity, not creating the wealth you were envisioning or hoping for, not taking control of your cash could be a very big reason why. Section two. The second thing we're looking at are cash and savings. So is your cash doing the right job?

Shari Rash (16:41): Cash is king. Love cash. It's wonderful. It gives you flexibility. It can create independence, especially for women who are managing their financial lives on their own.

Shari Rash (16:53): But your cash needs a job. It can't be just to sit there. Just sit there and do nothing and accumulate. It needs to do something. So at our mid year check-in, ask yourself, how much cash do I have?

Shari Rash (17:06): How much is in my checking? How much is in my savings? How much do I want in those two accounts? More is not always better. Sometimes more is more.

Shari Rash (17:17): How much money do I have in my money markets, my CDs or other cash like accounts? Because that is just also like cash. How much do I set aside for emergencies? How much do I set aside for near term goals? Do I have cash set aside for big expenses?

Shari Rash (17:35): Cash is most useful and powerful when it has a job assigned to it. Cash gets confusing when it's just sitting there. So here are some examples of cash that has a clear job. Your emergency fund, your upcoming tax bill, traveling, home project, medical expenses, moving, buying a car, paying an insurance premium. All that is a job.

Shari Rash (18:06): And yeah, the money still could just be sitting in a savings account. But as soon as you slap a job on it, it all of a sudden has a purpose and feels so much more organized. But then you can also quantify how much you have. When you don't have jobs assigned to your cash, you don't know how much cash you should have. If you know you're going on a trip and it's going to cost you $3,000 boom, you know how much cash you should have.

Shari Rash (18:31): If you're going to do a home renovation that's going to cost you $15, Now, you know how much cash you should have. But if you're just saving for travel in the future, at some point, if you're just saving for a home renovation that I want to do someday, but I'm not exactly sure what it is. You don't know how much cash to have. So you never feel like you have enough. So some examples of cash without a clear job, money just sitting there because you don't know what else to do with it.

Shari Rash (19:01): Money sitting there because investing feels scary where you're not sure you're going to pick the right investment, to pick the right stock or exchange traded fund, what have you. Money sitting there because you're waiting for the right time. Money sitting in an account because the balance makes you feel good. Money sitting in an account because you have not made a decision yet. So this is where the question becomes, do I have enough cash, too little cash or too much idle cash?

Shari Rash (19:31): And there's no universal answer. There is no one size fits all. It's about creating a strategy that is flexible for you, empowers you, and it forces you to make decisions. Because I don't want savings to be the default because you don't want to make a decision. So here are some cash questions.

Shari Rash (19:53): Is my emergency fund appropriate for my actual life? Do I have enough cash for known expenses in the next six to twelve months? Is any long term money sitting in cash because I'm afraid to invest it? Am I using cash to feel safe instead of using a plan to feel clear? Would separating this cash into buckets make decision making easier?

Shari Rash (20:18): And again, ask yourself what has not changed? Has the same cash been sitting there since January and you're just piling on top of it? Have you been saying to yourself, I need to figure out what to do with this for like the past six months? Have you been waiting for the perfect time over the past six months to invest, to do something with your money? Have you been waiting to feel more confident?

Shari Rash (20:44): Listen to one more podcast episode, read one more article, research one more ETF or stock to hit that confidence level? I hate to break it to you. You're probably never going to get there. That one more article, that one more podcast episode, that is not going to give you the confidence. Being strategic and asking yourself the question and creating the plan is going to build the confidence, not digesting as much information as humanly possible.

Shari Rash (21:17): Have you been telling yourself that you're going to deal with it later? If so, this is the moment to stop letting cash sit in limbo. Not because cash is bad, because unclear cash creates uncertainty. It's lack of decisions, lack of goal setting, lack of goal planning. Unclear cash does not help empower us when it comes to our money.

Shari Rash (21:43): It creates more questions than it does answers. The third area we're going to look at in our mid year check-in is investing in retirement. So are you participating enough? This is where a lot of women who are doing well on paper still feel uncertain. They are saving.

Shari Rash (22:00): They have cash. They may have retirement accounts. They may even have a good income, but they're not always sure whether they're doing enough. So at this midyear check-in, ask yourself, am I contributing to something consistently? Four zero one ks, IRA, Roth IRA, after tax account.

Shari Rash (22:21): Do you have consistent contributions? Are you contributing enough for your income level? If you have no debt, ideally sending 20% of your net paycheck to some type of investment is phenomenal. 10% is great too. But if you're making 6 figures plus and you're contributing $50 a month, are we in line with your income to what you're contributing?

Shari Rash (22:56): Are you on track to max out your accounts if that's part of your plan? If you want to max out your Roth IRA or traditional IRA for the year, are you on track to do so? Otherwise, are we going to have to double up contributions for the second half of the year if that was one of your goals? Are you getting the full employer match if one's available to you? Do you have old 401ks or IRAs sitting around?

Shari Rash (23:21): I will say clients that have the most confusion with their money are the ones with their money everywhere. Ones with their money spread out. They have all these random accounts, bank accounts, investment accounts, all of that stuff, because it's like, well, consolidating it is like having all my eggs in one basket or that creates unnecessary risk. Where I respectfully disagree. Having your money spread out in all of these places, in my opinion, is actually more risky because you risk losing track of it.

Shari Rash (23:52): You risk investment wise doubling up on investments and being over concentrated in just a couple of things. Opportunity costs as well. You may not be contributing as much as you can because you have these accounts in different places and the overwhelm of consolidating them holds you back from contributing fully when prospective clients are starting to work with me and they have all of these random accounts. Some of these accounts are still sitting in cash, even though they're an investment account because they didn't realize you actually had to pick the investment too. Is the allocation still appropriate?

Shari Rash (24:32): If you're 55 years old and your allocation is based on the way it was when you had your first job at 23, Is that still appropriate? Maybe, maybe not. Or conversely, are you too conservative for your timeline? Are you avoiding investing because you want to feel more confident first? For women who are doing well financially, the issue is not often that they cannot invest is that they are under investing because they're waiting to feel more confident.

Shari Rash (24:59): But waiting for perfect confidence costs time and money. Your future you does not need you to be perfect today. It just needs you to participate. Give the participation trophies here because you need to participate. And what usually happens is the participation is what helps to build the confidence.

Shari Rash (25:22): But waiting and waiting and waiting to feel 100% certain in what you're doing is costing you and you're never going to get there. The mid year investing check. I want you to look at how much you're contributing to retirement. What is your employer match? Are you at least contributing up to that?

Shari Rash (25:40): Are you making any contributions to your IRAs or Roth IRAs? Or are you contributing to your taxable brokerage account? If you're like, I have no idea what that is. Like, that's a non retirement account, but you're opening it up at like a Fidelity and E Trade or Schwab, something like that. What about your old retirement accounts?

Shari Rash (26:00): Do you have accounts just scattered everywhere? To do an inventory of your accounts, if it takes you I mean, this is going to be dramatic, but if it takes you more than five minutes to locate all of your accounts, you probably have too many. They're probably spread out in way too many places. You should be able to quickly access all of your accounts and know exactly where they are. Automation is also super important.

Shari Rash (26:31): Do you have some type of automation set up when it comes to investing? Something. I know I mentioned before, if you're making well over 6 figures and you're contributing $50 a month, you probably could afford to contribute more, but we at least need some type of automation set up. If you do have an automation, try ratcheting it up a notch. If it's $50, make it a $100.

Shari Rash (26:55): If it's a $100, make it 200. If it's 500, maybe make it $550 Do something. Just kick it up a little bit to just get more participation in the market. Are your investments still matching your goals? Are you taking the appropriate level of risk for your timeline?

Shari Rash (27:16): There is a risk to being too conservative. Just when we think about risk, we always think about being too aggressive, but being too conservative is a real risk as well. Questions to ask yourself. If you keep doing exactly what you're doing, will you be happy with yourself by December? Is your money positioned for growth where growth is appropriate?

Shari Rash (27:38): Am I holding too much in cash because investing feels uncomfortable? Do I need to increase contributions before year end? Do I need a clearer investment strategy? What have I been saying I need to figure out about my investments, but I still haven't touched it? If you started the year saying I need to invest more and it's now July and nothing's changed, This is not a character flaw.

Shari Rash (28:03): We are not beating ourselves up, but it's a sign that your decisions need support, structure, or simplification. We're not trying to make crazy dramatic moves, but we are trying to make sure your money is aligned for future you. This is just the first episode of this two episode series of a mid year check-in. So what I want you to do right now is go through these questions I've asked. Look at your cash.

Shari Rash (28:31): Look at your investing. Look at your automations, if applicable. What are your goals? And review it. Ask yourself the questions.

Shari Rash (28:39): And then I want you to come back here next week and we're going to do part two. This mid year check-in is not about fixing everything. It's about refusing to let another six months pass with your money sitting in vague good enough mode. You can be doing well and still need more direction. You can have money and still need a strategy.

Shari Rash (29:02): You can be responsible and still be underutilizing your resources. That's the point of this episode. I'm not shaming you here. I'm here to help you make the second half of your year more intentional. The year is not over.

Shari Rash (29:17): You are not behind because January through June did not go perfectly. But if you are tired of still asking the same questions, you do need to take a look at what you're doing. You can change your contribution. You can redirect your cash. You can plan for that upcoming expense.

Shari Rash (29:34): You can schedule the meeting with a financial planner that you've been delaying. You can stop pretending a predictable expense as a surprise. Money should not just accumulate, disappear, or sit there because you are unsure of what to do next. Money should be a tool that helps you live life on your terms. If you want help building a financial plan that connects your income, cash, investing, taxes, retirement, and real life goals, you can learn more about working with me at gwawealth.com or through the link in the show notes.

Shari Rash (30:07): Be sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast app so you never miss an episode, including part two next week. Come keep the conversation going with me on Instagram at everyone's talking money. Money should not be something you only look at when something feels wrong. Money should be a tool that helps you live life on your terms.